The Shoulders of Giants (Episode 98)

U2FP CureCast

You might be wondering why we are interviewing the founder of the National Breast Cancer Coalition, Fran Visco. Well, it turns out that she is the person primarily responsible for the formation of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) out of the Defense Department. One of their many programs is SCIRP - the Spinal Cord Injury Research Program. Fran was the first peer reviewer for breast cancer after CDMRP was formed. Today's interview conversation was extraordinary for illuminating the parallels and insights between two very different disease conditions. It was so insightful to listen to someone who has been advocating in a different space - breast cancer (Fran is also a survivor of breast cancer) - for some 30 plus years, but who has run up against the same barriers in the research system that we in the SCI space deal with as well. To talk with Fran about the similarities in our work and advocacy efforts was fascinating and fantastic. As many of you know, we in the SCI community always hear the money refrain: that what we really need is “more money, more money, more money.” Well, cancer receives a lot more money than spinal cord injury, obviously. But what’s fascinating, and what our conversation shows, is that... More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-98.html