Cancer in the News
by Peter F. Garrett, National Cancer Institute
In recent months, I’ve seen a heightened interest in cancer research from mainstream media, political and policy media, bloggers, and foreign press.
As head of communications at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), I keep an eye on what’s being reported about cancer and cancer research. The level of attention I observe today could well be the highest since President Nixon declared the War on Cancer in 1971. Of course, cancer research has seen spikes in coverage, but this seems different. The breadth and depth of the narrative make today’s coverage unique.
What Makes This Time Different?
· We’ve seen stunning advances in research, in areas that include immunotherapy, a treatment method that stimulates a person’s own immune system to attack cancer cells.
· Data sharing — efforts to harness vast amounts of biomedical data that can be used by researchers — have become a part of everyday conversations.
· Vice President Joe Biden, using his leadership and personal passion to call for a Cancer Moonshot, is shining a bright light on the scientific opportunities while challenging the entire nation to double down, work together, and make faster progress for people with cancer.
Yet intensive media coverage serving up an ever increasing volume of information about cancer, from treatment breakthroughs to reports of cancer doctors boosting the use of the HPV vaccine, doesn’t necessarily lead to an improved or useful understanding of the disease.
Cancer is, after all, more than 200 diseases. Even a well-written article often can’t tell the whole story. It’s not hard to see how readers can be left with a skewed or inaccurate understanding when reading about research developments and wondering whether this news is something to get excited about now or a development that may take years to become reality.
Today’s barrage of cancer news creates the need to deepen the public understanding of what’s actually going on. Communicating the science accurately in language understandable to varied audiences and offering context to new developments is absolutely critical.
Cancer Conversations
The overall incidence and mortality of cancer continue to decline, yet increased numbers of Americans are getting to an age (i.e., the baby boomers) when cancer is more common. More people are living with cancer than ever before: there are more than 15 million survivors in the U.S. today, with a projected 20 million in 10 years. So it’s no surprise that it’s a common conversation in homes and workplaces across America.
Even with progress, cancer will directly or indirectly affect nearly all of us during our lives, and it’s a top fear for most. Many patients perceive cancer as an ironic, horrible, and silent attack from within our own bodies. In Siddhartha Mukherjee’s masterful book, Emperor of All Maladies, it’s been personified as the worst possible enemy to our health. This fear can be paralyzing, yet having the correct information about your disease at the right time, and the ability to act on it, can make a big difference in your outcome.
My job at NCI is to facilitate productive discussions of cancer. The NCI website, cancer.gov, for which I am responsible, is designed to provide reliable, balanced, and user-friendly scientific information about cancer topics.
At the upcoming Cancer Moonshot Summit, NCI will announce that it’s redesigning the search platform intended to be used by patients, family members, and oncologists. This platform will help all interested parties learn about and search online for cancer clinical trials, providing more understandable search criteria and a more manageable quantity of results. The aim is to may information about cancer research studies more accessible to patients who may qualify and chose to participate.
Beyond Reporting
Cancer is complicated, and researchers, clinicians, and other experts, not to mention journalists, sometimes have a tough job explaining it. With so much in play today, including new opportunities for preventing, finding, and treating cancer that are just on the cusp of making it into clinical practice, the field of cancer communications has become even more challenging lately.
At NCI, our communications mission doesn’t end with getting the reporting right. Since cancer research is so complex and nuanced, we seek to make our communications two-way. One example of this is our contact center, 1–800–4CANCER and NCI Live Help, where trained experts answer questions and help people understand their treatment options, including options to participate in cancer clinical trials.
A More Hopeful Future
I have the privilege of working alongside some of the smartest scientists in the world, and I know they have felt a deep, abiding personal responsibility to cancer patients. Today, I see the cancer community, in particular the Blue Ribbon Panel, responding to the Vice President’s passion, urgency and sense of possibility with concrete, patient-centered recommendations to the Cancer Moonshot.
If we are successful in our endeavors, perhaps there will come a day when cancer will no longer be “big news,” because people will no longer get it or die from it. Until then, it’s vital that we understand where we are, where we are headed, and what we can do to change cancer as we know it.
Dr. Doug Lowy, my boss and Acting Director of NCI, recently stated the oft repeated “to whom much is given, much is expected” in a talk he gave to NCI staff. All of us involved in cancer research have a greater responsibility than ever before to help the American people understand and make sense of our progress, and why this time is different.
The Cancer Moonshot is a mission, and all of us #CanServe. Visit https://WH.gov/cancermoonshot for more information.
