Prostate Cancer Foundation Continues its Mission to Protect and Honor U.S. Veterans Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer

LOS ANGELES, Calif., November 11, 2021 - Prostate cancer is the most diagnosed cancer among U.S. Veterans and the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) is continuing its long-standing commitment to deliver best-in-class prostate cancer care to Veterans by expanding the VA-PCF New Data Nurse of the Future Pilot Program to nearly all 50 states.

Partnering with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the unique pilot nursing program is a clinical research and training collaboration that focuses on expanding the role of advanced practice registered (APRN) nurses in the genetic services workforce and the delivery of precision oncology patient care.

“As we extend leading-edge precision oncology care to more Veterans through our longstanding partnership with the VA, it’s critical to advance the clinical workforce around genetic services,” said PCF President and CEO Charles J. Ryan, MD. “Advanced practice nurses completing this new training curriculum will become the unsung heroes of cancer care and play a unique role in the delivery of clinical research and better patient care for Veterans. We remain deeply committed to advancing research, treatment and patient care for America’s heroes, and are excited by the growth of this pilot and the potential it holds.”

Today’s nurses are called to assume more leadership roles, advance their education, and work to the full extent of their license and clinical privileges, and the VA-PCF New Data Nurse of the Future Pilot Program prepares APRNs to integrate cancer genetics into clinical practice, apply advanced practice-level proficiency to cancer risk assessment and case management, and educate and counsel VA patients about genetic testing, targeted therapies and opportunities to participate in precision oncology clinical trials. The pilot will culminate in developing APRNs who will serve Veterans in the VA-PCF network of Centers of Excellence and affiliated sites across the nation. Since its inception a year ago, the VA-PCF New Data Nurse of the Future Pilot Program has enrolled more than 130 nurse registrants from all Veterans Integrated Services Networks in nearly 50 states, plus Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In its ongoing commitment to care for Veterans with prostate cancer, PCF is a valuable resource for patients, providing much-needed services, as well as working with the VA in establishing Precision Oncology Centers of Excellence, a dedicated network of centers across the U.S. executing the ambitious mission of improving the care for Veterans by delivering cutting-edge precision treatments to save lives. The goal of precision medicine is to tailor treatments to each patient’s cancer based on their unique biology. The precisely targeted treatment reduces toxicities of one-size-fits-all treatments that are unlikely to be effective. Genetic testing, counseling and pioneering clinical trials are among the best care options made possible for Veterans.

An estimated 40,000 patients with prostate cancer will be treated by the VA annually, and with the exponential growth of precision medicine, PCF along with its partner, the VA will tirelessly continue caring for U.S. Veterans with first-rate care.

ABOUT THE PROSTATE CANCER FOUNDATION: The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) is the world’s leading philanthropic organization dedicated to funding life-saving prostate cancer research. Founded in 1993 by Mike Milken, PCF has been responsible for raising close to $1 billion in support of cutting-edge research by more than 2,200 research projects at 220 leading cancer centers in 22 countries around the world. Thanks in part to PCF’s commitment to ending death and suffering from prostate cancer, the death rate is down by 52 percent and countless more men are alive today as a result. The Prostate Cancer Foundation research now impacts more than 70 forms of human cancer by focusing on immunotherapy, the microbiome, and food as medicine. Learn more at www.pcf.org.