Cancer Moonshot

See the following -

Biden Announces Major Open Initiatives At Cancer Moonshot Summit

Press Release | The White House | June 28, 2016

Today, the Cancer Moonshot is hosting a summit at Howard University, in Washington, D.C. as part of a national day of action that also includes more than 270 events in communities across the United States.  Vice President Joe Biden will join over 350 researchers, oncologists and other care providers, data and technology experts, patients, families, and patient advocates, among others, will come together at Howard University.  They will be joined by more than 6,000 individuals at events in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and Guam.  This is the first time a group this expansive and diverse will meet under a government charge is to double the rate of progress in our understanding, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and care of cancer...

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Biden Gives a Peek at What’s to Come for Cancer Moonshot

Anna Edney | Bloomberg Politics | June 29, 2016

A corporate-government partnership to improve U.S. veterans’ access to personalized cancer treatments will highlight a nationwide series of gatherings and events Wednesday detailing of Vice President Joe Biden’s “Cancer Moonshot” program. IBM Corp. will donate access to its “Watson” supercomputer -- best known for beating human champions on the television game show “Jeopardy!” -- to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The supercomputer will help provide facilitate oncology treatment for those who have served in the U.S. military, according to a statement from the White House...

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Crowdsourcing a Better Prostate Cancer Prediction Tool

Press Release | University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus | November 15, 2016

Knowing the likely course of cancer can influence treatment decisions. Now a new prediction model published today in Lancet Oncology offers a more accurate prognosis for a patient's metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. The approach was as novel as the result - while researchers commonly work in small groups, intentionally isolating their data, the current study embraces the call in Joe Biden's "Cancer Moonshot" to open their question and their data, collecting previously published clinical trial data and calling for worldwide collaboration to evaluate its predictive power...

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Fewer Moonshots, More Walks

In a provocative op-ed piece, Jarle Breivik, a professor of medicine at the University of Oslo, takes aim at the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative announced earlier this year by President Obama.  Nice try, he concedes -- but the reality is: "We’re a lot better at fighting cancer. We just can’t cure it." Is this stereotypical Norwegian pessimism or just some badly needed Scandinavian bluntness? Dr. Breivik points out that cancer is fundamentally a disease of aging, and none of us is getting any younger.  All our efforts to improve lifespan end up putting us at risk of living long enough that we'll get some form of cancer...

Four Things We Can Do Now to Unlock the Cure for Cancer

As a community we are capable of working together to achieve greater things. If we marshal our resources to work together, I believe we can unlock the cure for cancer. This is a rare opportunity. We need to change the models and shift our culture towards collaboration. We can’t just tweak around the edges — patients and their families can’t afford to wait. An alternative system, where all publicly-funded research and data are required to be shared would allow authors to unlock their content and data for re-use with a global audience, and co-operate towards new discoveries and analysis.

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How Scientists Are Using Digital Badges

The open source world pioneered the use of digital badges to reward skills, achievements, and to signal transparency and openness. Scientific journals should apply open source methods, and use digital badges to encourage transparency and openness in scientific publications. Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts know all about merit badges. Scouts earn merit badges by mastering new skills. Mozilla Open Badges is a pioneer in awarding digital merit badges for skills and achievements. One example of a badge-issuing project is Buzzmath, where Open Badges are issued to recognize progress in mathematics to students, or anyone wanting to brush up on their skills...

Precision Medicine, Blue Button Among White House Big Data Efforts

Nathan Boroyan | HealthIT Analytics | September 30, 2016

Precision medicine, medical research, and improved patient engagement through initiatives like Blue Button are among the highlight achievements of the Obama Administration’s emphasis on data transparency and information sharing, says a White House fact sheet celebrating the nation’s big data progress. The following is a rundown of some of the specific open-data health efforts of the Obama Administration...

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The Administration's Cancer Moonshot Will Just Start Coming Together as They Leave Office, but Republicans Can Keep It Going.

Sean Captain | Fast Company | January 29, 2016

When President John F. Kennedy made his moonshot speech in September 1962, he thought he had at least two years left in office—over six if he got reelected. Plus, his party controlled Congress, giving him even more power to reach that goal. President Obama announced his moonshot to cure cancer (to be headed by VP Joe Biden) in his final State of the Union address. This week the administration revealed in a memorandum that the program may not be fully fleshed out until the final weeks of Obama's second term—with Republicans likely still holding Congress and perhaps entering the White House...

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The Not-So-Precise Side of Precision Medicine

Jessica Davis | Healthcare IT News | November 7, 2016

The launch of the Precision Medicine Initiative in 2015, along with this year's Cancer Moonshot, have touted the promise of genomic data for population health and more personalized diagnosis. As a result, more consumers are seeking genetic testing and more researchers are contributing to these initiatives. But the healthcare industry isn't necessarily prepared for this shift. The popularity of genetic testing doesn't come without risks, according to Mayo Clinic's recent report, The Promise and Peril of Precision Medicine...

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What Does the Trump Presidency Imply for Healthcare and Healthcare IT?

Many organizations have asked me to comment on the impact of the Trump Presidency on Healthcare and Healthcare IT. I served the Bush administration for 4 years and the Obama administration for 6 years. I know that change in Washington happens incrementally. There is always an evolution, not a revolution, regardless of speechmaking hyperbole. What am I doing in Massachusetts? I’m staying the course, continuing my focus on social networking for healthcare, mobile, care management analytics, cloud, and security while leaving the strategic plan/budget as is...