Nixon National Cancer Conference
December 1 and 2, 2021
Richard Nixon Presidential Library Museum
Yorba Linda, CA
About the
Nixon National Cancer Conference
December 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of President Nixon signing the National Cancer Act of 1971.
To celebrate that visionary and transformative bipartisan legislation, the Richard Nixon Foundation will host the first Nixon National Cancer Conference, a two-day gathering of distinguished Nobel laureates, cancer center directors, clinicians, researchers, and political and public health officials to assess the past, analyze the present, and envision the future of cancer treatment and research.
All Cancer Conference events are free of charge. Guests must register for each day separately. To register multiple guests from a cancer center, please call Anne Brown at (714) 364-1161.
Schedule
Wednesday, December 1
5:00 PM – Welcome Reception sponsored by:
6:00 pm – Welcome Dinner
In Conversation on the History of the National Cancer Act
James H. Cavanaugh, Ph.D., Former Staff Assistant to President Nixon for Health Affairs
Andrew von Eschenbach, M.D, Former Director of the National Cancer Institute
Moderated by: Frank Gannon, Ph.D., Former Special Assistant to President Nixon
Watch this discussion live here:
Thursday, December 2
9:30 AM – Panel One
The National Cancer Act – Discovering Cancer’s Secrets
Nobel laureate James P. Allison, Ph.D.
Nobel laureate David Baltimore, Ph.D.
Nobel laureate Phillip Sharp, Ph.D.
Moderated by:
Andrew von Eschenbach, M.D., Former National Cancer Institute Director, Former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration
10:45 AM – Panel Two
The National Cancer Act – Saving Lives, from Hopelessness to Hope
Stephan A. Grupp, M.D., Ph.D., Section Chief of the Cellular Therapy and Transplant Section at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Lori J. Pierce, MD, FASTRO, FASCO, Chair of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Board of Directors, Professor and Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs, University of Michigan
Peter Pisters, M.D., President of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Moderated by:
Steven T. Rosen, M.D., Medical Oncologist and Hematologist; Provost and Chief Scientific Officer; Irell and Manella Cancer Center Director’s Distinguished Chair; Morgan & Helen Chu Director’s Chair of the Beckman Research Institute
12:00 PM – Luncheon Keynote
Ned Sharpless, M.D., – Director of the National Cancer Institute
Luncheon sponsored by:
1:15 PM – Panel Three
The National Cancer Act – Changing the Future of Cancer
William W. Li, M.D., Chief Executive Officer & President of The Angiogenesis Foundation, New York Times Bestselling author of “Eat to Beat Disease”
Stephen Hahn, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Preemptive Medicine & Health Security, Flagship Pioneering, Former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration
Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D., Former Special Expert on nanotechnology for the National Cancer Institute, Professor of Pharmaceutics, University of Washington
Larry Norton, M.D., Medical Director of the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Moderated by:
Anna Barker, Ph.D., Former National Cancer Institute Deputy Director
Conference Leadership
Chair
Andrew von Eschenbach, M.D.
Vice Chairs
Paul Begala
James H. Cavanaugh, Ph.D.
Melanie Eisenhower, MS, CCLS
Hugh Hewitt
Marlene Malek, RN
Ellen Sigal, Ph.D.
Honorary Host Committee
Robert A. Bradway
Otis W. Brawley, M.D.
Samuel Broder, M.D.
Vincent DeVita, Jr.. M.D.
Robert A. Ingram
Honorary Congressional Committee
Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House
Hon. Don Bacon
Hon. Stephanie Bice
Hon. Rov Blunt
Hon. Diana DeGette
Hon. Rosa DeLauro
Hon. Brian Fitzpatrick
Hon. Virginia Foxx
Hon. Richard Hudson
Hon. Rob Portman
Hon. Brad Schneider
Hon. Terri A. Sewell
Hon. Pete Stauber
Hon. Glenn Thompson
Hon. Norma Torres
Hon. Juan Vargas
Hon. Joe Wilson
Claire Pomeroy, M.D.
Register for the Nixon National Cancer Conference
Watch the National Cancer Conference Live Stream
New Special Exhibit!
A Commitment to Hope:
Richard Nixon and the National Cancer Act
Opening on November 12, a new special exhibit at the Nixon Library will take visitors on a personal journey through the history of cancer care in America.
Everyone knows someone who has heard the dreaded words “You have cancer.”
But what is cancer? How did it become a national epidemic? Who is doing something about it? And why don’t we have a cure?
Explore answers to these questions and more in a new special exhibit at the Nixon Library that commemorates the 50th anniversary of the transformative National Cancer Act of 1971. Experience that decisive moment 50 years ago when the U.S. government took action to develop a “cancure” and its amazing —indeed, miraculous— results.
With artifacts never before exhibited on loan from cancer centers across the country, visitors will experience up close how the fight to conquer cancer has transformed and evolved, including life saving advances in prevention, detection, and treatment of cancer.
Answer your questions about cancer by visiting A COMMITMENT TO HOPE at the Nixon Library.
Purchase tickets to see the exhibit here.
“I hope that in the years ahead that we may look back on this day and this action as being the most significant action taken during this Administration.”
-President Richard Nixon, December 23, 1971