STAT+: At AACR, leading cancer researchers urge colleagues to ‘fight for your science’
At one of the largest cancer conferences in the world, researchers spoke with unusual boldness about advocating for their work.
CHICAGO — In the first few weeks of President Trump’s second term, many leaders and top scientists in cancer research found themselves questioning if they could have communicated better to the public. After all, experts told STAT, maybe if people understood how intimately connected cancer research is to the advances in technology, drugs, and care that have led to a 34% reduction in the cancer mortality rate since 1991, perhaps the government wouldn’t have so dramatically cut research funding and activities for cancer.
“We were so focused on curing and generating new knowledge and the next cure and technology, unfortunately, we probably didn’t take the time we need to let people know that we’re making great strides in cancer,” Robert Winn, the director of the Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, told STAT in February. “That’s a failing I have to sit with and understand that we contributed to that. Most people still think cancer is a death sentence. That’s a collective failure. We got to get better at that.”
Since then, the cancer research and medical community seems to have taken such reflections to heart. This past week, over 22,000 cancer scientists, clinicians, and advocates convened for one of the largest cancer conferences in the world, the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting. Throughout it, cancer research leaders made a departure from just speaking about advances in cancer medicine in technical terms. They called on attendees to stand up and advocate for their research by taking actions like calling representatives, and several speakers made full-throated denouncements of certain Trump policies.
