Miami Cancer Institute Joins Cancer 'Moonshot' Summit

(ABOVE: Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the first Cancer Moonshot Summit in Washington, D.C. Photo Courtesy: whitehouse.gov)

Miami Cancer Institute joined Cancer Support Community Greater Miami at a South Florida gathering of the Cancer Moonshot Summit held in Washington, D.C. The Cancer Moonshot Summit, led by Vice President Joe Biden, marked the first time that individuals and organizations representing the entire cancer community came together simultaneously to discuss new “pathways toward creating conversation, change, care and cures.”

In his final State of the Union address, President Obama put Vice President Biden in charge of this new national effort to end cancer. “It’s not about a single person,” Mr. Biden said. “It’s about us. Not giving up hope. Having the urgency now. The goal of the ‘moonshot’ is to propel us forward.”

The goal of this effort is to double the rate of progress toward a cure – to achieve a decade of advances in cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and care in just five years.

Cancer Support Community was chosen by the White House as an official partner for this Summit Initiative. The mission of Cancer Support Community is “to ensure that all people impacted by cancer are empowered by knowledge, strengthened by action, and sustained by community.” Cancer Support Community offers its services free-of-charge.

(Members of the Cancer Support Community Greater Miami gather to hear Vice President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot message.)

Peggy Rios, Ph.D, program director of Cancer Support Community said “this is about ordinary people coming together to make great things happen-it’s about people coming together to beat cancer.”

Leonard A. Kalman, M.D., deputy medical director and chief clinical officer of Miami Cancer Institute, spoke to the group gathered at the Miami event. “Through its plan to join the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Alliance, Miami Cancer Institute will bring together clinical trials, genomic research and cutting-edge technology,” Dr. Kalman said. “We want to be an active participant in this Cancer Moonshot,” Dr. Kalman added.

The Summit, held on the campus of Howard University, brought together more than 6,000 individuals at events in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and Guam. Cancer specialists, caregivers, patients and survivors came together at Cancer Support Community in South Miami to watch Vice President Biden’s message and hear from representatives of various cancer support organizations.