STAT+: At AACR, leading cancer researchers urge colleagues to \u2018fight for your science\u2019
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CHICAGO \u2014 In the first few weeks of President Trump\u2019s second term, many leaders and top scientists in cancer research found themselves questioning if they could have communicated better to the public. After all, experts told STAT, maybe if people understood how intimately connected cancer research is to the advances in technology, drugs, and care that have led to a 34% reduction in the cancer mortality rate since 1991, perhaps the government wouldn\u2019t have so dramatically cut research funding and activities for cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were so focused on curing and generating new knowledge and the next cure and technology, unfortunately, we probably didn\u2019t take the time we need to let people know that we\u2019re making great strides in cancer,\u201d Robert Winn, the director of the VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, told STAT in February. \u201cThat\u2019s a failing I have to sit with and understand that we contributed to that. Most people still think cancer is a death sentence. That\u2019s a collective failure. We got to get better at that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since then, the cancer research and medical community seems to have taken such reflections to heart. This past week, over 22,000 cancer scientists, clinicians, and advocates convened for one of the largest cancer conferences in the world, the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting. Throughout it, cancer research leaders made a departure from just speaking about advances in cancer medicine in technical terms. They called on attendees to stand up and advocate for their research by taking actions like calling representatives, and several speakers made\u00a0 full-throated denouncements of certain Trump policies.<\/p>\n
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