WASHINGTON – First Lady Jill Biden is making her first trip to Louisiana Friday and visiting the Louisiana Cancer Research Center in New Orleans, the White House announced Tuesday.
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, and his wife, Dr. Laura Cassidy, will join the First Lady for a walk through at the Tulane Avenue research center starting at 2:15 p.m. Jill Biden arrives 1:30 p.m. at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
The Louisiana Cancer Research Center began in 2012 with 32,000 square of laboratory space for coordinated cancer research. The consortium is run by the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans and Tulane Health Sciences Center and includes Ochsner Health as well as Xavier University of Louisiana.
The event is to underscore President Joe Biden’s “Cancer Moonshot” initiative to cut in half the cancer death rate over the next 25 years.
“Twenty years ago, under the leadership of President Bush and countless advocates and champions, we undertook a bipartisan effort through PEPFAR to transform the global fight against HIV/AIDS. It’s been a huge success,” Biden said at the Feb. 7 State of the Union address about the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, called PEPFAR, begun in 2003 by President George W. Bush.
“I believe we can do the same with cancer. Let’s end cancer as we know it and cure some cancers once and for all,” President Biden added.
The Biden Administration’s “Cancer Moonshot” – named in reference to America’s 1960s program to land a man on the moon – supports 25 new programs and collaborations between 60 private healthcare companies and academic institutions.
The visit also marks National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, which highlights the importance of colorectal cancer screening and investing in cancer research.
Cassidy studied and treated diseases of the liver during his medical career. But a gastroenterologist is the physician most likely diagnose the cancerous polyps in a patient.
“If anyone is going to come to my state in an effort to decrease the incidence of colon cancer or any form of cancer, I’m going to be there to support them,” Cassidy said Tuesday. “As a gastroenterologist, I particularly know this issue. Anybody who has had colon cancer or a family member with colon cancer or worse yet a family member who has died of colon cancer will appreciate my passion.”
Dr. Laura Cassidy is a breast cancer surgeon. Bill Cassidy and Laura Cassidy met while doing their residencies in Los Angeles.
The 65-year-old Sen. Cassidy was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008 and has been in the U.S. Senate since January 2015.
Though Cassidy rarely passes up an opportunity to slam Biden, he was one of only seven GOP congresspersons to convict President Donald Trump, a Republican, of impeachment for the Jan. 6 takeover of the U.S. Capitol by supporters protesting the outcome of the 2020 election that made Biden, a Democrat, president.
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