On October 17, 2016, Vice President Joe Biden presented his report to the President on the Cancer Moonshot detailing the Task Force’s recommendations that touched upon leveraging federal investments, targeted incentives, private sector efforts, patient engagement to support cancer research and progress in the areas of prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
The Academy applauds the vision and great strides outlined and the integrated solution proposed to a very complex challenge. We believe the Academy’s membership will be a key and integral part in the Moonshot process to beat cancer. It is essential that Congress find the federal funding to keep this effort moving forward.
The report has many recommendations that directly and indirectly affect the biomedical imaging research communities within its five strategic goals:
- Catalyze new scientific breakthroughs
- Unleash the power of data
- Accelerate bringing new therapies to patients
- Strengthen prevention and diagnosis
- Improve patient access and care
The report lays out an ambitious two-year timeline for implementation. The imaging and bioengineering research community interests are a part of the multidisciplinary challenge called for in the report and many of the recommendations will likely involve the Academy’s membership directly. The report urges all stakeholders to change the working paradigm to be one that is nimble, data driven, open and transparent, collaborative and sharing. It challenges the status quo to create a new functional paradigm that eliminates the current barriers to moving scientific ideas forward. Federal funding of this effort, however, remains the key stumbling block to advancements in cancer research. The Academy supports advocacy efforts to achieve this goal.
