The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) : From the Editor

01 February 2022

Consider this the first of a series of messages on the mission and strategy of the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF).
The mission of PCF is to reduce the death and suffering from prostate cancer. I often wonder about what would be a good analogy for the mission. As one travels through the world of medical research organizations, patient groups, and even the general media we hear words like “war on cancer” “moonshot” “Manhattan project” to describe a problem to be conquered or a battle to be won.
All have a common thread – a bold, multi-faceted project aimed at a singular, well-defined, and easily communicable objective – place a human on the moon, develop the atomic bomb, win the war. While laudable, many of these analogies point to a far-off singular event – one that we will know is happening when we see it. On the flipside, such analogies undervalue incremental benefits. Let me ask it this way, if we focus only on a future cure, do we effectively ignore the hundreds of thousands of American men living with the disease today – over a million men worldwide?