Latest / Get Real with Jim Weiss / Dr. Karen Knudsen (CEO of the American Cancer Society)

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Dr. Karen Knudsen (CEO of the American Cancer Society) · Get Real with Jim Weiss

0:09
Speaker 1: I'm Jim Weiss, Chairman and founder of Real Chemistry, and
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Speaker 1: this is the Get Real with the Chairman podcast. I'm
0:20
Speaker 1: kicking off this episode of the Universal Topic, And by universal,
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Speaker 1: I mean this topic affects everyone everywhere, directly or indirectly.
0:29
Speaker 1: It's cancer, and it's ubiquitous, and according to the latest
0:32
Speaker 1: report from the American Cancer Society, it's affecting more people
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Speaker 1: at younger and younger ages. So the best way to
0:40
Speaker 1: dive into a podcast that highlights innovations and healthcare is
0:44
Speaker 1: to have doctor Karen Knutson, CEO of the American Cancer
0:47
Speaker 1: Society and the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, as
0:52
Speaker 1: our first guest. Doctor Canutson is an internationally recognized oncology
0:57
Speaker 1: leader guided by the goal of improving the lives cancer
1:00
Speaker 1: patients and their families. She received her BS in biology
1:04
Speaker 1: from George Washington University and her PhD from the University
1:08
Speaker 1: of California at San Diego, where she focused on celles
1:11
Speaker 1: cycle checkpoint control. She then served as tenured faculty at
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Speaker 1: the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine prior to joining
1:19
Speaker 1: Thomas Jefferson University in two thousand and seven. Before joining ACS,
1:24
Speaker 1: she was the EVP of Oncology Services for Jefferson Health
1:28
Speaker 1: and director of the Sydney Kimmel Cancer Center, one of
1:31
Speaker 1: the elite National Cancer Institute's NCI designated cancer centers in
1:36
Speaker 1: the US. Doctor Knutsen is well known for her discoveries
1:40
Speaker 1: in prostate cancer, advancing our understanding of the molecular and
1:45
Speaker 1: cellular mechanisms underlining this common diagnosis, and paving the way
1:49
Speaker 1: for targeted therapies. She's also known for her advocacy work
1:53
Speaker 1: emphasizing cancer prevention, early detection, research funding, and new treatments.
1:59
Speaker 1: In addition to being CEO of the American Cancer Society,
2:02
Speaker 1: she serves on the Board of Advisors for the National
2:05
Speaker 1: Cancer Institute and on twelve external advisory boards for NCI
2:09
Speaker 1: designated cancer centers. He I'm excited to talk to you
2:16
Speaker 1: about all things American Cancer Society, Bright Edge, and all
2:21
Speaker 1: the terrific things you're doing. It really feels like you've
2:24
Speaker 1: changed the game there from my experience, I'm not saying
2:28
Speaker 1: what was before you and I when we met, we
2:30
Speaker 1: talked about your grandfather's American Cancer Society, which I used
2:35
Speaker 1: to go around. You know, my mom would send me
2:37
Speaker 1: out in the community and we would collect on her behalf.
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Speaker 1: It's obviously changed a whole time. What do you think
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Speaker 1: is the most significant impact you've made since you got there?
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Speaker 2: So we're one organization, we're acting like it, and we
2:51
Speaker 2: have singularity of visions. So you know, my mother was
2:54
Speaker 2: like yours. My mom had gave me her you know,
2:56
Speaker 2: nineteen fifty six, you know where she was working with
3:00
Speaker 2: one of the divisions and of the American Cancer Society
3:03
Speaker 2: to do good in the world. I grew up in
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Speaker 2: a military family, and being doing service and doing good
3:08
Speaker 2: in the world for a purpose and being purpose driven
3:11
Speaker 2: is just part of my DNA. When I was an
3:14
Speaker 2: oncology researcher, when I was a cancer center director and
3:18
Speaker 2: leading oncology and healthcare for a sixteen hospital system across
3:21
Speaker 2: two states, the American Cancer Society was a phenomenal partner
3:25
Speaker 2: for me. I was very thankful for my entire career.
3:29
Speaker 2: But what I didn't realize is what I was touching
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Speaker 2: and feeling here in Philadelphia, where I'm sitting now is
3:35
Speaker 2: very different than what was going on in California, because
3:38
Speaker 2: up until very recently, there were actually truly separate organizations
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Speaker 2: all doing good in the world. Under the banner of
3:44
Speaker 2: the American Cancer Society, but truly separate organizations. So when
3:49
Speaker 2: I came to join the American Cancer Society as CEO
3:53
Speaker 2: in the middle of COVID twenty twenty one, left my
3:56
Speaker 2: healthcare position to do it because I love this organization.
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Speaker 2: I did it for that opportunity to take all these
4:02
Speaker 2: wonderful things that happen across the nation with the American
4:06
Speaker 2: Cancer Society and bring it into functioning as one strong
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Speaker 2: ACS against cancer with singularity of vision and singularity of mission.
4:16
Speaker 2: We are aligned very strongly under our goal of what
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Speaker 2: we do every day, and that's to improve the lives
4:22
Speaker 2: of cancer patients and their families through advocacy, through discovery,
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Speaker 2: funding cancer research, and through patient support, which is my
4:30
Speaker 2: biggest team across the country. And we also think very
4:33
Speaker 2: deeply about what does success look like, and that's in
4:37
Speaker 2: cancer as we know it for everyone. That's the special
4:40
Speaker 2: sauce of a CS. We truly represent every cancer in
4:44
Speaker 2: every life.
