Published on July 20, 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kyra Meister
703-836-1746
kyra.meister@preventcancer.org
Washington, DC – Earlier this year, President Biden reignited the Cancer Moonshot with renewed leadership and ambitious goals to ‘end cancer as we know it.’ To address colorectal cancer, the White House has been working with national advocacy organization Fight Colorectal Cancer (Fight CRC) and other advocacy and industry leaders in the colorectal cancer community. On July 25, 2022, Carolyn “Bo” Aldigé, founder of the Prevent Cancer Foundation, and 18 others will join Fight CRC at the White House to discuss their shared response to the President’s call to action to improve and increase access to colorectal cancer screening, with a special emphasis on reaching the underserved and the 44 million people who need to be screened.
“The hope is that we can find and agree on a collective strategy and tangible steps we can take to get more people screened for colorectal cancer. We applaud the Administration and the White House for including a specific call to action on cancer screening and early detection within the Cancer Moonshot initiative,” said Bo Aldigé.
Although colorectal cancer is preventable with timely screening and highly treatable if caught early, one in three people are not up-to-date with colorectal cancer screening. This was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic—a January 2022 survey conducted by the Prevent Cancer Foundation found that one-half of Americans who had a scheduled in-person medical appointment missed, postponed and/or cancelled one or more of these appointments over the past two years. Despite the availability of several safe and effective colorectal cancer screening options, colorectal cancer remains the number two cause of death for men and women combined, with communities of color experiencing even higher incidence and mortality rates.
“We commend the bold vision to fight cancer by President Biden and the Moonshot program,” said Anjee Davis, President of Fight CRC. “It is our hope as catalysts for the colorectal cancer community that with this meeting, we can address inequities within colorectal cancer screening and make progress toward our Path to a Cure. Prevention plays a huge role in ending colorectal cancer. The White House asked for a plan to get more people screened, and we are here to deliver—leading with the power of the patient voice.”
Participants who will be attending the White House Meeting:
Carolyn “Bo” Aldigé – Prevent Cancer Foundation, Founder
Alexey Aleshin, MD – Natera, General Manager, Early Cancer Detection
Andrew Barnell, MBA – Geneoscopy Inc., CEO
Danielle Carnival, PhD – White House Cancer Moonshot, Coordinator
Austin Chiang, MD, MPH – Medtronic, CMO
Kevin Conroy – Exact Sciences, CEO
Anjee Davis, MPPA – Fight Colorectal Cancer, President
AmirAli Talasaz, PhD – Guardant Health, Co-CEO
Greg Hamilton, MBA – Epigenomics, CEO
Lisa Lacasse – American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), President
David Lieberman, MD, AGAF – American Gastroenterological Association, Former President
Molly McDonnell – Fight Colorectal Cancer, Director of Advocacy
Arif Nathoo, MD, MPA – Komodo Health, Co-Founder & CEO
Angela Nicholas, MD – Fight Colorectal Cancer, Board Member
Mike Nolan, MBA – Freenome, CEO
AmirAli Talasaz, PhD – Guardant Health, Co-CEO
Catharine Young, MPA – Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP), Senior Director
The meeting will be closed; however, for photos, b-roll or official comments before or after the roundtable, please contact media@fightcrc.org or kyra.meister@preventcancer.org.
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About Fight Colorectal Cancer
Fight Colorectal Cancer (Fight CRC) is a leading patient-empowerment and advocacy organization in the United States, providing balanced and objective information on colon and rectal cancer research, treatment, and policy. They are relentless champions of hope, focused on funding promising, high-impact research endeavors while equipping advocates to influence legislation and policy for the collective good. Learn more at FightCRC.org.
About the Prevent Cancer Foundation®
The Prevent Cancer Foundation® is the only U.S. nonprofit organization focused solely on saving lives across all populations through cancer prevention and early detection. Through research, education, outreach and advocacy, we have helped countless people avoid a cancer diagnosis or detect their cancer early enough to be successfully treated.
The Foundation is rising to meet the challenge of reducing cancer deaths by 40% by 2035. To achieve this, we are committed to investing $20 million for innovative technologies to detect cancer early and advance multi-cancer screening, $10 million to expand cancer screening and vaccination access to medically underserved communities, and $10 million to educate the public about screening and vaccination options.
For more information, please visit www.preventcancer.org.
