Ken Burns, an award-winning director/producer of documentary films, has completed a three-part, six hour film based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer”. It will air on PBS starting on March 30. Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, an oncologist/researcher at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, published the book in 2010. Ken Burns was deeply affected by cancer at a very young age when his mother died from the disease.

The first of the three segments will take viewers back through history explaining the initial appearances of the disease through the 1960’s. Part Two will begin with President Nixon’s ‘war on cancer’ and the research funding that followed which eventually helped to increase cancer survival rates. Part Three will discuss the advancements and successes in the 21st century with new treatments and therapies as well as the future pipeline for cancer treatments.

Immunotherapy, a treatment that uses a patient’s own immune system to target and attack the cancer cells, will be discussed in the film. If you are interested in learning about the different types of immunotherapy currently available or participating in a clinical trial, visit http://www.theanswertocancer.org