June 14, 2007 - Co-sponsored by ASCO, the American Society of Breast Disease (ASBD), the American Society of Breast Surgeons, the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) and the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO), the 2007 Breast Cancer Symposium will be held Sept. 7-8 in San Francisco. This new educational event is designed to provide oncologists with the most up-to-date relevant information required to treat breast cancer patients. The Symposium also hopes to increase “cross talk” among practitioners and scientists in the breast cancer field.
In addition to topical education sessions, the Symposium will include presentations about the latest multidisciplinary research from selected, theme-based translational and clinical abstracts. Attendees will have an opportunity to engage in clinically relevant, in-depth discussions of the science most likely to have an effect on the treatment of breast cancer, both immediately and in the future.
Co-chair of the Steering Committee responsible for planning the Symposium, Clifford A. Hudis, M.D., Chief of the Breast Cancer Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, is hopeful that the event will foster a two-way conversation between investigators and clinicians and encourage a multiparty discussion involving breast cancer experts and leaders from other fields.
“We hope that this meeting will provide a setting wherein clinicians can dive more deeply into the revolutionary molecular biology being developed in so many laboratories,” explained Dr. Hudis. “We also hope to provide opportunities for formal and informal discussions with leaders in a range of research areas. We anticipate participation of experts from non-oncology fields to provide broad context for some of the treatment decisions we make every day.
“The Symposium will likely address the biology of hormone receptors, mechanisms of resistance to the anti-HER family of drugs, and the optimal integration of local therapies into preoperative treatment plans, among other topics,” he continued.
The theme of the Symposium, “Integrating Emerging Science into Clinical Practice,” emphasizes the effort to translate research results into practical applications. “The sessions we are planning will range from those that explain the rationale for specific treatment approaches to those in which their development, implementation, and refinement are discussed,” said Dr. Hudis. “Each session will translate in both directions, from the lab to the clinic and back again.”
Attendees will also be able to review selected theme-based translational and preclinical abstracts presented at the 2007 ASCO Annual Meeting.
For more information: www.asco.org