Jill Biden added to SXSW speakers list

Jill Biden, wife of former Vice President Joe Biden, has been added to this year’s South by Southwest speakers list, SXSW organizers said Tuesday.

On Monday, the conference had announced that the former vice president will deliver a 3:30 p.m. Sunday, March 12 talk at the Austin Convention Center that will be open to all SXSW registrants. 

The former vice president will discuss the Biden cancer initiative, which he has been focusing on since leaving the White House. 

Jill Biden will join her husband in the session, which is part of “Connect to End Cancer,” a series of Health Track panels that SXSW is holding in partnership with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the AT&T Foundry for Connected Health and Merck & Co.

A lifelong educator, Jill Biden holds a doctorate in education and is a professor of English at Northern Virginia Community College.

She also is president of the Biden Breast Health Initiative, which focuses on providing free educational breast health awareness programs to schools.

SXSW said Joe Biden “will reflect on the progress made under his leadership of the White House Cancer Moonshot; call for innovative solutions to tackle the barriers that prevent faster gains in ending cancer as we know it, and describe how he plans to remain in the fight.”

Last month, the Bidens launched the Biden Foundation, which will focus on ending violence against women and working to further cancer research. Other areas of focus will include protecting children, working toward equality and improving community colleges.