(Vice President Joe Biden via medium.com) – Today, President Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum establishing a first-of-its-kind federal task force to carry out our call for a moonshot to end cancer as we know it.
And on Monday, I will convene and chair the first meeting of that task force, charged with a simple mission — making sure we’re all working from the same playbook.
What that means is we’re bringing together every federal agency that has a part to play, from the Departments of Health and Human Services, Defense, Energy, and Commerce to the National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug Administration. We’ll ensure that we make the most of our federal investments, research and data, computing capabilities, targeted incentives, private-sector efforts, and patient-engagement initiatives.
When it comes to speeding the pace of progress, we’ll clear out the bureaucratic hurdles — and, quite frankly, let science happen.
Now, as I’ve said from the start, I don’t claim to be a cancer expert. But I do have something to offer when it comes to being a catalyst and bringing folks together.
This will be the first time this kind of group has met as a team, charged with this kind of goal.