10 August 2021: Letter to President Biden

 

Let me know if you have comments for future letters or you have suggested contacts.

Thanks

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10 August 2021

Dear President Biden,

I am a pathologist who developed PathologyOutlines.com, a free online pathology textbook used regularly by pathologists worldwide.

Consistent with your goal of ending cancer as we know it, I have developed a strategic plan to substantially reduce cancer deaths from the current level of 600,000 per year to 100,000 per year, see http://www.natpernick.com/StrategicPlanCuringCancer.html.

Who do you know, in or outside government, who is willing to “think outside the box”, and focus on this long term goal and what we need to do to get there?

Unfortunately, most cancer physicians and scientists are focused on short term thinking - promoting their career and not ruffling too many feathers. They don’t want to take risks that may fail. In addition, too many scientists are wedded to reductionist thinking and focus on naive concepts such as “the cure” or “a world without cancer”. However, cancer is the result of intersecting webs of disturbed physiologic networks - we typically will need to cut many strands of the web to destroy its function - a few drugs will usually be inadequate to do that. We also need more ambitious prevention goals such as markedly reducing tobacco use and obesity and making dramatic changes to our diet if we want to substantially reduce cancer deaths.

Our work is moving forward with the help of a growing network of interested people, but the more people in our network, the better. I would appreciate your help, or that of your staff, in advancing this cause by identifying interested people to work with us.

We don’t need your money, but we do need your connections!

Please review and advise.