America's Longest War, Against Cancer


In 1971, Richard Nixon declared war on cancer. Five decades and billions of dollars later, cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the United States. But promising advances in immunotherapy and other cutting-edge research, plus efforts like Joe Biden's "cancer moonshot," have reinvigorated the battle and raised new hopes. Now the entire way we look at cancer is changing from monolithic condition to a wide range of different diseases requiring different approaches.

Throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, fighting cancer meant using targeted therapies to attempt to wipe out compromised cells. But today iconoclastic cancer researchers are taking a different approach: What if, they ask, the human body is more like an ecosystem? What if cancer cells are active members within that habitat? Billions of years of evolution have endowed ecosystems with ways of remaining healthy despite predators, exploiters, cheaters, and deadbeats. And if researchers apply predictable ecological management principles to cancer treatment we might reframe the disease in a way that leads to effective new treatments instead of an ever unattainable cure.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate New America , and Arizona State University

 

Session one - 'The Ecology of Cancer' featuring Athena Aktipis, Assistant Professor, Psychology Department, Arizona State University and Co-Founder, International Society for Evolution, Ecology and Cancer.

Session two - 'Learning from the Ailments of Our Ancestors' featuring Kate Hunt, Bioarchaeologist, 106 Group. Moderated by Kathryn Bowers, Co-author, Zoobiquity: The Astonishing Connection Between Human and Animal Health and Future Tense Fellow, New America.

Session three - 'Notes on a Small Thing' featuring Jacob Brogan, Journalist and critic.

Session four - 'Changing The Way We Think About Beating Cancer' featuring Athena Aktipis, Assistant Professor, Psychology Department, Arizona State University and Co-Founder, International Society for Evolution, Ecology and Cancer; Donna Marie Manasseh, M.D., Director of Breast Surgery, Maimonides Breast Cancer Center; David Reese, M.D., Senior Vice President of Translational Sciences and Discovery Research (Interim), Amgen; and, Joshua Schiffman, M.D., Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah and Investigator, Huntsman Cancer Institute. Moderated by William Saletan, National correspondent, Slate.

Date:
April 27, 2017
Run time:
1:59:47
Location:
New America
Presented by:
Future Tense