UChicago Medicine to host regional Cancer Moonshot Summit

Event is part of Biden's call to action to accelerate progress in cancer research

June 29, 2016

The University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center has been chosen to co-host a regional conference to rally a critical mass of minds around the topic of cancer, concurrent to Vice President Joe Biden's Cancer Moonshot Summit in Washington on Wednesday.

UChicago Medicine will represent Region 5 -- covering Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin -- co-hosting the event with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network during a half-day program that will feature a live-stream address from Biden. The agenda also includes a welcome from Kathleen Falk, DHHS's Region 5 director, as well as breakout sessions to encourage brainstorming and cooperation.

"We are honored that the Department of Health and Human Services selected us as one of 10 regional sites across the country to facilitate discussions on how the entire cancer community can work together to increase the rate of discovery," said Michelle Le Beau, PhD, director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center. "We join our colleagues and other stakeholders across the country as we break down silos and foster innovation."

The Cancer Moonshot Summit, requested by Biden, is aimed at encouraging action and collaboration in conjunction with the namesake national initiative that seeks to double the rate of progress in cancer research over the next five years. The Moonshot Summit will be the first time researchers, oncologists, clinicians, philanthropists, data and technology experts, advocacy groups, and patients will convene on the same day under one national charge to brainstorm around prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Hundreds of organizations across the country are expected to participate at local venues on Wednesday.

"The Moonshot cannot be achieved by one person, one organization, one discipline, or even one collective approach," 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."

In January, President Barack Obama signed a presidential memorandum to establish a federal task force to end cancer as it is known. Led by the vice president, the White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force comprises leaders from every federal agency that has a part to play in addressing cancer. The administration also announced a $1 billion initiative to jumpstart the Cancer Moonshot.

Biden's passion in finding breakthroughs in cancer was sharpened when he lost his son, Beau, to brain cancer in 2015. That interest also brought Biden to UChicago in early June to attend the public launch of the Genomic Data Commons (GDC), heralding a new era of data sharing for cancer research. Housed at UChicago, the GDC is a National Cancer Institute-supported system that centralizes, standardizes and harmonizes genomic and clinical data and addresses data sharing, a major Moonshot priority area.

The public is invited to watch the Summit in Washington and to be a part of the conversation Wednesday on Twitter using #CanServe.

UChicago Cancer Moonshot Summit

When: 1 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Where: Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery
900 E. 57^th St., Chicago

Agenda