Time to Make Your Fall (Meeting) Plans

Fall meeting means Chicago, and we’ll again be at the Chicago Hyatt Regency, though the meeting space has been renovated since we last met there. If these photos do it justice, it’s now more brightly lit, and it seems airier.

Given increased meeting costs (and decreased funding), we will again offer virtual attendance options and support only for open sessions, as we did in the spring.  

• Invitation-only meetings will be in-person only – we will not provide a Zoom link for these meetings (with three exceptions: board of governors, data and safety monitoring committee, and Hope Foundation board meetings will be in-person and virtual).
• Open sessions will be in hybrid format – in-person, but with a virtual attendance option, with Zoom links posted to the meeting website and app (two exceptions: the CNS and sarcoma working group sessions will be in-person only).

As you make your plans, remember that The Hope Foundation provides significant support for various components of our group meetings, including group meeting travel support for select SWOG members: early-career investigators at NCORP sites, CRAs and nurses, and board of governors members. 

SWOG also has a fund to support group meeting travel by investigators from disciplines and modalities other than hematology/oncology (our “MaD Money” program).

Application deadlines are approaching rapidly (several are next week), so visit the travel support page now to learn more.

As always, in addition to our committee working sessions, we’ll offer a raft of educational opportunities (some with Continuing Medical Education credit). Here are a few –  

Trial kickoffs:

• S2312 – With activation expected later this month, this phase 3 trial in prostate cancer uses a centrally assessed integral biomarker in an unusual design. Learn more in Chicago.
• S2418 – This palliative care trial is still in development, and the pre-launch event is partly to educate and build excitement, partly to gather site-level input to refine the final protocol.
• myeloMATCH – The NCI’s newest precision medicine master protocol, in acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome, activated in May, and it breaks new ground in many ways. Plan to attend Saturday morning to learn more and have your questions answered.
• Lung-MAP 3.0 – The NCI’s first precision medicine master protocol, in non-small cell lung cancer, has just entered its second decade. A major revision, now in final review stages, will broaden access to the trial by allowing results from most CLIA-certified next generation sequencing platforms to be used for determining sub-study assignment. Check out the Lung-MAP update meeting on Friday.

Symposia and workshops:

• Take Action Symposium – This fall’s recruitment and retention committee educational session, “Diversity Plan in Action,” will explore the draft guidance the FDA issued earlier this summer on required diversity action plans to improve enrollment of underrepresented populations.
• The Art of Patient Enrollment in GU Oncology Clinical Trials – Our genitourinary committee will host a workshop on state-of-the-art accrual and retention strategies.
• ctDNA Platforms Symposium – Similar to the OMICS Symposium we hosted in the spring of 2023, this will feature brief talks by experts from companies with strong ctDNA/liquid biopsy programs, followed by a panel discussion and Q&A. You’ll also be able to engage directly with these experts at company exhibits.

Plenaries:

• Plenary I – Our translational medicine plenary will highlight Hope-supported work, update us on the next NCI precision medicine trial (ImmunoMATCH), and more. 
• Plenary II – Our theme this fall is “Transforming Information into Insight: Solutions and Opportunities in Clinical Oncology Research,” and we’ll highlight projects and opportunities in artificial intelligence, data management and visualization, and … more!

Finally, we’ll remind you more than once in Chicago of the importance of completing your SWOG member profile. The aggregate data these profiles give us on member interests, roles, locations, and demographics will be vital to the success of our upcoming grant applications. We’ll even try to make the reminders fun (yes, I said fun).

I look forward to seeing you in Chicago!