Joe Biden lays out his plan for getting organizations, federal agencies, and researchers to share data on cancer initiatives.

President Obama announced a new initiative as part of his State of the Union message which aims to find a cure for cancer. Named “Moonshot”, the initiative is intended to harness information from research facilities, academic institutions, pharmaceutical corporations and Federal agencies. The President named Vice-President Joe Biden head of the Moonshot initiative.

Biden began his effort by touring and meeting with physicians and researchers at Penn’s Perelman Center, part of the Abramson Cancer Center.  Penn’s leadership in the field of immunotherapy was one of the reasons the university was selected for Biden’s launch of the initiative. After touring a research lab at the Smilow Translational facility at the Perelman Center, Biden laid out questions and goals and listened carefully to a panel of researchers assembled by Penn President Amy Gutmann.

Photos by Bonnie Squires.

Penn President Amy Gutmann, Joe Biden, and Dr. Francis Collins, head of the National Institutes on Health, led a panel of cancer research experts discuss efforts to cure for cancer.

Former Rep. Marjorie Margolies talks with (left) Dr. Jonathan Epstein and Dr. John Glick, founding director of the Abramson Cancer Center.