Contact:
Will Sansom, (210) 567-2579
The Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) announced Dec. 13 a collaboration for the future of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS). The announcement came at the 30th Annual Charles A. Coltman Jr. San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 13-16 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio.
As a result of the collaboration, the symposium will be renamed the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium beginning in 2008. Complementing the clinical strengths of the highly regarded annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, the AACR’s scientific prestige in basic, translational and clinical cancer research will create a unique and comprehensive scientific meeting that will advance breast cancer research for the benefit of patients.
The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium attracts academic and private physicians and researchers, as well as other health care professionals focused on curing breast cancer, to discuss and learn about new and late-breaking research including experimental biology, etiology, prevention, diagnosis, and therapy of breast cancer and pre-malignant breast disease, as well as new findings from clinical trials.
A primary goal of the CTRC-AACR collaboration is to attract to the meeting more thought-leaders and high-quality proffered papers in basic and translational breast cancer research. Another key goal is to increase the participation of young investigators by providing superior education and training opportunities for the next generation of breast cancer researchers.
The driving force behind the collaboration is the shared mission of the partners to advance progress against breast cancer. By combining their respective strengths, the partnership will produce a scientific meeting that encompasses the full spectrum of breast cancer research, facilitating the rapid translation of new knowledge into better care for breast cancer patients.
The CTRC, which merged with the UT Health Science Center on Dec. 17, founded the SABCS 30 years ago. The CTRC partnership with the AACR is expected to provide a unique forum for the scholarly discussion of the latest advances in the etiology, prevention and treatment of breast cancer. Known as one of the best breast cancer research meetings in the world, the SABCS, with the addition of AACR’s high-quality science, credibility and outreach, is expected to be synergistic and garner further scientific prominence.
“The AACR is delighted to have the opportunity to partner with CTRC and Baylor College of Medicine in presenting this meeting to the breast cancer community,” said Margaret Foti, Ph.D., M.D. (h.c.), chief executive officer at AACR. “The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium is already an outstanding meeting. Clearly, the expert input of the AACR will enhance interactions between basic and clinical researchers and expedite the delivery of the latest scientific advances into the clinic.”
Under the terms of a mutual agreement between The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and AACR, the AACR will contribute to program development and oversight of the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The AACR will also create and obtain funding for a new award and lecture for outstanding breast cancer research conducted by a young investigator. In addition, the AACR will support scholar-in-training awards for meeting attendance by early-career and minority scientists.
In 2005, Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) became a joint sponsor of the symposium and will remain in the CTRC-AACR collaboration. C. Kent Osborne, M.D., director of the Dan. L. Duncan Cancer Center at BCM, will continue to serve as SABCS chair and three co-chairs will represent each of the partners. The program planning committee of the CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium will have broad representation by national and international breast cancer experts.
###The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio> is the leading research institution in South Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. With an operating budget of $576 million and 5,000 faculty and staff, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $15.3 billion biosciences and health care sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had an estimated $35 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to seven campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. The Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at the UT Health Science Center is one of the San Antonio campuses. The CTRC Institute for Drug Development is located on the Texas Research Park Campus, also in San Antonio. More than 22,000 Health Science Center graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and allied health professionals) serve in their fields, including many in Texas. Health Science Center faculty are international leaders in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke prevention, kidney disease, orthopedics, research imaging, transplant surgery, psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, pain management, genetics, nursing, allied health, dentistry and many other fields.
The mission of the
American Association for Cancer Research is to prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1907, AACR is the world's oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. The membership includes over 26,000 basic, translational and clinical researchers; health care professionals; and cancer survivors and advocates in the United States and more than 70 other countries. AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise from the cancer community to accelerate progress in the etiology, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer through high-quality scientific and educational programs. It funds innovative, meritorious research grants. The AACR Annual Meeting attracts more than 17,000 participants who share the latest discoveries and developments in the field. Special conferences throughout the year present novel data across a wide variety of topics in cancer research, treatment, and patient care. AACR publishes five major peer-reviewed journals:
Cancer Research;
Clinical Cancer Research;
Molecular Cancer Therapeutics;
Molecular Cancer Research; and
Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. Its most recent publication and its sixth major journal, Cancer Prevention Research, is dedicated exclusively to cancer prevention, from preclinical research to clinical trials. The AACR also publishes CR, a magazine for cancer survivors, patient advocates, their families, physicians, and scientists. CR provides a forum for sharing essential, evidence-based information and perspectives on progress in cancer research, survivorship, and advocacy.
Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, the only private medical school in the Greater Southwest, was founded in 1900 and is today an internationally respected medical and research institution known for excellence in education, research and patient care. Located in the Texas Medical Center, a 1,000-acre complex housing 46 member institutions, BCM has affiliations with eight teaching hospitals, each with a national and international reputation for medical excellence. The college has total research support of $374 million, with $314 million from federal sources, and more than 90 research and patient-care centers and units. Currently, BCM trains more than 3,000 medical, graduate, nurse anesthesia, and physician assistant students, as well as residents and post-doctoral fellows.
