Initiative
The Stand Up To Cancer initiative aims to raise awareness and bring about an understanding that everyone is connected by cancer. The stat used most often by SU2C is from the American Cancer Society: one out of every two men and one out of every three women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, meaning everyone is affected in some way, or will be. Another part of the campaign is motivating the public through various forms of media to become involved in the cause of curing cancer.
One doctor involved in Stand Up To Cancer, Dennis Slamon, MD, has compared treating cancer with treating hypertension:
"If we turn cancer into a chronic disease that's manageable, have we cured it? No, not any more than you 'cure' hypertension. You treat hypertension, and if you successfully treat hypertension the patient may die, but they're going to die of something other than hypertension or the diseases related to hypertension. Does that constitute a cure? It constitutes an appropriate control of the disease so that it isn't what's life-ending."The initiative has been framed only as a national project, isolated to America.
SU2C's ultimate goal is to cut down on the amount of time promising research takes in progressing from discovery through clinical trials and out onto the market. The initiative's funding model is offered as an alternative to the traditional grant proposal and funding process used by institutions like the National Cancer Institute, wherein a reported two in ten grants are funded.
Read more about this topic: SU2C
Famous quotes containing the word initiative:
“I am firmly opposed to the government entering into any business the major purpose of which is competition with our citizens ... for the Federal Government deliberately to go out to build up and expand ... a power and manufacturing business is to break down the initiative and enterprise of the American people; it is the destruction of equality of opportunity amongst our people, it is the negation of the ideals upon which our civilization has been based.”
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)
“A shocking crime was committed on the unscrupulous initiative of few individuals, with the blessing of more, and amid the passive acquiescence of all.”
—Tacitus (c. 55–120)
“You will belong to that minority which, according to current Washington doctrine, must be protected in its affluence lest its energy and initiative be impaired. Your position will be in contrast to that of the poor, to whom money, especially if it is from public sources, is held to be deeply damaging.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)