WINDBER An international cancer research effort involving the Windber hospital and research center has been renamed to reduce confusion and better reflect its success, its founder announced.

We are renaming and branding Cancer MoonShot 2020 to Cancer Breakthroughs 2020, a name that elevates the importance and progress of our work to what it truly is breakthroughs, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong said in a press release.

Soon-Shiongs nonprofit, Chan Soon-Shiong NantHealth Foundation, is the parent of Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber and Chan Soon-Shiong Institute of Molecular Medicine at Windber.

Both are participating in the Cancer Breakthroughs 2020 collaboration of research organizations, hospitals and businesses.

We are extremely proud to play a role in Cancer Breakthroughs 2020, said Tom Kurtz, president and CEO of both Windber facilities.

The name is an accurate description of this action-oriented initiative.

The change will address confusion with other cancer moonshot programs Soon-Shiong said.

It may also help settle a lawsuit filed by the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, which has been using the Cancer Moon Shotstagline since 2012, the federal lawsuit says.

In addition to the MD Anderson Moon Shots, the federal government has its ownCancer Moonshot.

Two days after Soon-Shiong unveiled his former Cancer MoonShot 2020 in January 2016, then-President Barack Obamacredited his vice president, Joe Biden, with suggesting with a new moonshot, America can cure cancer.

In his State of the Union Address, Obama went on to announce a national Cancer Moonshot effort, putting Biden in charge of Mission Control.

Windbers research program is involved in the national Cancer Moonshot through its partnership with Walter Reed National Military Medical Centers John Murtha Cancer Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

Soon-Shiong says the Cancer Breakthroughs 2020 name is more appropriate.

With recent discoveries in molecular science and rapid advancements in supercomputing technology, we are now on the path that will forever change the way cancer is diagnosed and treated, he said in a press release.

It is no longer a dream no longer just an aspiration. It is the forging of real breakthroughs, long overdue in the fight against cancer, that are giving millions hope that will subdue cancer by harnessing the most powerful defense against this deadly disease ones own immune system.

Randy Griffith is a multimedia reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 532-5057. Follow him on Twitter@PhotoGriffer57.

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