OCRI Prepares for Upcoming Head & Neck Cancer Symposium

Over the last several months, members of the Oral Cancer Research Initiative (OCRI) have been working to organize the second annual head & neck symposium titled, Head & Neck Cancer Symposium: From Pathways to Therapies which will take place on Monday, September 21, 2015. This event builds upon the success of last year’s inaugural meeting, Head & Neck Cancer Symposium: Translating Research to Therapy and Cure, which boasted strong attendance, robust discussions, and outstanding presentations from leading head and neck cancer researchers and clinicians.

As with last year, the objective of the symposium is to promote discussions and collaborations between clinicians and researchers in order to bridge the translational gap, with the ultimate goal of facilitating the translation of research findings to effective and lasting therapies for this aggressive disease.

The agenda for the “From Pathways to Therapies” symposium includes a keynote address, a poster session and four panel discussions. The keynote address will be given by Dr. Lewis C. Cantley from Weill Cornell Medical College, a leading cancer researcher known for his seminal discovery of PI-3-kinase. The program consists of 14 presentations organized into panels on Targeting Pathways and Epidemiology, New Technologies and Patient Care Delivery, Current and Future Therapies, and Clinical Problems and Challenging Cases. Each panel session will conclude with a discussion enabling participants to ask the speakers questions and share perspectives.

Dr. Maria Kukuruzinska, Director of the OCRI and Co-Chair of the event, had this to say about the upcoming meeting, “I am looking forward to this year’s symposium which will provide a forum for clinical and basic science investigators to present their latest research findings at the frontier of the head and neck cancer field and to facilitate informal and intense scientific discussions that will challenge some presentations and conclusions. I am confident that the symposium will stimulate debates about the translation of new research findings for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment.”

To register or view the full program, please visit the event’s website. If you have any questions about this event, please contact the OCRI at ocri@bu.edu.