Newswise — DURHAM, N.C. — Josh Sommer, co-founder and executive director of the Chordoma Foundation, spoke at a star studded press conference to launch the AACR Cancer Progress Report 2011.
Sommer was diagnosed with chordoma, a difficult to treat bone cancer that occurs in the head and spine, when he was a freshman at Duke University in 2006.
“I am encouraged by the progress that has occurred recently in cancer research, and specifically with rare cancers like chordoma,” said Sommer. “Thanks to new technologies, there is good reason to hope that even more dramatic progress lies ahead in the near future. I’m convinced that with more research there is enormous potential to make meaningful gains in survival for patients. However, there are currently only two chordoma research projects underway that are funded by the National Institutes of Health. More funding would help facilitate new discoveries and would make a big difference.”
The report was released by the American Association for Cancer Research on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2011, at the National Press Club located in Washington, D.C. It highlights scientific and technological breakthroughs that have arisen since the enactment of the National Cancer Act of 1971, and provides a glimpse of what the future could hold for cancer patients and their families.
The report recognizes the fundamental knowledge the research community has acquired about cancer’s complexity and attests to the fact that scientists and others are now poised to capitalize on this momentum to hasten the prevention and cure of cancer. Finally, the report addresses instability in federal research funding by calling on Congress to renew its commitment to making cancer research and biomedical funding a national priority.
Sommer spoke alongside Nobel Laureate Elizabeth Blackburn, Ph.D., AACR President Judy Garber, M.D., M.P.H., former deputy director of the National Cancer Institute Anna Barker, Ph.D., among others.
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The Chordoma Foundation is an international nonprofit organization working to improve the lives of chordoma patients by accelerating the development of effective treatments, and by helping patients to get the best care possible. Guided by a comprehensive research roadmap, the Foundation initiates and funds research, facilitates information exchange and collaboration among researchers, and provides scientific resources needed for research.
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