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Lindsay Penn to join hundreds of volunteers calling on Congress to increase Cancer research and prevention funding and improve access to clinical trials
Next week, more than 700 cancer patients, survivors, and their loved ones from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and Guam, will travel to Washington, D.C., as part of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN)’s annual Leadership Summit and Lobby Day.
Lindsay Penn from Smithville will meet with her representatives to urge them to support policies that increase funding for cancer research and prevention programs and urge lawmakers to pass the Clinical Trial Modernization Act (CTMA).
In the last 30 years, substantial and steady increases in federal cancer research funding have fueled discovery and innovation that has led to a 34 percent decline in cancer mortality rates. Advocates will remind lawmakers that this incredible momentum in the fight against cancer is fueled by sufficient funding at key agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Penn will also call on Arkansas lawmakers to support the bipartisan Clinical Trial Modernization Act, or CTMA. This legislation would make it easier for all people with cancer to participate in clinical trials, including those in underrepresented populations, like rural residents, older adults, certain racial and ethnic groups, and those with limited incomes. The passage of CTMA is crucial to ensuring that more patients—regardless of their economic means or geographic location—have a chance to enroll in clinical trials, ultimately giving more people a better chance in the face of a cancer diagnosis.
