Abstract LB-80: Building Bridges for Pancreatic Cancer Research

Abstract Almost 40 years after President Nixon signed into law the National Cancer Act, the survival rate for pancreatic cancer has not substantially improved. Today, 75 percent of patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer die within one year of diagnosis, and 94 percent of pancreatic cancer patients will die within five years of diagnosis. Although pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the U.S., causing 36,800 deaths in 2010, only two percent of the National Cancer Institute's budget is spent on researching the disease ($89.4 million in 2009). Early detection tools for pancreatic cancer do not exist, and thus, patients are typically diagnosed after the disease has metastasized and surgery is no longer a possibility. Jason Peckenpaugh became an independent advocate for pancreatic cancer patients and research after seeing his father, Jon, bravely battle pancreatic cancer for 18 months until his passing in October 2009. Mr. Peckenpaugh's fight illustrates the statistics above, including his seven month quest to simply discover his diagnosis. The focus of his advocacy work is communicating scientific information with caregivers, patients, and the public, while sharing the perspective of patients and caregivers with oncologists and researchers. He is participating in the AACR Scientist<–>Survivor Program to improve my knowledge of cancer science and research so that he may become a patient advocate on GI cancer grant committees and/or research control boards. Despite the poor prognosis for patients with pancreatic cancer, this is a promising time for pancreatic cancer research, in part due to grants from the Stand Up 2 Cancer organization, advances in molecular profiling of tumors, and recent research showing the progression of pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer needs a patient advocate at the table wherever gastrointestinal cancers and other cancers are being discussed. Patient advocates serve on grant review boards of the Food and Drug Administration, the Gastrointestinal Specialized Program of Research Excellence (GI SPORE), and other government research consortia. Mr. Peckenpaugh is a volunteer with the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) and a volunteer fundraiser for the Lustgarten Foundation and Johns Hopkins University's pancreatic cancer research program. He has raised more than $14,000 for pancreatic cancer research since 2008. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-80. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-LB-80