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Speaker 1: So let's go back a little bit, bring us back.
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Speaker 1: What drew you into medicine in the first place. Was
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Speaker 1: it purpose driven? Was it your parents? Anyway? I always
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Speaker 1: like to know why go that direction?
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Speaker 2: You know, the hardest thing for me to articulate is
5:00
Speaker 2: why I love science. I don't honestly don't remember a
5:03
Speaker 2: time when I didn't love science. And keep in mind,
5:06
Speaker 2: i'd never met a scientist. Jim my father's Special Forces.
5:09
Speaker 2: My mother's a typical Special Forces wife who needed to
5:13
Speaker 2: move every one to three years and reinvent her career
5:16
Speaker 2: every time, ultimately becoming one of the first executives at
5:20
Speaker 2: Williams Sonoma as that gourmet cookwaar company came up. So
5:24
Speaker 2: I really have had no background in science, but I
5:27
Speaker 2: just loved it. And so when I went through undergraduate
5:31
Speaker 2: at George Washington University, I initially thought, well, if you
5:34
Speaker 2: like science, you must have to go be a physician.
5:38
Speaker 2: And one of my professors took me under the wing
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Speaker 2: and said, Karen, you love science, and you are so
5:44
Speaker 2: curious and dedicated to solving problems. You should give yourself
5:48
Speaker 2: a moment to see what it's like to be a scientist.
5:51
Speaker 2: And he asked me to apply for an internship at
5:54
Speaker 2: the National Cancer Institute while I was an undergraduate. And
5:56
Speaker 2: I did that, and I loved it, and I never
5:58
Speaker 2: looked back. So when I went to graduate school was
6:02
Speaker 2: in the early nineties in California was the time when
6:07
Speaker 2: the genetics of cancer were starting to become explored, and
6:11
Speaker 2: I was part of that. At its base, cancer is
6:13
Speaker 2: a disease of uncontrolled cell growth cells. It shouldn't divide,
6:16
Speaker 2: keep dividing, and that's what cancer is. And so I
6:20
Speaker 2: was lucky enough to be part of that movement in
6:22
Speaker 2: that time to understand what goes wrong genetically and to
6:26
Speaker 2: imprint and clone genes that and identify genes that are
6:30
Speaker 2: part of the underpinning. So while I loved that, I
6:34
Speaker 2: really felt the entire time that my mission was to
6:39
Speaker 2: take the science and connect it to people. And so
6:42
Speaker 2: when I went to go do my fellowship, I got
6:44
Speaker 2: a lot closer to what we call translational science. So
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Speaker 2: how is it that what I'm doing in the laboratory
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Speaker 2: is solving for a problem that's happening in the clinic,
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Speaker 2: And how do I bridge that and then bring it
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Speaker 2: into new clinical intervention? And that really defined the entirety
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Speaker 2: of my oncology career. And I had a funded, very
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Speaker 2: active lab focused on advanced prostate cancer all the way
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Speaker 2: up until the time I stepped into ACS and needed
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Speaker 2: to turn my grants over to someone else.
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Speaker 1: All right, so prostate cancer, I mean that, why that
7:13
Speaker 1: in particular? How did you land there?
7:16
Speaker 2: So again I want to take you back to mid nineties.
7:18
Speaker 2: So what happened in the mid nineties. It was after
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Speaker 2: the time that women had quite correctly put themselves together
7:26
Speaker 2: and said, breast cancer is a problem. Right, This is
7:29
Speaker 2: the number one diagnosed malignancy of women, the second leading
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Speaker 2: cause of cancer death for women, and there is not
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Speaker 2: enough research on breast cancer. So they advocated and that
7:41
Speaker 2: resulted in increasing and funding at the government level, including
7:45
Speaker 2: but not limited to Department of Defense funding which still
7:48
Speaker 2: exists today that's specific to funding for breast cancer. And
7:53
Speaker 2: as a result, all of these wonderful things happened downstream.
7:57
Speaker 2: We understood for the first time that breast cancer is
7:59
Speaker 2: not one disease, it's at least five that all comes
8:02
Speaker 2: from a different reason and has to be treated in
8:05
Speaker 2: a different way. So we saw what could happen when
8:09
Speaker 2: there was an intensification of research in an area. So
8:13
Speaker 2: when I chose my fellowship, I went to go work
8:14
Speaker 2: at UCSC at Ludwig Cancer Institute for Cancer Research. Was
8:18
Speaker 2: just a phenomenal researcher, still a mentor to me doctor Webcaveny.
8:22
Speaker 2: He's a National Academy member and just a rock star.
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Speaker 2: He was the first person to ever show that tumor suppressors,
8:27
Speaker 2: these genes that constrain cells from becoming cancers, actually exist.
8:32
Speaker 2: So I went to go work for him, thinking I
8:34
Speaker 2: was going to go work in his brain tumor group.
