Tackling Neglected Areas of Oncology with Provocative Questions

In an era of low funding rates and tightening budgetary constraints, researchers are inevitably nudged toward taking a conservative approach and thus focus on safe research questions to which answers are likely to be found. This approach not only risks limiting the scope of conducted research, but also discourages thinking outside of the box and tackling highly ambitious and not immediately obvious questions, or questions that have proven exceptionally difficult to address. Yet answering these types of questions may have very important ramifications for both clinical medicine and the advancement of scientific knowledge. To combat these issues, the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) developed the Provocative Questions initiative, an innovative …