science environment

Biden Praises Providence Health For Help With Cancer 'Moonshot'

By Kristian Foden-Vencil (OPB)
Portland, Oregon June 30, 2016 1:15 a.m.
THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR:
Joe Biden is leading a Cancer Moonshot to  get researchers, hospitals and scientists to share  work and thus increase progress.

Joe Biden is leading a Cancer Moonshot to get researchers, hospitals and scientists to share work and thus increase progress.

Marc Nozell/Flickr

Providence Health System joined Vice President Joe Biden’s effort to better treat cancer.

Biden lost his son to cancer last year. And President Barack Obama has challenged the nation to tackle cancer like it tackled space travel in the 1960s.

Part of the so-called "Cancer Moonshot" effort involves building a network of health systems willing to share research.

Speaking from the nation’s capital Wednesday, Biden praised Washington state-based Providence and many other organizations for joining forces.

“This network is going to link cancer genomic data for 79 hospitals and 800 clinics across 11 states — data for more than 50,000 new cancer patients per year, that can now be shared openly on a network," Biden said.

President Richard Nixon promised a similar cancer moonshot back in the 1970s.

Over the last 40 years, the National Cancer Institute has spent billions in search of better treatments.

THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR:
THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR:
THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR: