Earlier this year, President Biden, reignited the Cancer Moonshot with renewed leadership and ambitious goals to ‘end cancer as we know it.’ To address colorectal cancer, the White House has been working with national advocacy organization Fight Colorectal Cancer (Fight CRC) and other advocacy and industry leaders in the colorectal cancer community.
On July 25, 2022, David Lieberman MD, AGAF, chair of the AGA Executive Committee on the Screening Continuum and 18 others will join Fight CRC at the White House to discuss their shared response to the President’s call to action to improve and increase access to colorectal cancer screening, with a special emphasis on reaching the underserved and the 44 million people who need to be screened.
This group of advocacy and industry leaders are choosing to set aside their individual priorities to come together and support efforts that speak to their shared commitment to helping increase access to colorectal cancer screening for all Americans. The group will explore both policy solutions and ideas for public-private partnerships that will help meet the President’s Cancer Moonshot goals.
“Patients can now engage in CRC screening program and be confident that they will not face unexpected cost-sharing for colonoscopy after a positive non-invasive screening test. AGA knows that increased participation in screening will further reduce the burden of colorectal cancer and we are proud to work with all stakeholders to advance screening rates,” said Chair of the AGA Executive Committee on the Screening Continuum, David Lieberman, MD, AGAF.
Although colorectal cancer is preventable with timely screening and highly treatable if caught early, one in three people are not up-to-date with colorectal cancer screening. This was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, in a recent analysis by Komodo Health new CRC diagnoses were down more than 32%. Despite the availability of several safe and effective CRC screening options, CRC remains the No. 2 overall cancer killer for men and women combined with communities of color seeing even higher incidence and mortality rates.
“We commend the bold vision to fight cancer by President Biden and the Moonshot program,” said Anjee Davis, President of Fight CRC. “It is our hope as catalysts for the colorectal cancer community that with this meeting, we can address inequities within colorectal cancer screening and make progress toward our Path to a Cure. Prevention plays a huge role in ending colorectal cancer. The White House asked for a plan to get more people screened, and we are here to deliver—leading with the power of the patient voice.”
Participants who will be attending the White House Meeting:
- Carolyn “Bo” Aldigé – Prevent Cancer Foundation, Founder
- Alexey Aleshin, MD, MBA – Natera, General Manager, Early Cancer Detection
- Andrew Barnell, MBA – Geneoscopy Inc., CEO and Co-Founder
- Danielle Carnival, PhD – White House Cancer Moonshot, Coordinator
- Austin Chiang, MD, MPH – Medtronic, CMO
- Kevin Conroy – Exact Sciences, Chairman and CEO
- Anjee Davis, MPPA – Fight Colorectal Cancer, President
Greg Hamilton, MBA – Epigenomics, CEO - Lisa Lacasse, MBA – American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), President
- David Lieberman, MD, AGAF – American Gastroenterological Association, Former President
- Molly McDonnell – Fight Colorectal Cancer, Director of Advocacy
- Arif Nathoo, MD, MPA – Komodo Health, Co-Founder and CEO
- Angela Nicholas, MD – Fight Colorectal Cancer, Board Chair
- Mike Nolan, MBA – Freenome, CEO
- AmirAli Talasaz, PhD – Guardant Health, Co-Founder and Co-CEO
- Catharine Young, MPA – Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Senior Director
The meeting will be closed; however, for photos, b-roll or official comments before or after the roundtable, please contact [email protected] or [email protected].
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About Fight Colorectal Cancer
Fight Colorectal Cancer (Fight CRC) is a leading patient-empowerment and advocacy organization in the United States, providing balanced and objective information on colon and rectal cancer research, treatment, and policy. We are relentless champions of hope, focused on funding promising, high-impact research endeavors while equipping advocates to influence legislation and policy for the collective good. Learn more at FightCRC.org.
About the AGA Institute
The American Gastroenterological Association is the trusted voice of the GI community. Founded in 1897, the AGA has grown to more than 16,000 members from around the globe who are involved in all aspects of the science, practice and advancement of gastroenterology. The AGA Institute administers the practice, research and educational programs of the organization. www.gastro.org.
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