8:36
Speaker 2: And there was this pivotal moment when I walked into
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Speaker 2: his office this day. I showed up and shorts and
8:42
Speaker 2: a T shirt and pigtails to start my fellowship, because
8:44
Speaker 2: that's how you dressed in a lab in California. And
8:47
Speaker 2: he said, Karen, we're going to start a group on
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Speaker 2: prostate cancer. And I said why, And he said, well,
8:52
Speaker 2: let's look at what's just happened with breast cancer, and
8:54
Speaker 2: let's look at the parallel in men. It's the number
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Speaker 2: one diagnosed and malignancy of men in this country, second
9:00
Speaker 2: leading cause of cancer death. Not one person really understands
9:04
Speaker 2: metastatic disease and why it happens. And you're going to
9:08
Speaker 2: be the person to try to help figure that out.
9:10
Speaker 2: And I actually was able to, without getting into the weeds,
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Speaker 2: take what I had done previously, this understanding why sales
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Speaker 2: grow and try to define and I did define how
9:21
Speaker 2: it is that testosterone which drives prostate cancer growth, induces
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Speaker 2: uncontrolled cell division specific to the prostate, and that's the
9:29
Speaker 2: target of therapy. So I started to meet this goal
9:32
Speaker 2: and was lucky enough in my career to take those learnings,
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Speaker 2: advances in the science, and observations from the clinic and
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Speaker 2: turn it into clinical trials that change practice.
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Speaker 1: Where it's come since then is incredible. I mean, having
9:46
Speaker 1: worked on dendreon provenge initially, which is really one of
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Speaker 1: the first of the newer breakthroughs, and now so many
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Speaker 1: since then, you must feel great about what you got
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Speaker 1: started there and where do we go from here?
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Speaker 2: Yeah? I do feel great about it, and I feel
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Speaker 2: great about the trainees that worked with me that I
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Speaker 2: now see as leaders in the oncology community going on
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Speaker 2: and taking up the mantle to do great work in
10:13
Speaker 2: proceed and in other disease types. And I have really
10:19
Speaker 2: really been enthusiastic about the advent of new interventions in
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Speaker 2: cancer that are truly doing what I want to do
10:28
Speaker 2: every day, improved lives. Immunotherapy coming in to be this
10:31
Speaker 2: additional arrow in the quiver. Right knowing that we had
10:35
Speaker 2: surgical intervention, radiation xandard chemotherapy starting to become precision oncology,
10:40
Speaker 2: and now all of a sudden comes immuno oncology and
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Speaker 2: we're actually seeing cures in some disease types. Really amazing.
10:47
Speaker 2: But then what about on the other side, On the
10:50
Speaker 2: other side, we actually have a cancer vaccine that is
10:53
Speaker 2: going to we have the potential to actually cure HPV
10:56
Speaker 2: induce cancers. And the data that we lacked every year
11:00
Speaker 2: the American Cancer Society when we look at trends of
11:04
Speaker 2: cancer incidents, cancer mortality every year we report them out
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Speaker 2: to the nation. It's quite a huge study that we
11:09
Speaker 2: run every year. This last year, let's look at the data.
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Speaker 2: It's the case that we had a sixty five percent
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Speaker 2: drop in cervical cancer incidents specific to women age twenty
11:21
Speaker 2: to twenty four. Why because of the first generation to
11:25
Speaker 2: have been vaccinated as children against HPV. So this is
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Speaker 2: telling us something that we actually have an opportunity on
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Speaker 2: the one hand to prevent cancers from ever happening. That
11:38
Speaker 2: coupled with tobacco, cessation and the other things that we
11:40
Speaker 2: know or cancer prevents it. And on the other side,
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Speaker 2: we have treatment strategies for cancers that had previously been intractable.
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Speaker 2: So when I look at the two hundred diseases that
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Speaker 2: are cancer, it's easy to get demoralized because, let's be real,
11:56
Speaker 2: there are two hundred of them, right. But on the
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Speaker 2: other hand, there's this silver lining that's happening with these
12:03
Speaker 2: winds that we're getting in some cancer types that are
12:06
Speaker 2: emboldening us to invest more in cancer research and get
12:09
Speaker 2: more done so that we can address those that are
12:13
Speaker 2: either stagnant or going the wrong way.
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Speaker 1: So you're out of academics, Let's bring us back to
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Speaker 1: the job now, right at American Cancer Society. What are
12:21
Speaker 1: the issues you're facing? What mountains are you climbing? What
12:25
Speaker 1: do you hope to change? How are you leave your
12:27
Speaker 1: march here?
12:28
Speaker 2: Oh?
12:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, what success here look like?
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Speaker 2: So we've definitely been part of this success so far.
12:35
Speaker 2: The way that we see our value proposition at the
12:38
Speaker 2: American Cancer Society is this unique commendation of research, advocacy,
12:42
Speaker 2: and patience support. So what does that mean in practice? Well,
12:46
Speaker 2: let me say that while those are three arms, everything
12:49
Speaker 2: is built on the foundation of ending cancer as we
12:52
Speaker 2: know it for everyone. What does that mean? It means
12:55
Speaker 2: that all of the programs that we run are intended
12:58
Speaker 2: to solve for cancer care in whether that's geographic, demographic,
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Speaker 2: cancer specific, age specific, All of our programs are meant
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Speaker 2: to solve for these high priorities where there's a disparity
13:09
Speaker 2: and outcome. Let's take that as a given. But then
13:11
Speaker 2: the three arms that we have are intended to solve
13:14
Speaker 2: for the cancer problem together, discovery has to continue to happen.
