On the anniversary of Kennedy’s famous speech, President Biden insists cancer can be eradicated. Researchers hope his attention reenergizes the effort.
And key positions — including the director of the National Cancer Institute, the head of the new ARPA-H research organization and a top presidential science adviser — have been empty for months. But now, the administration has tapped people for all three roles, fueling hope the moonshot efforts will accelerate.
“If that was the only thing that happened in the first six months of the moonshot, that is a tremendous win,” Gross said. Otis Brawley, a professor of oncology and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University, said about 20 percent of the 600,000 annual cancer deaths in the United States could be avoided if disparities were reduced so that people with a high school education received the same help with prevention, diagnosis, screening and treatment as those with a college education.
Biden’s anti-cancer efforts also provided a rare moment of bipartisanship in Washington. Biden worked closely with Republicans — including Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell — to win passage of the 21st Century Cures bill.
During his trip to Massachusetts, Biden also appeared with state Attorney General Maura Healey, who is the Democratic gubernatorial nominee and is running against Geoff Diehl, a Trump-backed former state lawmaker. Healey participated with Biden in a photo line at the Kennedy Library.