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When Joe Biden launched the Cancer Moonshot initiative in 2016 as vice president, he traveled to cancer centers across the country to promote the initiative’s goal of accelerating progress toward a cure. The tour included a visit to Huntsman Cancer Institute, where he met with experts to discuss strategies for advancing scientific breakthroughs and improving patient care.

Six years later, as president, Biden announced a at an event on February 2, 2022. He introduced new goals of decreasing cancer mortality by 50% in the next 25 years and improving the lives of people affected by cancer. Huntsman Cancer Institute’s Phyllis Pettit Nassi, MSW, was among the small group of attendees, which included colleagues from cancer centers and members of Congress.

"To be present for this announcement was very exciting," says Nassi, who believes her policy work in Washington is likely what garnered an invitation. Though the White House event was her first COVID-era visit to the city, she has continued to meet—virtually—with Washington policymakers during the pandemic.

"I’m currently working on three initiatives with the , making sure the voice of the American Indian and rural and frontier populations are included," she says.

Through her work with the American Indian Program at Huntsman Cancer Institute, she advocates for the cancer needs of tribal members in the Mountain West. This demographic group experiences cancer disparities, the occurrence of worse health outcomes due to economic, social, cultural, environmental, and geographic disadvantages. Part of the Cancer Moonshot is aimed at addressing disparities.

"We know cancer as a disease for which there are stark inequities in access to cancer screening, diagnostics, and treatment across race, gender, region, and resources," says a . "We can ensure that every community in America—rural, urban, Tribal, and everywhere else—has access to cutting-edge cancer diagnostics, therapeutics, and clinical trials."