Oracle has joined CancerX’s equity initiative aligned with the National Cancer Moonshot program. Oracle’s participation involves leveraging its cloud technology, AI, clinical research, and healthcare expertise to drive digital innovation in cancer care. The project aims to bridge gaps in methodology and implementation, promoting equitable digital health technology adoption in oncology. Collaborations between entities like the Moffitt Cancer Center and Digital Medicine Society are fostering a shared ecosystem to swiftly deploy innovative systems, improving cancer care.
Oracle has joined the inaugural equity project of CancerX, in alignment with the White House’s National Cancer Moonshot initiative. In this endeavor, Oracle will leverage its expertise in cloud technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, clinical and healthcare research, care delivery, and scientific insights.
As part of the public-private partnership under the National Cancer Moonshot initiative, Oracle, a prominent cloud vendor and owner of Cerner electronic health record, will contribute to the CancerX project. This initiative aims to combat cancer and lower mortality rates. Cancer ranks as the second leading cause of death in the United States, and CancerX strives to address this issue. Cancer survivors also face a higher risk of declaring bankruptcy.
Oracle’s involvement in CancerX is focused on defining the value of digital innovation in cancer treatment, bridging methodological and implementation gaps, and fostering the widespread and equitable adoption of digital health technologies in oncology. Shruti Iyer, the principal innovation architect supporting clinical innovation at Oracle Life Sciences, clarified that the initial steps will concentrate on advancing digital innovation to enhance equity and mitigate the financial challenges associated with cancer care and research.
According to a recent McKinsey study, limited access to healthcare for cancer patients is primarily hindered by affordability and availability constraints. Patients in rural areas and those dealing with the costs of travel and time away from work encounter barriers to receiving proper care, which are even more pronounced in the context of cancer care.
Collaborative efforts between the Moffitt Cancer Center, Digital Medicine Society, Office for the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, and Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health are shaping an ecosystem through CancerX. This collaborative platform aims to facilitate the exchange of ideas, expertise, and resources to enable the rapid and equitable deployment of innovative systems. Santosh Mohan, vice president of digital for the Moffitt Cancer Center, emphasized the need for such collaborations to overcome the fragmented healthcare landscape and enhance patient care.
Seema Verma, senior vice president and general manager of Oracle Life Sciences, highlighted Oracle’s commitment to leveraging its healthcare, clinical research, and enterprise cloud technology expertise to advance innovative and effective cancer treatments.
Looking back to 2016, a public-private partnership between the Department of Veterans Affairs and IBM Watson Health was established under the National Cancer Moonshot initiative to improve cancer treatment for veterans by analyzing large volumes of data and expediting genomic treatment options.
At HIMSS23, Santosh Mohan underscored the necessity for more public-private collaborations to drive oncology innovation. He discussed how Moffitt Cancer Center is combining clinical care with advanced technology, including digital radiology and digital pathology, but noted that there’s room for expanding access to these breakthroughs in the field.
Mohan also mentioned that CancerX is instrumental in highlighting the challenges in cancer care delivery that are ideally suited for digital solutions.
Smit Patel, DiMe’s associate program director, emphasized the significance of multi-stakeholder collaboration in leveraging digital innovation against cancer and commended the partnership with Oracle. The collaboration aspires to establish best practices, build capacity, and showcase the impact of innovation on the lives of individuals affected by cancer. Santosh Mohan added that the partnership aims to advance cancer research and treatment frontiers through digital innovation while striving to alleviate the global burden of cancer.
