The MD Anderson Cancer Center Moon Shots Program®: A Global Priority

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Moon Shots Program® is a collaborative effort to accelerate the development of scientific discoveries into clinical advances that save patients’ lives. The program was inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s speech in Houston in 1962, where he declared our nation’s mission to go to the moon. Since its inception, the Moon Shots Program® has expanded to 13 multidisciplinary teams of clinicians and researchers tasked with developing comprehensive approaches to advance cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment to improve the lives of patients and reduce cancer mortality. In addition to launching innovative clinical trials and accelerating scientific research, the achievements of the Moon Shots Program® include public awareness campaigns for cancer prevention. In this chapter, we highlight examples of the program’s success in reducing global cancer mortality, using three salient examples: promoting smoking cessation as part of the Lung Cancer Moon Shot, enhancing HPV vaccination as part of the HPV Moon Shot, and facilitating early detection of pancreatic cancer as part of the Pancreatic Cancer Moon Shot.