13:18
Speaker 2: We're the largest funder of cancer research outside the US
13:22
Speaker 2: government right now as we're talking to each other, we
13:24
Speaker 2: have more than four hundred and thirty five million dollars
13:26
Speaker 2: committed in grants as at any given day, And it's
13:30
Speaker 2: really important because when the funding lines are so short
13:33
Speaker 2: at the government, and that's where they are right now,
13:36
Speaker 2: they're very small. The high risk, high gained science doesn't
13:40
Speaker 2: find traction anywhere, The translational science often doesn't find traction anywhere.
13:45
Speaker 2: And the implementation science of I've got a great idea
13:48
Speaker 2: for prevention but I can't test it often doesn't get
13:51
Speaker 2: funded anywhere. That's our secret sauce. So maintaining this ability
13:55
Speaker 2: to fund at a high level is key. And Jim,
13:57
Speaker 2: I just want to put it. I want to put
13:59
Speaker 2: a dollar figure to it outside the current steady state.
14:03
Speaker 2: The high water mark for cancer in this country was
14:06
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety one. It's one of the cancer mortality rate
14:09
Speaker 2: was at the highest. Since then, we've seen a thirty
14:12
Speaker 2: three percent overall decline in cancer mortality thirty three percent overall.
14:16
Speaker 2: We're all cancers together, and we can directly tie that
14:18
Speaker 2: to investment in cancer research. And since that time, the
14:22
Speaker 2: American Cancer Society has put three point three billion dollars
14:27
Speaker 2: into cancer research funding. So we are not a small player,
14:30
Speaker 2: so that reduction in cancer mortality emboldens us to do more.
14:33
Speaker 2: We know that we must continue to fund in cancer
14:36
Speaker 2: research is key component, but the other two parts of
14:39
Speaker 2: ACS are intended to get those breakthroughs to people. First
14:43
Speaker 2: is advocacy. One of the things I love is that
14:45
Speaker 2: I'm not just the CEO of the American Cancer Society.
14:48
Speaker 2: I'm the CEO of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
14:51
Speaker 2: That's a lot of words, So we call it acs CAN.
14:54
Speaker 2: It's our five ZHO one C four. What does that mean.
14:56
Speaker 2: It means that we can and do lobby at this
14:59
Speaker 2: state and the federal level or policy and legislation and
15:02
Speaker 2: regulation then gets things to people. Things like making sure
15:07
Speaker 2: colonoscopy is covered after somebody tests positive at home with
15:10
Speaker 2: a correctal cancer risk test. Making sure that patient navigation
15:15
Speaker 2: becomes a reimbursable component of somebody's cancer care going to
15:19
Speaker 2: be true as of January of next year due to
15:21
Speaker 2: our advocacy. Making sure that biomarker testing is covered so
15:26
Speaker 2: that people can be matched to the right cancer pair
15:28
Speaker 2: of therapy the first time true in fourteen states right now.
15:32
Speaker 2: Thank you Governor Newsom for finally signing that bill. We're
15:35
Speaker 2: looking as I'm sitting here tonight for Governor Hoschel in
15:38
Speaker 2: New York to sign that bill so we can say
15:40
Speaker 2: there are fifteen. So advocacy is this incredible power where
15:46
Speaker 2: the science moves into policy and in one day an
15:51
Speaker 2: elected official can enhance access to cancer prevention and cancer
15:55
Speaker 2: care to millions of people. It's amazing. But my biggest
16:00
Speaker 2: and the biggest way that we solve for directly solve
16:04
Speaker 2: for these challenges and access and cancer breakthroughs is what
16:07
Speaker 2: we call Patients Support. We work in five thousand communities
16:11
Speaker 2: Boots on the Ground ACS employees a large distributed workforce
16:16
Speaker 2: to help cancer patients where they need it most. This
16:19
Speaker 2: is the not sexy part of solving for the problems
16:22
Speaker 2: of cancer. Things like transportation affect a wide swath of
16:27
Speaker 2: cancer patients. If someone can only come to the chemotherapy
16:30
Speaker 2: unit three days a week instead of five, they are
16:33
Speaker 2: not going to have the same outcome of someone who's
16:35
Speaker 2: got a ride to get them there every day period.
16:39
Speaker 2: This is why we have road to recovery transportation grants.
16:41
Speaker 2: We have volunteers who give rides all across the country
16:45
Speaker 2: to get people to care. That's why we have thirty
16:47
Speaker 2: two Hope lodges that we own and operate, never charging
16:50
Speaker 2: a cancer patient or their family a dollar or even
16:53
Speaker 2: a dime or a penny. These are special, special places
16:57
Speaker 2: that allow cancer patients and families to connect with each other,
17:00
Speaker 2: to be near the cancer center, and some patients stay
17:02
Speaker 2: two hundred days. So this is something we want to
17:05
Speaker 2: and must build more. Many areas of the country require
17:09
Speaker 2: people to travel very long distances and stay there so
17:11
Speaker 2: that they can actually get care. But also education patient navigation,
17:16
Speaker 2: which we pay for right now across the country through
17:20
Speaker 2: granting mechanisms, so we can understand what truly exceptional patient
17:23
Speaker 2: navigation looks like. Patient support does a ridiculous amount within
17:28
Speaker 2: communities to try to ensure that nobody falls through the cracks.
