Yale Cancer Center Experts Co-Author Book on War on Cancer

Melinda Irwin, PhD, MPH

Several Yale Cancer Center faculty have authored chapters in a newly released book, A New Deal For Cancer: Lessons from a 50 Year War. In recognition of the 50th anniversary of the landmark signing of the National Cancer Act, the book reflects on the decades-long battle to eradicate the hundreds of complex diseases that fall within the umbrella of cancer.

Co-edited by Abbe R. Gluck, Alfred M. Rankin Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy, and Charles Fuchs, MD, MPH, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Product Development for Oncology and Hematology at Roche and Genentech, former Director ofYale Cancer Center and Physician-in-Chief of Smilow Cancer Hospital, and Adjunct Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology) at Yale Cancer Center, the book builds off a 2018 conference held at Yale Law School, “The Policy, Politics & Law of Cancer,” co-sponsored by the Solomon Center and Yale Cancer Center.

Melinda Irwin, PhD, MPH, Associate Director for Population Sciences at Yale Cancer Center,Nicole Deziel, PhD, MHS, Associate Professor of Epidemiology (Environmental Health) and Associate Professor of Environment, and Linda Niccolai, PhD, Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases), co-wrote a chapter entitled “Cancer and Public Health.” Cary Gross, MD, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Cancer Outcomes, Public Policy and Effectiveness Research (COPPER) Center, co-wrote two chapters entitled, “The Fifty States of Cancer” and “(Over-) Paying for Cancer Care.” Incoming Yale Cancer Center Director Eric Winer, MD, co-wrote the chapter, “Oncologist Perspectives on the Evolution of Clinical Care Since the National Cancer Act of 1971.”

“This book lays out in clear terms how the past 50 years has shaped where we are today yet also charts a path forward,” Irwin said. “While cancer mortality rates are 30 percent lower than the peak in the 1990s, to see continued improvements, we must invest in public health approaches to preventing cancer, improving access to care, and closing the cancer health disparities gap. We do this, then we drastically reduce cancer mortality rates.”

A New Deal For Cancer publishes on November 16, 2021.

About Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital
Yale Cancer Center (YCC) is one of only 51 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the nation and the only such center in Connecticut. Cancer treatment for patients is available at Smilow Cancer Hospital through 13 multidisciplinary teams and at 15 Smilow Cancer Hospital Care Centers in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Comprehensive cancer centers play a vital role in the advancement of the NCI’s goal of reducing morbidity and mortality from cancer through scientific research, cancer prevention, and innovative cancer treatment.