"ASCO congratulates Anand Shah, MD, MPH, on being named Senior Medical Advisor for Innovation at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

"In his new role, Dr. Shah will lead efforts across CMS to advance medical innovation reporting directly to CMS Administrator Seema Verma.

"Dr. Shah is a radiation oncologist with experience working at the National Cancer Institute and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where he helped grow the FDA Oncology Center of Excellence big data initiative into a health technology incubator for strategic partnerships, research, and innovation. Dr. Shah was an active ASCO volunteer prior to working in government.

"We are hopeful that Dr. Shah's experience treating people with cancer will inform CMS policies to address the high cost of prescription drug treatments, without compromising patient access to all of the services needed to treat their cancer. ASCO recently submitted comments to CMS regarding the Administration's proposal to revive and revise the Competitive Acquisition Program (CAP) as part of an overall effort to address the high cost of prescription drugs in the United States.

"We applaud Administrator Verma for selecting Dr. Shah to serve as Senior Medical Advisor for Innovation and are looking forward to working with him in his new role to improve cancer care for Medicare and Medicaid patients."

###