17:32
Speaker 2: And I'm just so proud that the learnings there and
17:35
Speaker 2: the learnings on research ultimately get put together in what
17:39
Speaker 2: our durable solutions through advocacy. And that's the special sauce.
17:43
Speaker 2: So what does success look like? We measure ourselves at
17:47
Speaker 2: ACS by the number of lives that we touch every year.
17:52
Speaker 2: Every single person in my organization owns that, even the
17:55
Speaker 2: CFO owns how many patients we were able to touch,
17:57
Speaker 2: and just patients support touches fifty five million unique clives
18:02
Speaker 2: every year. It's amazing.
18:03
Speaker 1: Too bad there's that many that have to be touched.
18:06
Speaker 1: I guess is that caregivers too, right? We both relate
18:10
Speaker 1: on this level of the importance of caregiving. I mean,
18:13
Speaker 1: what's the role ACS plays there?
18:16
Speaker 2: Oh, no kidding. So we talk about this all the time.
18:19
Speaker 2: There are three things that ground us when we're trying
18:22
Speaker 2: to decide between option A or option B of a program,
18:25
Speaker 2: we would run both in pathful right, we remind ourselves
18:29
Speaker 2: once our mission to improve the lives of cancer patients
18:31
Speaker 2: and their families, what's the vision to end cancer as
18:35
Speaker 2: we know it? For everyone, and who are our key stakeholders,
18:38
Speaker 2: patients and their caregivers. We love scientists, I'm a scientist,
18:43
Speaker 2: They're not our stakeholder. We love health systems. I was
18:45
Speaker 2: a healthcare executive. We work a lot with health systems
18:48
Speaker 2: we have to, but they're not our stakeholder. It's the
18:50
Speaker 2: patient and the caregiver. And as I know and you know, Jim,
18:54
Speaker 2: the caregiver is the one who's driving a lot of
18:57
Speaker 2: the decision making, who needs to absorb so much of
19:00
Speaker 2: the learning, who has to disaffiliate themselves from their emotion
19:04
Speaker 2: and sort through this just incredible amount of bewildering fact
19:10
Speaker 2: and responsibility that's put in front of them. Got labs tomorrow,
19:14
Speaker 2: imaging here, Then you're going to go to radiation, You're
19:17
Speaker 2: going to go get a consultant metal and coencology, and
19:19
Speaker 2: then you're going to have to go back to labs.
19:21
Speaker 2: It's byzantine, even if you are very well versed in
19:25
Speaker 2: the healthcare system. So this is why we're so passionate
19:29
Speaker 2: about patient navigators, but also passionate about ensuring that caregivers
19:34
Speaker 2: get the support they have. We work on all fronts.
19:36
Speaker 2: Grants with research studies active right now to understand what
19:40
Speaker 2: works and doesn't work, to try to assist a caregiver
19:43
Speaker 2: and help them get the best information and access that
19:46
Speaker 2: they need to have their loved one, the person they're
19:49
Speaker 2: caring for, have the optimal chance at a positive outcome.
19:54
Speaker 2: We also provide resources for them downloadable toolkits, digital resources.
19:59
Speaker 2: The twenty four seven call center gets used by caregivers,
20:02
Speaker 2: so at any given time. Right now, we have about
20:05
Speaker 2: thirteen million dollars in grants dedicated toward enhancing the ability
20:09
Speaker 2: of caregivers to function. And these are people who often
20:13
Speaker 2: have responsibilities at home, try to take care of the
20:15
Speaker 2: family on their own. Keeping their job so important when
20:20
Speaker 2: the loved one, the person your partner in life is
20:22
Speaker 2: not that caregiver is always a partner, but frequently it
20:25
Speaker 2: is is going through this struggle. So the mental health
20:29
Speaker 2: of the caregivers also as important as the information that
20:32
Speaker 2: we give them.
20:33
Speaker 1: Yes, I couldn't agree more so I want to make
20:36
Speaker 1: sure we talk about this. When you think about what
20:38
Speaker 1: the biggest challenges are for ACS in the coming years,
20:42
Speaker 1: What do you need us the community to do to
20:45
Speaker 1: help you, my audience, what do you need them to
20:48
Speaker 1: do like go volunteer, give money, I'm sure it's all
20:52
Speaker 1: of it, but I'd love to hear what you see
20:54
Speaker 1: as the big challenges we can help with.
20:57
Speaker 2: It's all of it. You know, every fifteen seconds someone
21:00
Speaker 2: sygnoes with cancers. That equates to one point nine million
21:03
Speaker 2: individuals this year that are going to hear I have cancer.
21:07
Speaker 2: And now then let's double it of the number of
21:09
Speaker 2: people affected, because now you've got one point nine million
21:11
Speaker 2: caregivers who are going to get involved. So we've got
21:14
Speaker 2: a large population who needs help. When I stay up
21:18
Speaker 2: at night, the thing that keeps me up is that
21:22
Speaker 2: I am unable to scale some of the programs that
21:26
Speaker 2: I know are making a difference in geography A into
21:30
Speaker 2: geography B due to lack of resources. And those resources
21:33
Speaker 2: come from across the different strategies by which we help patients.
