One small step for man
MD Anderson launches Moon Shots Program to wipe out eight major types of cancer
Dr. Ronald DePinho, president of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson CancerCenter, announced the Moon Shots Program launch on Friday.Photo by F. Carter Smith
A promotional video for the program likens the program to John F. Kennedy'sfamous 1962 speech, in which the president announced the mission for the moon.
M.D. Anderson expects the Moon Shots Program to cost $3 billion over the first10 years.
On Friday, the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center announced the launch of the Moon Shots Program, an action plan that disrupts the paradigm and brings together teams of researchers and clinicians to streamline the conversion of knowledge to treatment.
As a top treatment facility for oncology research and care that harbors more than 18,000 employees, M.D. Anderson is uniquely suited to meet the challenges of the Moon Shots Program, which it promises will "significantly reduce cancer mortality in this decade, and ultimately achieve cure of several cancers in the years to follow."
"The Moon Shots Program is the first time a single academic medical center is attempting something of this magnitude," M.D. Anderson communications officer William Fitzgerald told CultureMap.
Although this knowledge-sharing system seems a no-brainer solution to the problem, this structure is a significant departure from the past, where infrastructures, funding and leadership varied from investigator to investigator.
New cancer-fighting strategies and technological capabilities that come out of the programs will eventually become part of the fabric of the institution.
Beginning in February 2013, funds and other resources will be driven toward six teams that will target the initial eight cancers of the program: acute myeloid leukemia/myelodysplastic syndrome; chronic lymphocytic leukemia; melanoma; lung cancer; prostate cancer; and triple-negative breast and ovarian cancers.
Each team will be supported by cross-functional platforms — including a center for co-clinical trials, therapy centers, early detection services, data capturing and storage — that will provide further expertise to leverage program investment.
New cancer-fighting strategies and technological capabilities that come out of the programs will eventually become part of the fabric of the institution.
The momumental effort was conceived by Dr. Ronald DePinho, who took the helm as president of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in September 2011. The Moon Shots Program's cost is anticipated to reach $3 billion over the first 10 years, with funding from grants, philanthropy and the commercialization of new discoveries.
"The Moon Shots Program holds the potential for a new approach to research that eventually can be applied to all cancers and even to other chronic diseases," DePinho said in a statement.
"History has taught us that if we put our minds to a task, the human spirit will prevail. We must do this — humanity is depending on all of us."
