Better Off

April 4, 2019: The future of cancer prevention (part 1)

04.04.2019 - By Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public HealthPlay

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The statistics on cancer worldwide are staggering:  In 2018, more than 18 million people worldwide were diagnosed with the disease, and nearly 10 million died from it. And the burden of cancer is only expected to grow in the coming decades, thanks to a combination of the world’s aging population, the adoption of unhealthy lifestyles, and environmental exposures linked to cancer.

The challenge of combating cancer may seem daunting, but research has shown that one-half to two-thirds of all cancer cases could be prevented if societies fully implemented currently available cancer-prevention strategies. At the same time, there is also a need to develop new strategies for prevention and screening. That's why we're devoting our next two episodes to the future of cancer prevention and diagnosis. In part one you'll hear from Timothy Rebbeck, director of the recently launched Zhu Family Center for Global Cancer Prevention. During a wide-ranging conversation Rebbeck explained the current landscape of cancer prevention and detection—and outlined his interdisciplinary approach to pushing the field forward.

Full Transcript: https://hsph.me/cancer-pod

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