Newswise — SEATTLE – Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center will host one of hundreds of summits held around the country on June 29 in conjunction with the Vice President Joe Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Summit in Washington, DC. The goal of the Cancer Moonshot is to double the rate of progress in cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care over the next five years to, ultimately, end cancer as we know it. “The Moonshot cannot be achieved by one person, one organization, one discipline, or even one collective approach,” Vice President Biden said. “Solving the complexities of cancer will require the formation of new alliances to defy the bounds of innovation and accelerate the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and — ultimately — a cure. It’s going to require millions of Americans speaking up and contributing what they’re able. That’s what the Cancer Moonshot Summit is all about.”
The summit seeks to foster collaborations and create an action plan around the goals of the Cancer Moonshot. This will be the very first time that stakeholders representing all types of cancers will convene under one national charge – both regionally and nationally. At Fred Hutch, the summit will include researchers, administrators and patients from Moonshot collaborators including Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle Children’s, UW Medicine and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. At the summit’s conclusion, a list of suggestions will be compiled and forwarded to the White House as the basis for a national cancer cure plan. Gary Gilliland, president and director of Fred Hutch, said Seattle is perfectly positioned to be a Moonshot leader and not simply from a medical research and treatment standpoint; The presence of Microsoft, Google and Amazon among others puts the region at the technological forefront, too.
“People in Seattle should be proud of the fact that we’re at the leading edge of this. We have the best congruence of depth in life sciences research – particularly in cancer – and in technology in the country. There are very few places that can bring those technical capabilities together.”
Attendees at summits across the nation include leaders representing the entire cancer community – including researchers, doctors, scientists, philanthropists, community oncologists, advocates, patients and survivors.
In January, President Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum establishing this first-of-its-kind federal task force. Chaired by Vice President Biden, it’s comprised of leaders from federal agencies and research centers that have a part to play curing cancer. To that end, the administration announced a new $1 billion in new funding for the Moonshot Initiative. Gilliland, who will be at the Vice President’s Moonshot meeting at Howard University on the same day as the Seattle summit, noted that “moonshot” as a metaphor for this initiative makes sense. “What I like about the ‘Moonshot’ concept is that it is analogous to the space program in the early 1960s; we knew what to do to put together a machine to go to the moon.
“That’s the opportunity we have now. We know where we need to go. We need to work together and we need the resources to support that.”
WHAT: Cancer Moonshot Summit at Fred HutchWHEN: June 29, 2016, noon to 4 p.m. WHERE: Arnold Building, Behnke Suites Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center 1100 Fairview Ave. N. Seattle, WA 98109
Contact: Mike Lewis, 206-667-6651 (o); 206-931-9883 (m); [email protected]; [email protected]
# # #About Fred Hutch:At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, home to three Nobel laureates, interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists seek new and innovative ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases. Fred Hutch’s pioneering work in bone marrow transplantation led to the development of immunotherapy, which harnesses the power of the immune system to treat cancer with minimal side effects. An independent, nonprofit research institute based in Seattle, Fred Hutch houses the nation’s first and largest cancer prevention research program, as well as the clinical coordinating center of the Women’s Health Initiative and the international headquarters of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network. Private contributions are essential for enabling Fred Hutch scientists to explore novel research opportunities that lead to important medical breakthroughs. For more information visit www.fredhutch.org or follow Fred Hutch on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.
About UW Medicine:UW Medicineʼs mission is to improve the health of the public by advancing medical knowledge, providing patient care, and training the next generation of health professionals. Our system includes Harborview Medical Center, Northwest Hospital & Medical Center, Valley Medical Center, UW Medical Center, UW Neighborhood Clinics, UW Physicians, UW School of Medicine and Airlift Northwest.Visit www.uwmedicine.org for details.Follow us on Twitter: @UWMedicine. Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/UWMedicineNews.
About Seattle Cancer Care Alliance:Seattle Cancer Care Alliance brings together the leading research teams and cancer specialists from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Fred Hutch), Seattle Children’s and UW Medicine - one extraordinary group whose sole purpose is the pursuit of better, longer, richer lives of our patients. Based in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, SCCA has six clinical care sites, including a medical oncology clinic at EvergreenHealth in Kirkland, Washington; medical and radiation oncology clinics at UW Medicine/Northwest Hospital & Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, as well as Network affiliations with hospitals in five states. For more information about SCCA, visit seattlecca.org.
About Seattle Children’s:Seattle Children’s Hospital, Foundation and Research Institute together deliver superior patient care, advance new discoveries and treatments through pediatric research, and raise funds to create better futures for patients.Consistently ranked as one of the top 10 children’s hospitals in the country by U.S. News & World Report, Seattle Children’s Hospital specializes in meeting the unique physical, emotional and developmental needs of children from infancy through young adulthood. Through the collaboration of physicians in nearly 60 pediatric subspecialties, Seattle Children’s Hospital provides inpatient, outpatient, diagnostic, surgical, rehabilitative, behavioral, and emergency and outreach services to families from around the world.
Seattle Children’s Research Institute is pushing the boundaries of medical research to find cures for pediatric diseases and improve outcomes for children all over the world. Internationally recognized investigators and staff at the research institute are advancing new discoveries in cancer, genetics, immunology, pathology, infectious disease, injury prevention, bioethics and much more.For more information, visit seattlechildrens.org or follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
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