AWS Spotlights Powerful Partnership with Children’s Brain Tumor Network As Model for Speeding An End to Cancer Through Open-Science

At the AWS Summit Washington, D.C. on June 9, 2023, experts from the Children’s Brain Tumor Network (CBTN), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the White House Cancer Moonshot initiative participated in a vital panel discussion to share how a cloud-based, open-science approach drives opportunities to accelerate cancer cures. This dialog was a stand-out among more than 220 sessions that explored innovative ideas for using cloud technology to drive culture change, digital transformation, and infrastructure modernization across industries and knowledge levels.

Allison Heath, PhD, Director of Data Technology and Innovation at the Children’s Brain Tumor Network (CBTN), part of  the Center for Data Driven Discovery in Biomedicine (D3b) at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), joined Jeff Shilling, CIO/Associate Director for Infrastructure and IT Operations at the NIH National Cancer Institute (NCI) to discuss how open science technology models are dismantling silos and equipping scientists across the globe to analyze —in near real-time—clinical record, imaging, genomic, and other data to speed up research and develop new therapies.

Anabella Aspiras, Associate Director for Cancer Moonshot Engagement at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, explained their push to develop private-public partnerships to spur innovation like the one between AWS and CBTN. The panel discussion was moderated by Dr. Rowling Illing, Chief Medical Officer and Director of Internal Public Sector Health at Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Panelists established CBTN as a trusted partner to NIH, AWS, and the White House, pointing to CBTN’s ability to store, track, and protect sensitive institution and patient data over lengthy periods using AWS data technology. And now, CBTN and AWS are taking their longstanding partnership even further.

Heath shared that CBTN and the D3b Center remain urgently focused on connecting researchers with clinicians in real-time through AWS data technology. She stressed the importance of speed in CBTN’s work because deadly pediatric brain tumors limit the timeframe care teams have to find effective therapies for each individual child with a brain tumor. Further, she reminded the audience that these tumors are the number one killer of kids by disease in the U.S., and there has not been any new treatment developed for pediatric brain tumors in the last 10 years.

“At the end of the day,” Heath expressed, “It’s not about any particular platform. It’s about the mission, the mandate of how we get the real-time data out, how we share it in a way everyone expects, how we ensure that the data is empowered by all the people who can provide input toward discovering cures.”

To watch the video of the AWS “Speeding Solutions for Cancer With Open-Science Panel,” click here: AWS Summit Washington DC  2023 - Speeding Solutions for Cancer With Open-Science