In a surprising announcement, President Obama turned to Vice President Joe Biden at the January State of the Union address and appointed the vice president as the point-person on a new national program dubbed the Cancer Moonshot.
Since that time, extraordinary steps have been taken to organize federal agencies and research projects in a coordinated effort to move cancer treatment and research forward by leaps and bounds.
On May 24, 2016, the Vice President held an invitation-only call on which ONS joined. The vice president announced that an in-person Cancer Moonshot Summit will be held June 29 in Washington, DC. ONS President Susan Schneider, PhD, RN, AOCN®, FAAN, and ONS Chief Executive Officer, Brenda Nevidjon, RN, MSN, FAAN, along with ONS members Kristin Ferguson, RN, OCN®, Sonia Bellfield, RN, MS, OCN®, Dawn Stefanik, BSN, RN, OCN®, Ruth Doerfler-Evans, RN, BA, CNOR, OCN®, Nancy Corbitt, BSN, RN, OCN®, CRNI, and Kevin Brigle, PhD, ANP, will attend the in-person summit to meet with others in the oncologic community.
The Cancer Moonshot conference will bring providers, patients, researchers, advocates, and more together, convening the conversation and talking about next steps in conquering the disease. According to the White House, anyone can join the national summit online or by hosting a celebration of the cancer summit in your own town.