Since being relieved of his previous position, Former Vice President Joe Biden has been busy giving back. On Feb. 4, he launched the Biden Foundation, a non-profit corporation.

According to the official website, the main areas of focus will be “Foreign policy, the cancer initiative, community colleges and military families, protecting children, equality, ending violence against women [and] strengthening the middle class.”

On March 12 at South by Southwest (SXSW), a large multi-media conference in Texas, Biden, introduced by his wife Jill Biden, stressed the importance of consensus and collaboration regarding the fight against cancer.

“We’re not going to beat cancer unless we all do our part…only together can we seize the moment to defeat cancer,” said Jill Biden in her introduction.

Throughout his speech, Joe Biden mentioned his work with the White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force, which made great strides under his leadership.

Biden brought together every organization associated with cancer, along with enlisting the help of government agencies that aren’t typically associated with cancer research, such as NASA and the Department of Energy.

“NASA knows a lot about protecting astronauts in space,” said Biden, “so we brought them together with the National Cancer Institute.”

Biden hoped that NASA could help with the biological effects of radiotherapy; he wants to make radiation even more precise, which would decrease side effects immensely.

The Department of Energy (DOE) was included to increase research efficiency. With the inclusion of this government agency, Biden wanted to bring together all available cancer data to study and assess with the supercomputer capabilities of the DOE.

This process would take up lots of space and data; however, this wasn’t a concern because of the company Amazon.

Amazon offered free cloud space to the Biden Foundation for all of the cancer data the foundation collects. After this aggregation of information was made available to the public, it has been accessed more than 80 million times all over the world.

Biden strongly believes that anyone suffering from cancer should have the opportunity to partake in clinical studies.

“Of everyone diagnosed only 4 percent, four out of 100, are ever able to become a part of a clinical trial,” said Biden. “[Clinical trials] may be the only hope for a particular patient when all other options have failed.”

Because of Biden’s work with congregating cancer information, he has made it easier for patients to find treatment and for companies to find candidates suitable for their treatment. This information is accessible at trials.cancer.gov, which contains National Cancer Institute (NCI) certified clinical trials.

While Biden’s humanitarian efforts have had an impact directly on numerous people, his endeavors have also been appreciated by others observing the situation from afar.

Said Government Teacher Michele Bonadies, “I’m impressed, but not surprised, that this man of such integrity and commitment to public service is continuing his commitment to the public.”