21:39
Speaker 2: Sometimes at resources, we actually need more money to conduct
21:42
Speaker 2: a prevention and screening program, or a vaccination program, or
21:45
Speaker 2: an education program, or we'd like to fund this incredible
21:49
Speaker 2: grant that fell just below the line, or we really
21:53
Speaker 2: want to make sure that we're putting together the materials
21:57
Speaker 2: to ensure the biomarker testing coverage happens in all fifty states,
22:02
Speaker 2: not just fourteen, or it can be we need to
22:06
Speaker 2: build more Hope Lodges, and that is without question, something
22:10
Speaker 2: that is on our docket. So there are so many
22:12
Speaker 2: ways to get involved that I can't help but to
22:16
Speaker 2: think that we will have an option for anyone who
22:19
Speaker 2: wants to get involved in assisting with cancer. If you
22:22
Speaker 2: have a passion, anyone listening has a passion for giving
22:27
Speaker 2: back or for doing something to ensure that the burden
22:32
Speaker 2: of cancer is reduced for at least one person, I
22:35
Speaker 2: can make that happen. I promise you that the day
22:39
Speaker 2: that you spend volunteering in the Hope Lodge making dinner
22:42
Speaker 2: for people who have had a pretty rough day in
22:45
Speaker 2: the infusion unit is going to be one of the
22:48
Speaker 2: best days you will have in your lifetime. And the
22:51
Speaker 2: same with giving someone a ride back and forth to
22:54
Speaker 2: care or volunteering at an event to talk about your
22:58
Speaker 2: story as a CAM survivor or is a cancer caregiver,
23:03
Speaker 2: because so much of keeping positive energy and positive motion
23:08
Speaker 2: going during a cancer journey requires you connecting with others
23:12
Speaker 2: who have walked in your path, and that is something
23:16
Speaker 2: that we really enjoy doing, is providing matching for someone
23:20
Speaker 2: who's walked in that journey.
23:29
Speaker 1: Now I want to shift into a section I'm calling
23:31
Speaker 1: so what's it all mean? Where we hear about your
23:34
Speaker 1: work and action and how it's playing out in the
23:36
Speaker 1: real world. I mean, you mentioned prevention. Tell us a
23:45
Speaker 1: little bit about the importance of early detection and prevention.
23:50
Speaker 1: I mean you talked about obviously HPV vaccine. Great point.
23:54
Speaker 1: Then you talked about your example where you work to
23:57
Speaker 1: help lower the age for screening and coorectal cancer, which
24:01
Speaker 1: we know is highly curable if you catch it early.
24:04
Speaker 1: So what research or statistics back the decision to really
24:10
Speaker 1: lower that age and also begin to move us in
24:13
Speaker 1: this preventive direction versus waiting until people have it.
24:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, without question. While there will inevitably be every year
24:21
Speaker 2: people diagnosed with advanced cancers, especially the cancers that are
24:25
Speaker 2: not screenable ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer at least not screenable
24:29
Speaker 2: right now, we're working on that, but that's going to happen,
24:33
Speaker 2: and we need to make sure that we are addressing
24:36
Speaker 2: cures and stending life saving treatments for that population, no question.
24:41
Speaker 2: But we must also move up earlier into the disease
24:45
Speaker 2: course of prevention and screening because irrespective of what cancer
24:49
Speaker 2: we're talking about. Your chances of survival and the quality
24:53
Speaker 2: of life are both enhanced when cancers are caught early period.
24:57
Speaker 2: End of story. I'm not aware that there's an exception
24:59
Speaker 2: to the So making sure that let's just start with prevention,
25:04
Speaker 2: that people understand that they can prevent cancer and that
25:08
Speaker 2: they can take action on their own behalf. In total,
25:11
Speaker 2: if we look at all cancer types, we could ascribe
25:14
Speaker 2: about forty two percent of cancers to be associated with
25:17
Speaker 2: modifiable risk factors. So what can you do? Obviously, don't smoke.
25:23
Speaker 2: There are a number of smoking related cancers, and that
25:26
Speaker 2: is the data on that are exceptionally strong. Vaccination against
25:30
Speaker 2: HPV induced cancers. Those are significant for both men and women,
25:34
Speaker 2: which is sometimes something that's not understood particularly well. Get
25:38
Speaker 2: vaccinated if you're still in the age of eligibility thered
25:43
Speaker 2: Be active. It's not enough actually to just have a
25:47
Speaker 2: healthy diet and have a healthy weight. Data have shown
25:51
Speaker 2: that being sedentary is also a risk factor for cancer,
25:54
Speaker 2: even if you have a healthy weight and a healthy diet.
25:57
Speaker 2: So it's important to be active, stay active, limit alcohol,
26:02
Speaker 2: and have healthier diets like Mediterranean type diets have been
26:06
Speaker 2: shown to be associated with reduced cancer incidents. So these
26:10
Speaker 2: are all things that people can do in their everyday life.
