Why I wear pink

As I’ve traveled to events around the world, people have often commented about my #sockgame on social media. But this year, I began sporting something different, a color I never anticipated carrying such personal significance: pink.

Earlier this year, my wife, Lisa, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Fortunately, she has always been vigilant in her screenings, and the cancer was detected early. But many other women are not as lucky.

The numbers show that there will be over 330,000 breast cancer diagnoses for women in the US this year alone.

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While breast cancer mortality rates have declined, the overall picture is sobering. About one in eight women in the US will develop invasive breast cancer in her life. And over 40,000 women in the US will die from the disease this year.

Many women do not have symptoms at all. That is why screening is vital. Because of family history, we knew that Lisa was at an elevated risk, and regular screenings allowed for early detection and more treatment options.

After this experience, I realized that I can do something – and that I have to do something. I can use my influence and raise my voice in the fight against breast cancer.

That is why I joined the Real Men Wear Pink campaign. I am standing alongside men across the country to raise awareness and funds for research, access and support – to make sure that nobody faces this disease alone, and nobody walks this path alone. Find out more about my involvement in Real Men Wear Pink by watching the video below.

Joining in the fight against cancer

As someone who has lived and breathed statistics and analytics for most of my life, I realize the power that technology and analytics can play in detecting and preventing this horrible disease.

As Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer at SAS, I have witnessed firsthand the role of analytics in fighting cancer. Analytics has helped improve cancer survival rates from 50 percent in 1975 to almost 70 percent today. In that same time, the five-year survival rates for childhood cancer patients have improved from 62 percent to 81 percent.

Here are three ways SAS has forged partnerships to help fight cancer.

1. Determining the right treatment

As a breast cancer survivor, Susan Weidner understands what patients undergo during treatment. And now as Senior Vice President of IntrinsiQ Specialty Solutions, a provider of US oncology data and analytics, she also understands the importance of information to making confident treatment decisions.

Weidner uses tools like SAS? to provide physicians access to the network of drug manufacturers, health insurers and available treatments. This intelligence enables them to deliver the best care possible, tailored to patients’ needs.

Find out more about IntrinsiQ Specialty Solutions’ efforts.

2. Improving clinical data

No one wants to undergo a cancer treatment that is not providing the expected results. And patients want to know whether the treatment is working – quickly.

Project Data Sphere, an independent, not-for-profit initiative of the CEO Roundtable on Cancer, shares, integrates and analyzes historical, patient-level cancer research data.

The results have been impressive. For example, data and collaborative analytics revealed insights hidden in clinical trial data that helped detect whether a treatment for prostate cancer patients was working within days or weeks.

In support of these efforts, SAS hosts the research platform and provides access to analytics technology at no cost to researchers. The platform helps spark innovation and identify new research possibilities, empowering researchers to find answers within the scope of a single trial. 

Read more about Project Data Sphere.

3. Driving cancer policies

Only one in five low- and middle-income countries has the data necessary to drive cancer policy. But the Latin American Cooperative Oncology Group (LACOG) is working to change that.

Facing a rising cancer mortality rate, LACOG uses SAS technology to improve the care and treatment for Latin American cancer patients – from diagnosis to treatment to survival beyond treatment. The data has identified roadblocks to care, medication and preventative care. It has also helped clinicians serve patients better and develop new techniques and technology to improve cancer care and even effect public policy.

Hear more on how LACOG is improving care across Latin America.

How you can help

When I first announced my involvement in the fight against breast cancer at SAS, the response was humbling and extraordinary. Not only were employees worldwide ready to stand with me, a surprising number of employees shared stories with me of how breast cancer had touched their lives. They shared stories of patients fighting the disease, of partners and family members supporting the fight, and of loved ones grieving an unspeakable loss. 

Many of you may be living through the chapters of those stories as well.

I am proud that SAS has joined forces with the American Cancer Society as a sponsor of the Real Men Wear Pink campaign. The values of both organizations are so closely aligned. We use curiosity, passion and innovation to transform the world. At SAS, we strive to transform the world of data into a world of intelligence. Together, we can transform the world of cancer patients into a world of cancer survivors.

And we can eventually transform a world with cancer to a world free of this terrible disease.

We live in extraordinary times. Our capacity to create and apply intelligence is growing rapidly. The convergence of information technology and biotechnology offers opportunities to complete this transformation. In his new book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Yuval Noah Harari envisions biometric sensors and AI algorithms working together to diagnose and treat diseases long before they are detected by us and before they lead to suffering. Imagine receiving a notification on your smartphone from a nanotech app that a group of cancer cells was detected and destroyed or that an infectious disease has been thwarted. That would be the best “antivirus” message ever.

Somewhere at the intersection of computer science, data science, mathematics, genetics, biochemistry, material science, nanotechnology and other disciplines we are mixing the intellectual cocktail that solves the cancer riddle.

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I am inviting everyone to get involved today – whether by supporting an organization like Real Men Wear Pink or getting involved with a local cancer research organization close to your heart.

Together, we can make a difference.

Together, we can save lives.