REDI Policy Center

At the core of REDI is a coalition of experts, researchers, policymakers and journalists dedicated to shaping the national conversation around early detection of cancer. Through informed, deeply researched responses to ongoing debates and reported cancer “breakthroughs,” the REDI Policy Center will educate healthcare decision-makers and the general public about the importance of screening as a critical and effective strategy in comprehensive cancer care.

Advocacy

REDI works with healthcare associations, government agencies and public health professionals on advocacy campaigns to build awareness about the importance of early detection. From vaccination drives to seatbelt regulation and smoking cessation, mass media is a proven method of influencing public awareness and behavior for health initiatives. REDI’s campaigns aim to shift the focus from trying to address advanced cancer, where the great majority of cancer research funding is allocated, to detecting cancer it in its earliest stages when the chance of curing the disease can be 90% or greater.

Collaborations

In partnership with trusted healthcare institutions and community-based organizations, REDI is building scalable and replicable models designed to increase uptake of available early detection protocols particularly in underserved communities, where knowledge of and access to routine preventive care lags behind more affluent neighborhoods.

Origins

Bruce Ratner founded REDI after his older brother Michael, a well-respected human rights lawyer, died from metastatic brain cancer in 2016. His passing put the family on the emotional rollercoaster that so many patients and their loved ones experience upon receiving a late-stage cancer diagnosis. With the support of highly respected doctors and scientists, Bruce orchestrated a search for a cure for his brother. But he came to realize that despite Michael’s receiving world class care at the country’s finest hospitals, the only thing that could have saved him was an earlier diagnosis of the disease. Bruce’s experience with his brother was painfully similar to those he had suffered through with his mother’s death from colon cancer 40 years earlier and his sister-in-law’s death from breast cancer 29 years ago. During the intervening years, billions of dollars have been spent on one cancer initiative after another and many “breakthroughs” have been reported. But research reveals that the most significant decrease in cancer deaths since the “War on Cancer” was announced in 1971 stems from the reduction in U.S. smoking rates, not from advancements in drug development or a deeper understanding of the disease.

Bruce, who is primarily known for the more than 50 buildings he developed in and around New York City, and for being the youngest person to serve as a NYC commissioner in the Koch administration, has always been deeply interested in science and medicine. He has served on the boards of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medical College for over 20 years each, and more recently became a trustee of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Inspired by his family’s losses and his years of service to these highly respected institutions, Bruce set out to reshape the way the U.S. healthcare system approaches cancer detection. In June 2024, together with medical journalist Adam Bonislawski, Bruce published Early Detection: Catching Cancer When It’s Curable. The book is a platform for the work of his foundation, launching him and REDI into the world of public health and advocacy aimed at making early detection a fundamental part of cancer care and, in the process, finally slashing stubbornly high cancer mortality rates.