Elsevier to Develop First-ever Benchmark Report on US Cancer Research Landscape

WASHINGTON, June 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Report Will Provide a Comprehensive View of the US Cancer Research for the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative  

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announced an initiative with the White House National Cancer Moonshot Task Force to develop a comprehensive study of cancer research in the United States.

The Elsevier report will provide a road map of the cancer research landscape to identify pockets of expertise and opportunity and will be made available for free. It is intended to equip the leaders of the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative and other public and private interests with the data and analytics necessary to make informed decisions about research investments that will accelerate cancer activities while mitigating some of the investment risk and achieve a decade's worth of advances in five years.

The announcement of Elsevier's benchmark report came on the eve of a national conference on cancer research in Washington, D.C., hosted by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. The event will bring together scientists, oncologists, donors and patients. Dubbed the "National Cancer Moonshot Summit," the daylong conference on Wednesday, June 29, at Howard University, is intended to galvanize Biden's final-year push to double the pace of research toward curing cancer. The Cancer Moonshot Summit, aimed at creating action and fostering collaborations around the goals of the Cancer Moonshot, will be the very first time that stakeholders representing all types of cancers will convene under one national charge.

"Cancer is a large, diverse and consistently expanding disease. There have been significant breakthroughs, but cancer itself is continually evolving which makes it extremely challenging to assess where the opportunities and challenges lie," said Dr. Brad Fenwick, Elsevier's Senior Vice President for Global Alliances and project lead. "The first critical step on any journey is to know where you are. For the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative, we'll be providing an outline of the current state of cancer research relative to the areas of focus, as well as impact derived from the large data sets and research collaborations. Ultimately the report will provide a pathway to the most promising outcomes that will affect the greatest number of people."

To help the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative achieve its goals, Elsevier proposed to work with the White House Task Force to conduct this first-ever, data-driven analysis around the central theme of collaboration and identify what works well and what areas prove to be more challenging. Elsevier will underwrite the study, and will use a citation-based approach to identify interdisciplinary research, as well as measure the frequency and value of interdisciplinary collaborations to identify centers of expertise by institution as well as geographically. This will ensure the report fully captures the dynamics of a research landscape in which subjects are constantly emerging and changing. Dr. Fenwick expects the report to be completed by Fall 2016.  

Elsevier's study of cancer research will be one of a series of reports developed by Elsevier in the past year that includes stem cell research, brain science, sustainability science and other topics. These reports are used by funding bodies, policy makers, and research organizations to evaluate current progress and chart future actions through informed decisions about needed policies and investments.

About Elsevier:  

Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking discoveries that advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier provides web-based, digital solutions - among them ScienceDirect, Scopus, Elsevier Research Intelligence and ClinicalKey - and publishes over 2,500 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and more than 35,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. www.elsevier.com

Media contact
Christopher Capot
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Elsevier
+1 917 704 5174
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