Back in 2016 just days after President Obama announced the “moonshot” to find a cancer cure during his State of The Union, President Joe Biden, then Vice President, visited Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center to kick off the national effort which in his words would aim to “accelerate the progress already underway” much of which was happening right at Penn.

In the five years since the “Moonshot” launch event, Abramson Cancer Center has worked with top scientists around the country to advance cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment making huge strides in developing tomorrow’s treatments and cures. Since the launch, the effort has led to many cancer breakthroughs and lead to major federal funding for cancer research. Some of which have included 1.8 billion in federal funding for cancer and also 13 new therapies based on work done just at Penn that have been approved by the FDA.

The American Cancer Society says there has been a record low number of cancer deaths in the past year and doctors credit much of that to innovations that have come directly from the “Moonshot” program started by President Biden in honor of his son Beau who sadly passed of brain cancer at age 46.

For more information on President Biden’s “Moonshot” initiative please visit https://www.cancer.gov/research/key-initiatives/moonshot-cancer-initiative.