‘If Ryan Reynolds doesn’t get you to do it…’: Colorectal Cancer Alliance CEO talks screening

Originally broadcast April 3, 2025

Roughly 85% of respondents to a survey cited by Michael Sapienza, CEO of the Colorectal Cancer Alliance, say they would rather do their taxes than get a colonoscopy.

“We need to do a better job of talking to the public about the barriers,” Sapienza tells “Conversations on Health Care” hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter.

Sapienza, whose mother died of the disease at age 58, says people may be less than excited to do the preparation, or colon cleanout, necessary for a screening. Or that they don’t want the hassle of taking time off from work. But he emphasized that 45 is the recommended age that people begin getting regular screenings for polyps that, at some point, could develop into cancer.

“45 is the new 50,” says Sapienza, whose alliance was instrumental in lowering the recommended screening age and, in 2022, recruited actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney to have their colon screenings filmed.

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