Vice President Launches Cancer Moonshot

BU IN DC

David Sherr and Wendy Heiger-Bernays of the School of Public Health met with staff from several Massachusetts Congressional offices to discuss the work of the BU Superfund Research Program on January 29.

David Jones of the School of Public Health spoke at the National Health Policy Conference on February 1.

Thomas Bifano of the Photonics Center and Timothy Gardner of the College of Arts & Sciences and the College of Engineering participated in a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) workshop on Neural Engineering System Design on February 1 and 2.

VICE PRESIDENT LAUNCHES CANCER MOONSHOT

On Monday, Vice President Joe Biden convened the first meeting of the Cancer Moonshot Task Force, an interagency group that will carry out the Obama Administration’s goal of leveraging federal, industry, and philanthropic support to “eliminate cancer as we know it.” The Administration also announced that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) would immediately use $195 million to begin Cancer Moonshot activities. The NIH will focus its efforts on prevention and vaccine development, early detection using genomic and proteomic technologies, immunotherapy, data sharing, and pediatric cancer. The White House plans to request an additional $755 million for the NIH and the Food and Drug Administration in its forthcoming budget, as well as an unspecified amount for the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. 

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EVENT NEWS YOU CAN USE

The National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) is hosting the Medical Research, Development, and Acquisition in Support of the Warfighter Conference with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC) on April 19 and 20 in Ellicott City, Maryland. BU faculty interested in building relationships with DOD biomedical officials and program managers should register, as the conference will help investigators craft proposals that meet DOD needs and engage with a funding agency that requires networking for success. Attendees will learn about the medical missions and programs across the Department of Defense (DOD), including the Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Defense Health Agency.

Register for the conference