Washington has been consumed with fights over the Affordable Care Act, HHS' care of migrant kids and Donald Trump's promise to cut drug prices — and we'll get back to all of those issues on PULSE CHECK soon.

But today's episode goes outside the Beltway for a look at a persistent public health problem: Brain cancer. POLITICO's Dan Diamond sat down with Ron DePinho, a famed researcher who led MD Anderson Cancer Center, to discuss the moonshot cancer initiative, whether "curing" cancer is realistic and why he stepped down as hospital president.

REFERENCED ON THE PODCAST

MD Anderson's "Moon Shots" Program, which inspired the Obama administration's own cancer initiative.

Ron's 2017 resignation speech as MD Anderson Cancer Center president.

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