2020 SSO Presidential Address: Surgical Oncology Moonshot
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EDITORIAL – HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH AND GLOBAL ONCOLOGY
2020 SSO Presidential Address: Surgical Oncology Moonshot David L. Bartlett System Chair, Allegheny Health Network Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
My purpose for this presidential address is to rally the surgical oncology community around moonshot goals that if accomplished will transform what we can do for our patients while preserving the surgical oncologist’s role in the multidisciplinary care of patients. As with the mission to reach the moon at a time when the United States was lacking in technology and knowledge, a moonshot goal transforms everything with an aim, a competitive spirit, and ordinary people working together with a passion for success. So why is it critical to have a moonshot goal? John F. Kennedy announced the moonshot program at my alma mater, Rice University, and rallied the crowd saying, ‘‘But why the moon?… Why does Rice play Texas?… not because they are easy, but because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills’’ (Fig. 1). The term ‘‘moonshot’’ has become synonymous with an ambitious, exploratory, and groundbreaking project undertaken with collaboration, creativity, and the mindset for success, and the goal for America was not to gather moon dust. It was far-reaching, about improving all aspects of technology needed to propel the United States into the future. But a defined purpose and timeline rallied the country, the scientists, and the engineers to make many important advances critical to our success as a country. Ultimately, it may have saved the United States from becoming irrelevant on the world stage.
Society of Surgical Oncology 2020 First Received: 8 October 2020 Accepted: 10 October 2020 D. L. Bartlett e-mail: [email protected]
In 1957, Sputnik, developed by the Soviet Union, streaked across the sky—the first satellite to orbit the earth. Four years later, the Soviets successfully put the first man in space on Vostok 1. So, when Kennedy announced the moonshot program, we were behind the Russians in technology and space exploration. Kennedy stated: ‘‘For while we cannot guarantee that we shall one day be first, we can guarantee that any failure to make this effort will make us last.’’ Although I would never want to portray that we are in some kind of cold war with the medical oncologists and basic scientists, I would like to use that spirit to awaken the surgical oncologists. We are behind and at risk of being left out. Although it is not surprising that the 1.8-billion-dollar cancer program was entitled ‘‘Cancer Moonshot,’’ it is worth asking, ‘‘Where do surgery and surgeons fall into this paradigm?’’ Although surgery remains the most successful way to cure cancer, surgical science is not represented in any of the funding initiatives, and surgical oncology is not even represented in the blue-ribbon panel that defines the problems to address. The Cancer Moonshot Task Force was created to include seven working groups specific for the largest areas of research in oncology, and
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