National Cancer Institute shared on LinkedIn:
“‘What a year!
When I was sworn in as NCI Director one year ago today, before I even knew where the cafeteria was, there was a historic government shutdown.
It was a challenging start, but I can say I genuinely love this job and find it deeply rewarding.
Most of all, I’ve been inspired by the outstanding NCI staff. They work here mainly because of their dedication to our shared mission of reducing cancer suffering, and it shows.
It has been a thrill to see our long-term investments paying off from this vantage point. Take daraxonrasib – a new drug giving people with advanced pancreatic cancer long-overdue hope.
Or our work proving a single dose of the HPV vaccine is as effective as two, making cancer prevention simpler and more accessible.
Showing the American taxpayer how their investment translates into lifesaving advances is why we launched the Your NCI initiative this year. The truth is, nearly every major cancer breakthrough has its roots in an NCI grant.
I am convinced there is a role for embracing calculated risk to accelerate progress.
For example, we placed a major bet alongside the Foundation for the NIH to fast-track clinical trials for cancer therapeutic vaccines – a technology that has shown early promise in treating some of the deadliest cancers.
I am convinced that there is a principle there that we can exploit. Now we need to determine the best modalities, the best delivery systems, and the right contexts to see maximum benefit.
I am a long-time supporter of directly probing living patient tissue with drugs to determine patient-specific therapeutic vulnerabilities.
I call this functional precision medicine. Pursuing this is an important way the NCI will be championing human-based models in research. The closer we get to human biology, the more confidently we can find answers that matter.
Finally, we’re working to speed up U.S. clinical trials.
By partnering across government, cancer centers, commercial stakeholders, and others, we are addressing structural roadblocks and exploring secure AI tools to streamline trials so that promising treatments reach patients sooner.
In my next year, I look forward to working alongside our brilliant research and clinical communities to continue pushing the boundaries of discovery.
NCI remains your partner, scientific resource, and biggest champion.
Let’s keep the momentum going to deliver more breakthroughs for people with cancer.’ – Tony.”
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