Regional Cancer Center Consortium Annual Meetings

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Funds are requested to provide partial meeting support for the annual meetings of the "Regional Cancer Center Consortium." The next annual meeting is being held Feb. 16-18th, 2006 at the Hillman Cancer Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and subsequent meetings will rotate to other member Institutions. The Regional Cancer Center Consortium is composed of a group of laboratory and clinical investigators from Comprehensive and Regional Cancer Centers in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, New York, and Michigan. The success of our prior meetings (held annually for the past 8 years) and the enthusiasm that has been generated for continuing and improving this effort has now prompted us to seek NCI support. Support for the next five years will greatly help us to develop and sustain a unique, high quality scientific program focused around important, timely themes concerning novel therapies and translational research. Such a program will 1) enhance regional clinical and scientific collaborations among near-by cancer centers and 2) provide a low cost and easily accessible, yet state-of- the-art educational opportunity for researchers, clinicians, industry representatives, students/ fellows and patients. NCI funding will be used specifically to augment meeting planning at an early stage for the next several years and to provide opportunities for graduate/medical students and laboratory/clinical fellows to attend the meeting (through travel awards) and to help defray the costs associated with travel of invited experts from outside the Consortium's region and with educational materials (notebooks/slide handouts) used for the meeting. Of great importance to the co-organizers of this Consortium is the inclusion of underrepresented minorities and women in all stages of meeting development, as speakers and as coorganizers, and making sure that the meetings are accessible to all persons, including those with disabilities. In summary, NCI funding for this annual meeting can help to provide for the long-term stability of an important and unique educational opportunity for both cancer researchers and care providers in this region of the country (which includes both underserved rural and urban communities) and contribute greatly toward the NCI's "Roadmap" goal of increased collaboration among regional and comprehensive cancer centers. This consortium has great potential for helping members of this region's cancer centers to network, increase collaborative efforts and pilot innovative approaches in the therapy of cancer, particularly new biological or immunological approaches, which will ultimately benefit patient care and the timely completion of new clinical trials.