26:13
Speaker 2: You can do it as a business person encouraging people,
26:17
Speaker 2: for example, on one on one meetings that instead of
26:19
Speaker 2: sitting in front of zoom, make it a phone call
26:22
Speaker 2: and make it okay to walk or be on the treadmill,
26:25
Speaker 2: or make sure that your business is structured such that
26:28
Speaker 2: people can get up and move between meetings. And we
26:31
Speaker 2: try to embody that at the American Cancer Society because
26:34
Speaker 2: when you see people exercising and walking, you see people
26:38
Speaker 2: exercising and walking, I see people engaging in cancer prevention,
26:41
Speaker 2: so you know, really important things to do. But early
26:45
Speaker 2: detection is also key. It's the case in the country
26:48
Speaker 2: that we know screening rates are not what they should be.
26:50
Speaker 2: Now it's variant dependent on what cancer screening we're talking about,
26:54
Speaker 2: but it is so essential for people to understand what
26:59
Speaker 2: is their individual cancer risk and to work with their
27:02
Speaker 2: primary care physician to develop the right screening plan. Without question,
27:07
Speaker 2: early detection saves lives.
27:08
Speaker 1: Would you say some of these new molecular tests that
27:11
Speaker 1: we hear about, like twenty three and meters and we
27:14
Speaker 1: see it advertised all the time, should we go out
27:16
Speaker 1: and do that or is that you know you hear
27:19
Speaker 1: some doctors say, oh my god, no you don't do that.
27:22
Speaker 1: We don't. We can't deal with all that. But for
27:25
Speaker 1: those that are curious, know is it knowledge power? Would
27:28
Speaker 1: those shed light? Or were too soon?
27:32
Speaker 2: So we're in a new era where understanding cancer risk
27:36
Speaker 2: is much more than just about your age. Right, So
27:39
Speaker 2: when you think about cancer guidelines, so colorectal cancer screening,
27:43
Speaker 2: you talked about it, So let's bring that one up.
27:45
Speaker 2: Everyone age forty five should have a colonoscopy, and that's
27:49
Speaker 2: for someone of average risk. Well what's not always clear
27:53
Speaker 2: to the US population is who's average risk? Well, this
27:56
Speaker 2: is someone without a known genetic link to correctal cancer.
27:59
Speaker 2: It's someone without a known medical history that may predispose
28:02
Speaker 2: them to correctal cancer. It's someone who has has not
28:07
Speaker 2: previously had something that looked like a pre Cancero's polyp.
28:10
Speaker 2: So we make it very hard at some level for
28:12
Speaker 2: people to understand what their actual risk is. But I
28:16
Speaker 2: think that's changing and we are helping to change that.
28:19
Speaker 2: So your cancer risk and designing a screening plan that's
28:23
Speaker 2: correct for Jim, that's correct for Karen, is going to
28:27
Speaker 2: be a combination of what's my age, what's my medical history,
28:32
Speaker 2: what have my exposure has been, and what are my genetics.
28:36
Speaker 2: I've had my genetic testing done, I know what my
28:39
Speaker 2: risk of cancer looks like based on that, and have
28:42
Speaker 2: a screening plan that.
28:43
Speaker 1: Is like that's like BRAKA and things like that.
28:47
Speaker 2: And it is the case that the genetics you're born
28:50
Speaker 2: with don't change, the state of knowledge does. So we
28:54
Speaker 2: are rapidly entering an era when I believe people will
28:59
Speaker 2: know their genetic risk based on genetic testing and it
29:02
Speaker 2: will be entered into your electronic medical record. And as
29:05
Speaker 2: it is the case that additional knowledge is gained about
29:09
Speaker 2: some of these genes for which we're currently uncertain is
29:11
Speaker 2: it a risk a gene or not, that that state
29:14
Speaker 2: of knowledge will then allow you over time to have
29:16
Speaker 2: an even greater understanding about genetic risk and that should
29:19
Speaker 2: factor into your screening plan. I am not a BROCKETWO carrier,
29:24
Speaker 2: but if I were, I would have a very different
29:27
Speaker 2: breasts cancer screening plan than I have right now. I
29:31
Speaker 2: would be watched very closely for a very in cancer
29:34
Speaker 2: and I would also be thinking deeply about I only
29:38
Speaker 2: have sons, not daughters, but I would also be thinking
29:40
Speaker 2: deeply about the ramifications for my sons because BRACKETOO is
29:44
Speaker 2: very strongly associated with aggressive prostate.
29:47
Speaker 1: Cancer, right and conoll, I don't think know that.
29:50
Speaker 2: They don't, and so this is why we're here to
29:53
Speaker 2: try to help that understanding. Now, there's another innovation that's
29:59
Speaker 2: coming that we have been a strong part of, and
30:01
Speaker 2: that's multi cancer early detection tests, the concept of taking
30:05
Speaker 2: a blood draw from someone and finding what looks like
30:09
Speaker 2: cancer DNA or cancer cells in someone's bloodstream. It's a
30:13
Speaker 2: fact that we've known for a long time that your
30:15
Speaker 2: immune system is really good at finding cells that look
30:20
Speaker 2: no longer like you because some of your cells have
30:22
Speaker 2: become cancers in fighting them off, we know this to
30:24
Speaker 2: be true, and the rubbish bin becomes your bloodstream, and
30:29
Speaker 2: so finding that in your bloodstream could mean that your
30:33
Speaker 2: immune system is fighting off something that looks like cancer.
30:36
Speaker 2: It could mean that you have something currently right now
30:39
Speaker 2: that is cancer that just we can't see yet, but
30:41
Speaker 2: it's there, and so we need to watch you more closely.
