Congressional Briefing – September 15, 2016

Cancer Moonshot and Bioengineering


In September, AIMBE hosted another Congressional Lunch Briefing in cooperation with the Congressional Research and Development Caucus on the Cancer Moonshot and Bioengineering.  The Cancer Moonshot, led by Vice President Joe Biden, is designed to accelerate cancer research, make more therapies available to more patients, while also improving our ability to prevent cancer and detect it at an early stage.

Caucus Co-Chairs Congresswoman Barbara Comstock (R-VA) and Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL) kicked off the event with opening remarks that echoed the need for innovation in cancer prevention and treatment.

The first presenter, Dr. Krishna Kandarpa, Director of Research Sciences and Strategic Director at the National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering at NIH provided an overview on the Cancer Moonshot Initiative, including how Bioengineering plays a critical role. He highlighted the focus areas of NIBIB on this initiative including Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Therapeutic Technologies, and low-cost technologies.

Next, Dr. Nimmi Ramanujam, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University and Founder and Director of the Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies, showcased her innovative work on high-tech imaging techniques that put us one step closer to beating cancer.

Finally, Dr. David Mooney, Professor of Bioengineering at Harvard University discussed a novel cancer vaccine undergoing clinical trials, as well as biomaterials used to develop and treat the disease. Dr. Mooney’s inventions have been licensed by 12 companies leading to commercialized products.

More than 50 congressional staff and scientific partners participated in this highly successful event.