What’s New with Cancer Moonshot?

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On Thursday, April 25, 2019, former Vice President Joe Biden announced that he will be running for the Democratic Presidential nomination. But back in 2016, President Obama called on Biden to “lead a new, national ‘Moonshot’ initiative to eliminate cancer as we know it.” So what’s been happening with the Cancer MoonshotSM since then?

“Cancer Moonshot” by World Economic Forum is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

First, there’s been a name change. Cancer Moonshot 2020 is now known as Cancer Breakthroughs 2020. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is working to implement Cancer MoonshotSM. In a November 19, 2018 update, NCI Acting Deputy Director Dinah Singer, PhD, explained that the Moonshot is now moving from planning to research. A critical first step was the formation of the Moonshot Blue Ribbon Panel (BRP) and the publication of their 2016 report on recommendations for accelerating cancer research. NCI is now in the process of operationalizing the recommendations from this report.

On April 19, 2019, Claire Dietz reported in The Cancer Letter that NCI Board of Scientific Advisors had approved eight concepts as Request for Applications (RFAs), including three Cancer MoonshotSM  concepts at a March 25, 2019 meeting. One of the Cancer MoonshotSM  concepts centers around next generation technology for next gen cancer models (NGCMs).

Learn more about research initiatives Cancer MoonshotSM is supporting.

 

New eRA Website Coming on April 30

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The newly redesigned eRA (electronic Research Administration) website is set to be launched by the NIH’s Office of Extramural Research on Tuesday, April 30, 2019.

Check out the New eRA Website preview video (4:32 min):


Notes from the eRA:

* The launch will require downtime of about 2 hours. As a result, the existing eRA website will not be available between 6:30 a.m. ET and 8:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday, April 30.

* The eRA modules will continue to be operational during the downtime and can be accessed through the following URLs:

eRA Commons: https://public.era.nih.gov/commons
ASSIST: https://public.era.nih.gov/ASSIST
IAR: https://public.era.nih.gov/IAR

Volunteering at MSK

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A recent Washington Post column by Steven Petrow describes his experience with volunteerism at MSK, both as a patient and a volunteer. His interaction with MSK volunteers began on his first night as a patient 35 years ago, when a volunteer from the patient-to-patient program came to his room and made him realize he had hope for life after cancer. About a decade later, Petrow joined the volunteer program, becoming one of the 900 people between the ages of 14 and 90 who give their time and talents as MSK volunteers.

A volunteer (in blue coat) and a caregiver. (Source: Richard DeWitt)

To learn more about volunteering at MSK, visit the Department of Volunteer Resources website.