In March 2017, Joe Biden had just left office as U.S. Vice President and had not yet launched his successful campaign to be elected President of the United States in the 2020 election. At SXSW, he took part in the launch of the Biden Cancer Initiative along with his wife, Dr. Jill Biden. Motivated by the 2015 cancer-related death of Biden’s son, Beau, this project sought to connect various researchers and data and extend the Cancer Moonshot project which Biden had helmed during his time as Vice President.