Newswise — The Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) congratulates the new members of a Blue Ribbon Panel, announced today by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which will inform the scientific direction and goals at NCI of Vice President Joe Biden’s National Cancer Moonshot Initiative.
The panel, comprised of scientific experts, cancer leaders, and patient advocates, includes four AACI cancer center directors: Mary Beckerle, Ph.D., CEO and Director, Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City; Chi Van Dang, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Medicine and Director, Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Augusto Ochoa, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics and Director, Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center Louisiana State University, New Orleans; and, Jennifer Pietenpol, Ph.D., Professor of Oncology, Professor of Biochemistry, and Director, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, Tennessee. In addition, Laurie Glimcher, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Dean, Weill Cornell Medical College, is incoming President and CEO, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston.
The Blue Ribbon Panel is co-chaired by Tyler Jacks, Ph.D., Chair, National Cancer Advisory Board, and Director, Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Elizabeth Jaffee, M.D., Professor and Deputy Director for Translational Research, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, and Dinah Singer, Ph.D., Acting Deputy Director and Director, Division of Cancer Biology, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland. (A full list of panel members is at this link http://www.cancer.gov/news-events/press-releases/2016/blue-ribbon-panel-announced)
In the course of its work the panel will consider how to advance a number of themes that have been proposed for the initiative, including enhanced data sharing, a goal highlighted by the vice president earlier this year when he urged leading cancer centers to break down silos and reach unprecedented levels of cooperation.
“As a primary source for the generation, collection and use of molecular, clinical and outcomes data, AACI and its member cancer centers fully support the vice president's call to revolutionize the sharing of medical and research data,” said AACI President George J. Weiner, MD. Dr. Weiner stressed that steady, predictable funding for the National Institutes of Health and NCI is vital as cancer centers work to share data and improve information systems and communication across the cancer continuum. Streamlining regulatory oversight of these efforts, while also protecting patient privacy, is central to optimizing progress.
A key element of AACI's mission is helping cancer centers keep pace with the changing landscape in science, technology and health care.
“AACI looks forward to collaborating with the members of the Blue Ribbon Panel in order to meet the vice president’s goal of ending cancer as we know it,” said AACI Executive Director Barbara Duffy Stewart, MPH.
The Association of American Cancer Institutes (AACI) comprises 95 premier academic and freestanding cancer research centers in the U.S. and Canada. AACI is dedicated to reducing the burden of cancer by enhancing the impact of the leading academic cancer centers.
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