JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Chances are someone in your life has been impacted by cancer. At Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center, they are working to put President Joe Biden's Cancer Moonshot initiative into action.
The president wants to halve the number of cancer deaths in the next 25 years. Is it possible? First Coast News sat down for a one-on-one interview with the cancer center's medical director to find out.
It's going to take a lot, but Medical Director Dr. Bill Putnam at the cancer center is excited about what this focus on cancer can mean. Putnam summarizes the initiative as stepping up collaboration and early screening, something they're pushing at the cancer center.
The White House reports there have been 9.5 million missed cancer screenings because of COVID-19.
"Many women have not gotten their exams because they've been providing care for their families and really have not provided the care they need for themselves," Putnam said.
Since the turn of the century, the death rate from cancer has fallen by almost 30%, according to the CDC, but it's still the second leading cause of death after heart disease. Technology is only getting better.
"We have novel techniques, we have robot-assisted bronchoscopy for diagnosis of small nodules in the lung," Putnam said as some examples. "We will have even better results over time, and I think as we do that, we will be working together to accomplish our mission of making cancer history."
But what will it take to get there? Putnam says they're working toward a better understanding of the genetic characteristics that make up cancer.
"Our precision health initiative that we will be establishing here within our Baptist Health System will help us understand the genetic risk that certain patients have," he said. "As well as understanding the genetic characteristics of cancers that help us to treat patients even better."
Putnam says they are also working on more than 50 clinical trials.
"Bringing the future of cancer care to the patient," Putnam said about clinical trials. "So many of us have had family members who have been touched by cancer requiring cancer care. So our goal is really to align with our partner in Houston, Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center and really accomplish our mission of making cancer history."
Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center treats over 400 patients every day.