--- title: Obama Puts Joe Biden in Charge of Curing Cancer description: Just months after Biden lost his son to the disease canonical: https://time.com/4178412/cancer-state-of-the-union-barack-obama-sotu/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-13T02:55:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:00:36.296Z article:section: Politics og:title: State of the Union 2016: Obama Says Biden Will Cure Cancer og:description: He put him in charge of a new initiative to beat the disease og:url: https://time.com/4178412/cancer-state-of-the-union-barack-obama-sotu/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte382c255cb8323b7/698878e75f570f8682b1f2a5/facebook-barack-obama-president-state-of-the-union-joe-biden.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 2311 og:image:height: 1210 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-STATE OF UNION og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: State of the Union 2016: Obama Says Biden Will Cure Cancer twitter:description: He put him in charge of a new initiative to beat the disease twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte382c255cb8323b7/698878e75f570f8682b1f2a5/facebook-barack-obama-president-state-of-the-union-joe-biden.jpg?branch=production ---  # President Obama Puts Joe Biden in Charge of Curing Cancer  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Jan 13, 2016 2:55 AM UTC  Vice President Joe Biden points at President Barack Obama during the State of the Union address at a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. Vice President Joe Biden points at President Barack Obama during the State of the Union address at a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016.Evan Vucci—Press Pool  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Jan 13, 2016 2:55 AM UTC President Obama announced Tuesday in his final State of the Union that Vice President Joe Biden would spearhead an initiative to cure cancer. “Last year, Vice President Biden said that with a new moonshot, America can cure cancer,” Obama said, before noting that Biden has worked with Congress to add resources for the National Institutes of Health. “Tonight, I’m announcing a new national effort to get it done. And because he’s gone to the mat for all of us, on so many issues over the past forty years, I’m putting Joe in charge of Mission Control. For the loved ones we’ve all lost, for the family we can still save, let’s make America the country that cures cancer once and for all.”  President Barack Obama gestures to Vice President Joe Biden during the State of the Union Address in Washington on Jan. 12, 2016. Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images This comment got enormous applause, as the President turned to Biden and went off script, saying, “What do you say, Joe?” Biden gave him a thumbs up, to more applause. “Let’s make it happen,” President Obama said. Vice President Biden lost his son, Beau Biden, 46, to brain cancer in 2015. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4178412/cancer-state-of-the-union-barack-obama-sotu/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4178412/cancer-state-of-the-union-barack-obama-sotu/"},"headline":"President Obama Puts Joe Biden in Charge of Curing Cancer","datePublished":"2016-01-13T02:55:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:00:36.296Z","description":"Just months after Biden lost his son to the disease","url":"https://time.com/4178412/cancer-state-of-the-union-barack-obama-sotu/","keywords":["State of the Union 2016","Barack Obama","Joe Biden","Obama","Cancer","state of the union"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte382c255cb8323b7/698878e75f570f8682b1f2a5/facebook-barack-obama-president-state-of-the-union-joe-biden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte382c255cb8323b7/698878e75f570f8682b1f2a5/facebook-barack-obama-president-state-of-the-union-joe-biden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-STATE OF UNION","caption":"Vice President Joe Biden points at President Barack Obama during the State of the Union address at a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016.","creditText":"Evan Vucci—Press Pool","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/state-of-the-union-2016/","name":"State of the Union 2016"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4178412/cancer-state-of-the-union-barack-obama-sotu/","name":"President Obama Puts Joe Biden in Charge of Curing Cancer"}}]}] ```