WASHINGTON, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Report Will Provide a Comprehensive View of the US Cancer
Research for the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative
Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and
medical information products and services, today announced an
initiative with the White House National Cancer Moonshot Task Force
to develop a comprehensive study of cancer research in the United States.
The Elsevier report will provide a road map of the cancer
research landscape to identify pockets of expertise and opportunity
and will be made available for free. It is intended to equip the
leaders of the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative and other public
and private interests with the data and analytics necessary to make
informed decisions about research investments that will accelerate
cancer activities while mitigating some of the investment risk and
achieve a decade's worth of advances in five years.
The announcement of Elsevier's benchmark report came on the eve
of a national conference on cancer research in Washington, D.C., hosted by U.S. Vice
President Joe Biden. The event will
bring together scientists, oncologists, donors and patients. Dubbed
the "National Cancer Moonshot Summit," the daylong conference on
Wednesday, June 29, at Howard University, is intended to galvanize Biden's
final-year push to double the pace of research toward curing
cancer. The Cancer Moonshot Summit, aimed at creating action and
fostering collaborations around the goals of the Cancer Moonshot,
will be the very first time that stakeholders representing all
types of cancers will convene under one national charge.
"Cancer is a large, diverse and consistently expanding disease.
There have been significant breakthroughs, but cancer itself is
continually evolving which makes it extremely challenging to assess
where the opportunities and challenges lie," said Dr. Brad Fenwick, Elsevier's Senior Vice President
for Global Alliances and project lead. "The first critical step on
any journey is to know where you are. For the National Cancer
Moonshot Initiative, we'll be providing an outline of the current
state of cancer research relative to the areas of focus, as well as
impact derived from the large data sets and research
collaborations. Ultimately the report will provide a pathway to the
most promising outcomes that will affect the greatest number of
people."
To help the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative achieve its
goals, Elsevier proposed to work with the White House Task Force to
conduct this first-ever, data-driven analysis around the central
theme of collaboration and identify what works well and what areas
prove to be more challenging. Elsevier will underwrite the study,
and will use a citation-based approach to identify
interdisciplinary research, as well as measure the frequency and
value of interdisciplinary collaborations to identify centers of
expertise by institution as well as geographically. This will
ensure the report fully captures the dynamics of a research
landscape in which subjects are constantly emerging and changing.
Dr. Fenwick expects the report to be completed by Fall 2016.
Elsevier's study of cancer research will be one of a series of
reports developed by Elsevier in the past year that includes stem
cell research, brain science, sustainability science and other
topics. These reports are used by funding bodies, policy makers,
and research organizations to evaluate current progress and chart
future actions through informed decisions about needed policies and
investments.
About Elsevier:
Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions
that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology
professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver
better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking discoveries that
advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier
provides web-based, digital solutions - among them ScienceDirect,
Scopus, Elsevier Research Intelligence and ClinicalKey - and
publishes over 2,500 journals, including The Lancet and
Cell, and more than 35,000 book titles, including a number
of iconic reference works. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a
world-leading provider of information and analytics for
professional and business customers across
industries. www.elsevier.com
Media contact
Christopher Capot
Director, Corporate Relations
Elsevier
+1 917 704 5174
c.capot@elsevier.com
SOURCE Elsevier