The
program, an Obama administration initiative led by Biden when he was
vice president, also aims to improve cancer detection and
prevention. Biden's son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015 at age 46,
something the president has said helps inform his and first lady
Jill Biden's passion for the project.
"I committed to this fight when I was vice president...let there be
no doubt, now that I'm president, this is a presidential White House
priority," he said.
Biden said there are 200 different kinds of cancer caused by genetic
mutations and the disease is still the "number two" cause of death
in America, after heart disease. He also drew a contrast with
COVID-19 saying that as the disease claimed over 800,000 American
lives over the same period 1.2 million Americans have lost their
lives to cancer.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/03/images/ads/current/LPL_small%201.gif)
Biden's new effort will install a White House coordinator, form a
cancer cabinet that will bring government departments and agencies
together and revive access to cancer screenings. It will also see
the White House hosting a summit to bring together stakeholders,
launch a website and build on a cancer roundtable conversation
series under way over the past six months, the White House said.
[to top of second column] |
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/03/images/ads/current/heartland_lda_NOV2021.png)
After the initiative launched in 2016, researchers said it would
take a major shift
https://www.reuters.com/
article/cancer-moonshot-idINK
BN1D0341 in the way cancer research is done in the United
States to meet the goals of the program.
"A lot has changed that makes it possible to set really ambitious
goals right now," a senior administration official said.
The official said a "decade's worth of research advances" occurred
in the past five years. He cited examples of scientific advances
such as preventative annual blood tests that screen for cancer.
Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris also attended the event.
Harris's mother, Shyamala Gopalan, died of colon cancer in 2009.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington. Editing by Gerry Doyle and
Aurora Ellis)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Aug/26/images/ads/current/ldn_medical_directory_small_2016.png) |