Get Ready for (Another) Great Meeting

At the Oct. 3-6 meeting, we’ll have kickoff sessions for S1806 and S1501, our 4th annual NCORP Research Base Clinical Trials Workshop, and a compelling and comprehensive mini-retreat on liquid biopsies, organized by our own translational medicine leaders, Drs. James Rae and Lee Ellis. They’re bringing in 10 bright lights from academia and industry, to talk about optimal use of cell-free DNA methodologies in SWOG trials. Make sure you check the box for this Oct. 4 event when you register online!

Our speakers are pretty high-caliber, too.  The Harry E. Hynes Memorial Lecture will be given by Dr. Otis Brawley, a giant in oncology, and the chief medical and scientific officer for the American Cancer Society. Dr. Brawley is a long-time SWOG partner in our prevention studies, and he will, fittingly, deliver a talk on 21st Century cancer control. On the Plenary I side, we will welcome Drs. Luis Diaz from Memorial Sloan Kettering and Timothy Yap from MD Anderson. And on the Plenary II side, Dr. Sheila Prindiville from NCI will talk about the new NAVIGATE clinical trials collaboration with NCI and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In addition, our own Dr. Paul Hesketh from Lahey Health Cancer Institute will offer an update on ASCO efforts to broaden clinical trial eligibility criteria.

More Chicago highlights:

• Lung-MAP update meeting: This regular update session on Oct. 5 will be anything but regular. We are significantly expanding our landmark precision medicine trial this fall, and you will get all the details here.
• TeamScience @ SWOG: This new training program aims to ensure that patient advocates are consistently and seamlessly engaged in SWOG trials. Training rolls out to leadership in Chicago, with other stakeholders getting an introduction to the sessions in 2019.
• Federal site payment office hours: The NCI is changing how it sends federal funds to member sites, and you can find out what this means to your institution at this Oct. 4 session led by the SWOG grants team, Pat Mize and Kyle Theige.
• Social media: Our digital engagement chair Dr. Don Dizon will address oncology research professionals at the Jeri and Noboru Oishi Symposium, and SWOG and Hope communications managers Wendy Lawton and Morgan Cox will offer a breakout session on social media at the NCORP workshop on behalf of the digital engagement and recruitment and retention committees. These will be practical sessions, with lots of hands-on advice and insights for members.

Last but certainly not least, we will unveil the new SWOG and Hope Foundation logos at the general plenary. Remember that Hope turns 25 this year, and a pretty cool surprise will be in the agenda book for you. See you soon!