UT MD Anderson Editorial Standards

At UT MD Anderson, we know that cancer can be scary. We also know there’s a lot of information online about cancer – and it can be hard to separate fact from fiction or figure out what’s best for you.

But you’ve come to the right place. Cancer is all we do at UT MD Anderson, and we know it inside and out.

Cancer involves a lot of big words, but you shouldn’t need an M.D. or Ph.D. to get the information you need. Every piece of content you find on MDAnderson.org, OnlyPossibleHere.org, our social media channels and our email newsletters is developed with you in mind.

That’s why, unless we’re writing specifically for researchers, students and trainees, or other healthcare professionals, we aim to write at an eighth grade reading level, using language that is clear and easy to understand. Our goal is to help you navigate cancer so you have the information you need to move forward.

We also know that no two people are the same and no two people have the same experience with cancer. And we understand there are some words or phrases that you might – or might not – like to use when talking about your experience with cancer. Words like “battle” or “fight” or “journey.” Wherever possible, we try to avoid these words and opt for language that is more neutral and inclusive, while also sharing stories and experiences from many different people. Our hope is that their experiences might resonate with you and help you navigate next steps.

Our content standards

At UT MD Anderson, we hold ourselves and our content to the highest editorial standards because we have an obligation to the people we serve and to our organization, our core values – Caring, Integrity, Discovery, Safety and Stewardship – and our mission to end cancer.

All content on our digital properties is original. We don’t publish content or stories that have been published elsewhere.

All decisions about content published on UT MD Anderson’s websites and other digital properties are made by UT MD Anderson’s Strategic Communications team. Prior to publication on MDAnderson.org or OnlyPossibleHere.org, every webpage, blog post, podcast, video, graphic, illustration and photo is reviewed by UT MD Anderson’s digital content experts to ensure alignment with organizational messaging and brand standards, as well as our in-house style and voice and tone.

Medical accuracy review

Our goal is to ensure the information you get from UT MD Anderson is timely and correct. For this reason, UT MD Anderson’s Strategic Communications team may remove or archive content that is more than two years old or that has become outdated. To ensure medical accuracy, every piece of information on our website, including every story on our Cancerwise blog, is reviewed by our in-house experts – including our physicians, clinicians and researchers.

Because cancer care and research are evolving so rapidly, medical information can become outdated. We include the date of last medical review for each Cancerwise article and our most recently updated disease information pages on MDAnderson.org, so you know how recent the information is. While we do our due diligence to update content in a timely manner as it becomes dated, there may be times when you find older information on our site that hasn’t been reviewed recently. Feel free to reach out if you find something that’s outdated.

Patient, caregiver and donor stories

Our patients, caregivers and donors inspire others facing cancer, and they also become brand ambassadors when we feature their stories on our Cancerwise blog, videos, social media channels or elsewhere. That’s why we first make sure it’s a mutual fit before working with someone to tell their story. If we decide to move forward to tell a person’s story on our Cancerwise blog or in a video, the patient, caregiver and/or donor will work closely with our professional writers and editors to tell their story and shape it for UT MD Anderson’s digital platforms. UT MD Anderson has final editorial discretion and may choose not to move forward with a story or piece of content if it does not align with institutional policies, brand standards or our core values. Patients and caregivers must return the necessary HIPAA and media authorizations before UT MD Anderson can schedule their story for publication.

Our website and digital properties only feature the stories of patients, caregivers and donors with a direct connection to UT MD Anderson. We don’t allow guest posts from other organizations, and our website only features stories of patients who received care here.

Patients, caregivers and donors are welcome to submit their story for consideration.

Endorsements, products and links

UT MD Anderson does not promote or endorse products, books or other brands on our website and other digital channels. This means we cannot mention or show brands or products by name or link to them in blog posts or other content.