{"id":4764,"date":"2025-10-04T17:47:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T17:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paultalks.science\/blog\/?p=4764"},"modified":"2025-10-04T17:47:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T17:47:24","slug":"building-cancer-systems-that-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paultalks.science\/blog\/building-cancer-systems-that-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Cancer Systems That Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Professor Richard Sullivan talks about cancer, he doesn\u2019t begin with miracle drugs or new machines. He starts with systems \u2014 the people, politics and policies that decide whether any of those advances will actually reach patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the latest episode of the&nbsp;<em>Paul Talks Science<\/em>&nbsp;podcast, I sat down with Sullivan, Professor of Cancer and Global Health at King\u2019s College London and Director of the Institute of Cancer Policy, for a conversation about what it really takes to build cancer systems that work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Building Cancer Systems that Work\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"624\" height=\"351\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/3mHHT63kYWpE2C8WRg4Mnq\/video?si=mgiL1ROKTVaSWNmTWu--DA&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sullivan began his career as a cancer surgeon before turning to policy and health systems research, a shift that now defines his work. \u201cYou can have the drugs, the radiotherapy, even surgical robots,\u201d he told me, \u201cbut without strong systems and political governance those technologies do not translate into better outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He spoke about the widening gap between innovation and access. Cancer survival has doubled in high-income countries like the UK since the 1970s, yet across much of the world families are still being pushed into poverty by the cost of treatment. \u201cCancer reflects all the strengths and weaknesses of health systems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We also discussed WHO\u2019s new&nbsp;<em>Saving Lives, Spending Less<\/em>&nbsp;investment case and what it could mean for cancer control. Sullivan welcomed the renewed attention but questioned whether global cost-effectiveness arguments can drive meaningful change on their own. His message was clear: governments need realistic, financed plans that fit their own contexts and can stand the test of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I wrote more from our conversation in my recent feature for&nbsp;<em>The Lancet Oncology<\/em>, which you can read here:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lanonc\/article\/PIIS1470-2045(25)00591-1\">Building cancer systems that work<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\ud83c\udfa7 Listen to the full conversation on&nbsp;<em>Paul Talks Science<\/em>&nbsp;wherever you get your podcasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Building Cancer Systems That Work\" width=\"710\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4Ut5OlrBbvI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Professor Richard Sullivan talks about cancer, he doesn\u2019t begin with miracle drugs or new machines. He starts with systems \u2014 the people, politics and policies that decide whether any of those advances will actually reach patients. In the latest episode of the&nbsp;Paul Talks Science&nbsp;podcast, I sat down with Sullivan, Professor of Cancer and Global Health at King\u2019s College London and Director of the Institute&#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"more\"> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/paultalks.science\/blog\/building-cancer-systems-that-work\/\">Read More<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","inline_featured_image":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[19,145],"tags":[146,148],"class_list":["post-4764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcast","category-season-three","tag-cancer","tag-kings-college-london","is-cat-link-regular"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Building Cancer Systems That Work - Paul Talks Science Podcast<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/paultalks.science\/blog\/building-cancer-systems-that-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Building Cancer Systems That Work - Paul Talks Science Podcast\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When Professor Richard Sullivan talks about cancer, he doesn\u2019t begin with miracle drugs or new machines. He starts with systems \u2014 the people, politics and policies that decide whether any of those advances will actually reach patients. In the latest episode of the&nbsp;Paul Talks Science&nbsp;podcast, I sat down with Sullivan, Professor of Cancer and Global Health at King\u2019s College London and Director of the Institute... 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