Fifty years ago, President John F. Kennedy came to Houston and told the world that the United States would go to the moon before the end of the 1960s.
On Friday, Houston’s MD Anderson Cancer Center is announcing its own “Moon Shots Program,” aimed at significantly reducing the number of deaths from a handful of cancers by the end of this decade.
Inspired by Kennedy’s words, Dr. Ronald DePinho, president of the large cancer treatment and research center, is launching this project in two parallel tracks: “One is to apply the existing knowledge, to make a near-term impact in this decade,” he said. “The second is to also say, ‘We do not know everything we need to know to ultimately cure the disease.’”