Aflac, the leading provider of voluntary insurance sales at the worksite in the U.S., presented its innovative social robot, My Special Aflac Duck, at the Children and Cancer Forum in Washington, D.C. The forum, hosted by Atlantic Media and underwritten by Aflac for the second consecutive year, brought together a diverse audience of experts, survivors, researchers and families impacted by childhood cancer, including Dr. Kavita Dhodapkar, a pediatric hematologist-oncologist at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, who spoke about the latest developments in immunotherapy.

The event included panels from practitioners, survivors and government officials. During a special session produced by Aflac, Aflac Senior Vice President, Chief Brand and Communications Officer Catherine Hernandez-Blades and Sproutel Chief Executive Officer Aaron Horowitz provided a 10-minute presentation on My Special Aflac Duck. The sophisticated comforting robot, which is the result of nearly two years of research conducted by Sproutel, was introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January in Las Vegas and received top honors for Best in Show. The segment, which was streamed live on Facebook Live, can be seen here.

"Aflac is excited about the My Special Aflac Duck program and what we believe it will accomplish in helping children cope with the treatments they endure during their cancer journey," Hernandez-Blades said. "We would like to thank The Atlantic for the opportunity to underwrite today's Children and Cancer forum as Aflac continues to facilitate a national conversation about pediatric cancer."

According to the National Cancer Society, as many as 16,000 children are diagnosed with cancer in America every year. Aflac hopes to initiate delivery of My Special Aflac Duck at select hospitals beginning in September, before expanding nationwide in winter 2018-2019. For more information, go to aflacchildhoodcancer.org.