First lady Jill Biden Friday visited a health clinic and a Navy ship on the first day of her visit to San Diego, which coincides with Saturday’s World Cancer Day.
Biden arrived at San Diego International Airport at 2:29 p.m., where she was greeted by Mayor Todd Gloria, Reps. Sara Jacobs and Scott Peters, San Diego Board of Supervisors Chair Nora Vargas and Erica Pinto, chairwoman of the Jamul Indian Village.
Biden then spent about a half-hour at the Family Health Centers of San Diego clinic in Logan Heights, where she participated in a panel discussion on cancer.
“Really early detection is the key,” Biden said. “A lot of cancers are curable. You’re always scared when you hear the word cancer but they don’t need to be afraid like people were 10 years ago, because now things have advanced so far.”
The center received a $500,000 grant in September from the Biden administration’s Cancer Moonshot initiative, whose goals are cutting the death rate from cancer by at least 50% over the next 25 years, and improving the experience of people and their families living with and surviving cancer.
Biden then spent an hour aboard the USS Gabrielle Giffords, where she brought Oggi’s pizza to the crew members of the littoral combat ship who were unable to join her at a later dinner at Naval Base Point Loma.
The first lady is scheduled to visit The Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic in Oceanside Saturday to participate in a roundtable discussion with military family members, clinic staff, and Marine Corps personnel from Camp Pendleton.
The visit is part of Biden’s Joining Forces initiative, which supports military and veteran families, caregivers and survivors with a focus on military spouse economic opportunity, military child education and health and well-being.
Updated at 11:50 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023
City News Service contributed to this article.