DALLAS – November 5, 2008 – Susan G. Komen for the Cure® today congratulated Sen. Barack Obama on being elected the nation’s 44th president, and offered its assistance and support as his transition team and the new Congress begin to tackle the critical issue of health care reform.
“As President-elect Obama said last night, ‘if anyone still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, tonight is your answer,’” said Susan G. Komen for the Cure CEO Hala Moddelmog. “We bring that same spirit to our fight to end breast cancer forever, and we’re confident that President-elect Obama and the 111th Congress will be key allies. We look forward to working with the new Obama Administration in the coming months to win the war on all cancers by investing in breakthrough research that’s making early, game-changing detection possible; encouraging smarter scientific collaboration; and increasing the kind of access to affordable, quality care all Americans deserve. ”
Moddelmog noted the bittersweet nature of this week for President-elect Obama, due to the loss of his grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham, on Monday.
“Like so many Americans, President-elect Obama knows firsthand the pain of losing a loved one to cancer. His public request on Monday that, in lieu of flowers, donations go to organizations searching for the cures to cancer was an important, thoughtful gesture – a gesture of hope in the face of tragedy. ‘Change’ and ‘hope’ were dominant themes in his candidacy, and they are themes that also permeate our mission to reignite the war on cancer. It’s time to change our approach so that we’re taking full advantage of the 21st century technologies that can alert us to cancer while it can still be defeated.
“As the largest private sector funder of breast cancer research and community outreach programs, Susan G. Komen for the Cure has invested more than $1.2 billion over the past 26 years, toward fulfilling our promise to end breast cancer forever. We realize, however, that we can’t do it alone. To bring about the needed change, it’s going to take a united effort, with both the public and private sectors making a commitment to discover and deliver the cures.”