30:44
Speaker 2: That's where I think cancer is going. We're funding in
30:48
Speaker 2: this area, we're actively participating in studies in this area
30:52
Speaker 2: to try to accelerate the science, and back to my advocacy,
30:56
Speaker 2: we're already advocating at the federal level to ensure that
31:00
Speaker 2: when these types of tests, whichever one becomes the first
31:03
Speaker 2: one that's a breakthrough, get FDA approval and have been
31:07
Speaker 2: shown to show clinical benefit, that there's a way for
31:10
Speaker 2: people to get access to it through reimbursement and making
31:13
Speaker 2: sure that there's a pathway toward reimbursement before it comes about.
31:17
Speaker 2: So that's the bold new era I think we're in.
31:19
Speaker 2: We are really going to see a dynamic shift in
31:23
Speaker 2: imaging so we can find smaller cancers through the use
31:27
Speaker 2: of AI to help us find smaller cancers, to liquid
31:31
Speaker 2: biopsy tests like multi cancer early detection tests try to
31:35
Speaker 2: find cancers through blood but also through prevention. That's where
31:39
Speaker 2: we've got to go. If we are going to end
31:41
Speaker 2: cancer as we know it for everyone, we are not
31:43
Speaker 2: going to do it by treating people with metastatic disease.
31:47
Speaker 2: We just don't want it to come to that.
31:49
Speaker 1: Nope. And that's a common message, a great way to
31:51
Speaker 1: sort of end our discussion because I know you've got
31:54
Speaker 1: to get on and I don't think people want to
31:57
Speaker 1: hear us go on and on. Though we could for
31:59
Speaker 1: hours on this topic, but let's get to the work
32:02
Speaker 1: of the work. I think it's interesting on the screening
32:05
Speaker 1: point and heart disease. We have cholesterol, we have all
32:08
Speaker 1: these things. We should have it in cancer. It seems logical,
32:11
Speaker 1: and the text moving in that direction a positive application
32:16
Speaker 1: for AI. Thank you for bringing that up. And then
32:19
Speaker 1: I guess I'd like to do stuff that's a little
32:22
Speaker 1: more fun and a little more off the cuff. I
32:24
Speaker 1: ask a few questions of all my guests, and I
32:27
Speaker 1: think yours will be fun. First of all, what's your
32:29
Speaker 1: guilty pleasure?
32:30
Speaker 2: Oh? What's my guilty pleasure?
32:33
Speaker 1: To Loato, no good answer. If you were stranded on
32:38
Speaker 1: a desert island with singer, band or album would you
32:43
Speaker 1: listen to in constant repeat?
32:45
Speaker 2: Oh that's an easy one. This is actually what got
32:47
Speaker 2: me to California. Grateful dad.
32:49
Speaker 1: Another bonding moment right here.
32:52
Speaker 2: New Year's These Shows nineteen eighty seven. First time ever
32:54
Speaker 2: wents California.
32:55
Speaker 1: I know, Oh my god. Oh well, I was just
32:58
Speaker 1: at the Metropolitan and your town seeing Jay rad If
33:02
Speaker 1: you weren't working in this field, what would you be doing?
33:05
Speaker 2: Boy, that would be tough. I came from healthcare. I
33:08
Speaker 2: loved healthcare, but this is this is still very similar
33:11
Speaker 2: to what would I be doing. Maybe I'd be a
33:14
Speaker 2: senator or a governor.
33:17
Speaker 1: That also happen, and looks like there's at least in
33:20
Speaker 1: Congress there's one less seat, you know, that's true the
33:24
Speaker 1: Long Island anyway. So thanks so much doctor Connutson for
33:28
Speaker 1: being here and for doing all you're doing. I'm so
33:31
Speaker 1: energized to work with you and your team, and today
33:34
Speaker 1: was just another reason why we're in it to win
33:37
Speaker 1: it for our loved ones and for Paul. So look
33:41
Speaker 1: forward to seeing you again on the road and let's
33:44
Speaker 1: keep up the great work.
33:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, we can only do it through partnership. And
33:48
Speaker 2: I really appreciate Jim this is This is a lot
33:50
Speaker 2: of fun and happy to come back anytime, answer any questions,
33:53
Speaker 2: and I'm here for everyone, So really look forward to
33:57
Speaker 2: just making sure everyone has whatever they need to know
34:00
Speaker 2: about cancer prevention, cancer screening, if someone has a cancer diagnosis.
34:04
Speaker 2: We're the Switzerland of the cancer world. We have no
34:08
Speaker 2: vested interest in where anybody gets care, only that they're informed.
34:11
Speaker 2: Cancer dot Org.
34:12
Speaker 1: It's all there for all my audience and friends and colleagues.
34:16
Speaker 1: You heard it here. Let's partner with the acs. Take
34:20
Speaker 1: a trip to Switzerland.
34:22
Speaker 2: That's right, take a trip to Sitson. You've got it.
34:25
Speaker 1: Thanks to everyone listening to Get Real with the Chairman
34:28
Speaker 1: podcast is a production of Real Chemistry. Our executive producer
34:33
Speaker 1: and researcher is Kate Voss, and a special thanks as
34:36
Speaker 1: always to Danielle Clark Brown and our team at Real Chemistry.
34:40
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35:02
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