AACR President Voices Optimism on Moonshot Potential

Medical journalist Andrew Schorr, a two-time cancer survivor, created Patient Power in 2005 as an online portal for information on cancer. He put his interviewing skills to work recently when he spoke with American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) President Nancy Davidson, MD, about Vice President Biden’s National Cancer Moonshot Initiative.

Schorr interviewed Davidson after back-to-back appearances in Washington, D.C., where Davidson offered her expertise on cancer research to policymakers. On June 28, Davidson, AACR Chief Executive Officer Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), National Cancer Institute Acting Director Douglas Lowy, MD, and a panel of early-career scientists participated in a congressional briefing on funding for cancer research. The following day, Davidson and Foti took part in a Cancer Moonshot Summit hosted by the White House. Schorr also attended both events, providing coverage for his audience of patients, survivors, and caregivers.

Schorr and Davidson discussed the need to build upon the many recent advances in cancer treatment and prevention, and continue the national focus on cancer once Biden leaves office.

“It’s incumbent on all of us in the real world—in the patient world, in the provider world, in the researcher world—to continue that momentum. We need to be the voices for the importance of this mission going forward,” Davidson told Schorr.

The AACR thanks Patient Power for sharing the full interview.