UNC Lineberger’s Stephanie Wheeler, PhD, MPH, and Ethan Basch, MD, MSc, were in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 17 to take part in Vice President Joe Biden’s report to President Obama on his strategic plan for transforming cancer research and care.
Vice President Joe Biden delivered the Cancer Moonshot report to the president on Oct. 17, according to a White House news release. The report summarized the work of the Cancer Moonshot Task Force since its creation in January, according to the release, and laid out Biden’s strategic plan for transforming cancer research and care.
The report also included the Cancer Moonshot Blue Ribbon Panel’s identified areas of scientific opportunity. UNC Lineberger’s Deborah Mayer, PhD, RN, AOCN, FAAN, director of cancer survivorship and professor of adult and geriatric health at UNC Chapel Hill School of Nursing, and Barbara K. Rimer, DrPH, Alumni Distinguished Professor and dean of the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, are members of the panel, organized by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to identify critical areas of science for new investment.
Obama called on Biden to lead the Cancer Moonshot effort during his 2016 State of the Union Address. A Presidential Memorandum established the task force, which was directed to unite the federal government in achieving the Moonshot’s mission through a focused effort to leverage and coordinate federal investments, targeted incentives, academic/non-profit and private sector efforts, and patient initiatives.
Wheeler, a UNC Lineberger member and associate professor in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health Department of Health Policy and Management, and Basch, MD, MSc, a UNC Lineberger member and professor in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health Department of Health Policy and Management, and UNC School of Medicine, attended. Wheeler participated in a Cancer Moonshot Roundtable panel with Vice President Biden in February at Duke University, sharing information about her work and UNC Lineberger’s research and outreach efforts, and she served as an Ignite Speaker on cancer disparities at the Cancer Moonshot Summit in June in Washington, D.C.