Metastatic Cancer Research Panel included in Defense Appropriations bill

Washington, DC, July 24, 2013
Today, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23) made the following statement on the creation of a medical research panel to study metastatic cancer, a provision she proposed to the Defense Appropriations bill that would bring new focus to late-stage can

Today, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23) made the following statement on the creation of a medical research panel to study metastatic cancer, a provision she proposed to the Defense Appropriations bill that would bring new focus to late-stage cancer through the Congressionally-Directed Medical Research Program at the Department of Defense:

“I am thrilled that the House of Representatives approved language to create a federal task force that will study and tackle metastatic cancer, which is the term for the advanced stages -- III and IV -- of the deadly disease. This innovative panel will study all advanced cancers, seeking common causes, treatments, and cures for tumor growth, in a collaborative effort to save lives.”

“Though we know more about cancer detection and treatment than ever before, metastasis rates are stubbornly persistent, which is precisely why we must take advantage of scientific breakthroughs and emerging clues about similarities among different types of cancer,” said Wasserman Schultz. “We can learn so much from studying different types of cancer together, rather than in silos, as treatments are so frequently discovered to be effective for multiple forms of the disease. I proposed the creation of this research panel because I know that pursuing research on these commonalities will bring us much closer to ending cancer once and for all, and help save millions of lives.

“As a cancer survivor, I am part of the community of those living with the constant possibility of the return and spread of cancer – a process that this panel will study and work to combat. That is why I am so grateful to my colleagues for their support, and I hope that through the Appropriations conference process, this life-saving program will become a reality.”