Collaboration and Research Funding Advancements in Kidney Cancer Advocacy

In a collaboration with KidneyCAN, CancerNetwork® spoke with Elizabeth P. Henske, MD, and Jason Muhitch, PhD, about current kidney cancer advocacy initiatives that may improve patient care and research in the treatment field.

Henske is the director of the Center for LAM Research and Clinical Care and a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, as well as a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an associate member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Muhitch is an associate professor of oncology, cochair of the Genitourinary Translational Research Group, deputy director of Graduate Studies, and a member of the Department of Immunology at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

In addition to conferences, such as the Kidney Cancer Research Summit, that exhibit the latest advances in the kidney cancer field, Muhitch highlighted outreach to members of Congress intended to advance funding for research. Henske affirmed the importance of garnering additional research funding and noted that advocacy efforts overall have dramatically increased kidney cancer research.

KidneyCAN is a nonprofit organization with a mission to accelerate cures for kidney cancer through education, advocacy, and research funding. Learn more about KidneyCAN’s mission and work here.

Transcript:

Muhitch: I think of the current state of advocacy [in kidney cancer] as being a group of patient advocates, researchers, and physicians all coming together in a few different avenues. We talked earlier a little bit about these conferences we have [such as] the Kidney Cancer Research Summit and the International Kidney Cancer Symposium, which are hosted by different advocacy groups. There’s an area where everyone gets together to talk about partnerships, collaborations, and how we can work together to improve patient care and kidney cancer research. I also think about how we come together for kidney cancer advocacy days. There, we have calls with congressional offices, telling personal stories of how research and patient care can be improved through advocacy and funding in these areas.

Henske: We’re fortunate, in the kidney cancer community, to have such a strong advocacy network. This goes back and forth. There are meetings and conferences that allow scientists and clinicians to interact and learn from each other. There are also opportunities for individuals who are living with kidney cancer or who have family members living with kidney cancer to interact and learn. The most important thing in my mind is the advocacy that leads to research funding, because without research, there is no progress. Research is costly, time-consuming, and a big, important investment. And through advocacy, we have achieved a dramatic increase in kidney cancer research.

KidneyCAN's 2025 Advocacy Days are March 10 to 11, 2025 and September 22 to 23, 2025. If you are interested in getting involved with KidneyCAN's advocacy efforts, please contact Debra Beyhan.