Research is the key to mitigating the effects of cancer. We've made unprecedented progress in the fight against cancer, thanks in large part to the federal government's funding of research. Since the mid-1970s, five-year survival rates for all cancers have improved from 50 percent to 68 percent. Today, there are approximately 13.7 million survivors alive in America. This documents remarkable success. Through research, we have available screening tests for the top four cancers including colonoscopy, mammography and most recently, at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center, the low-dose spiral CT scan that has the potential to identify early lung cancers. The key for future improvements is translational research, which requires a very close collaboration between scientists working in laboratories and physicians working in clinics. Within translational research, the gold standard is bi-directional translational research through which scientists and doctors work together and information flows back and forth between the labs and the clinics as they cooperate to develop new screening tools and drugs to prevent cancer and provide better care for cancer patients. Where does this gold standard bi-directional research happen? At the 40 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers like Norris Cotton. The U.S. government is by far the top funder of cancer research. No other funding source comes close. In fact, National Cancer Institute or the National Institutes of Health funded 75 percent of the research conducted at Norris Cotton in the past 10 years. Nearly $53 million in medical research funds come to New Hampshire each year from outside the state. At Norris Cotton, we have 125 scientists who rely on awards to cover salaries, laboratory expenses and equipment. These are highly competitive awards provided only after intensive national peer review. I'm proud to say we are on the verge of discoveries that could one day eliminate death and suffering from this disease. My vision is a state, and a world, without cancer. Through research, we can mitigate cancer and its effects on our lives. But we can only accomplish this if Congress sustains ongoing investments in this lifesaving cancer research. Engage your governmental representatives and tell them to support cancer research! Mark Israel, MD, is the director of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center. This blog was taken from remarks he delivered as part of a joint ACS CAN-Norris Cotton event held at the cancer center today, which highlighted the critical importance of cancer research funding.
Mariah Forster Olson, an ACS CAN Ambassador Constituent Team Lead (ACT Lead), traveled to Washington, D.C. this week to share her story as a childhood cancer survivor and to advocate on behalf of other patients and survivors during the 2019 Childhood Cancer Action Days.