Bringing the Moonshot Home

October 20, 2016

By: Dr. Lisa C. Richardson

I was excited with the release of the report on Monday highlighting the novel work across the cancer continuum, especially the work to prevent this devastating disease. CDC is one of the Cancer Moonshot Taskforce partners and is ready to champion the prevention and diagnosis efforts.

As a medical oncologist, I have seen the devastating toll cancer can take on its victims. Unfortunately, I also know first-hand about the heartache of watching someone you love suffer … not as a doctor, but as a niece who lost her aunt to colon cancer in 2013.

In January, 2016, during his State of the Union address, President Obama announced the Cancer Moonshot “for the loved ones we’ve all lost, for the families we can still save.” I was very excited to hear Vice President Biden say on multiple occasions, “Prevention can save more lives than anything else we can do.”

It’s true. Most of the progress we have seen in cancer control is due to decreases in cancer causing risk factors, but more work needs to be done like in decreasing tobacco use and increasing HPV vaccination. Today, we know that there are effective strategies to detect and diagnose certain cancers before it spreads, like colorectal cancer. There are too many adults, like my aunt, who have not had a timely, regular, recommended screening for colorectal cancer.

I love being an oncologist. Some people think it would be depressing, but for me, I get the chance to work hand in hand with patients to help treat their cancer. Losing patients inspires me to work harder on prevention interventions that extend beyond the patient and has the potential to impact families and their communities. Let’s keep doing what we do best and encourage each other to do everything we can to lower the risk of developing cancer.

You can learn more about CDC’s cancer efforts at www.cdc.gov/cancer.