The Research Evangelist

I recently attended an event in Boston organized by Elsevier called “ The Next Giant Leap ” that brought together oncology experts to talk about cancer research and the goals of the White House Cancer Moonshot initiative. The event featured a panel of experts, each approaching cancer research and care from a different perspective, and was centered on the President’s Cancer Panel Report (the Report).   The panel discussed improving access to clinical trials, the impact of data sharing on patients and care providers, and how to break down silos and improve collaboration across all sectors.   The theme of the Report was how to improve cancer-related outcomes with connected health. This is an ambitious undertaking: how can we use technology to promote cancer prevention, enhance the experience of cancer care for patients and providers, and accelerate progress in cancer research. As the #CancerResearchEvangelist and a patient advocate, my personal interest in attending was t

I am building momentum in my role as the Cancer Research Evangelist - with the help of many amazing people. This is not in the religious sense, not preaching about the gospel. No, another meaning for evangelist is “a zealous advocate of something”. Years ago, Guy Kawasaki became the Chief Evangelist at Apple, and popularized the word evangelist in marketing the Macintosh for Apple and the concept of evangelist marketing. In 2006 he wrote about the art of evangelism , and even today it resonates with me because its tenets are perfectly suited for advocating for cancer research. I’ve been writing for months about the need for someone to tenaciously advocate, or “evangelize” about supporting scientists that have to spend 75% of their time fundraising. I was at the CANCERx conference recently and heard Dr. Phil Sharp from MIT reinforce the importance of basic cancer research, and how the NIH needs to lead the way. With this in mind, I’m looking forward to speaking at Jeff Pulver’s ne