4th PacRim Breast & Prostate Cancer Meeting

OVERVIEW

The 2008 PacRim Breast and Prostate Cancer Meeting to be held at Telus Whistler Conference Centre, Whistler BC Canada is the fourth in a series of meetings organized by the PacRim Breast and Prostate Cancer Group focusing on contemporary issues in the field of breast and prostate cancer. The PacRim Meetings were inspired by the Hormones and Cancer 2000 Meeting held in Port Douglas (see attached review articles).

The inaugural PacRim Breast and Prostate Cancer Meeting was held in November 2003 in Victor Harbour, Australia. This meeting was organized and supported by the Hanson Institute, Adelaide, Australia and the Garvan Institute for Medical Research, Sydney, Australia. Due to the success of the 1st PacRim Breast and Prostate Cancer Meeting, a second meeting was hosted by the University of Southern California, Department of Preventive Medicine and Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in Palm Springs in April 2005. Both of these meetings provided excellent opportunities for presentation and discussion of current clinical issues, new treatment and prevention strategies and research into breast and prostate cancer. The third meeting held at Fraser Island Australia in 2006 produced more papers and collaborations. Future meeting proposals are being considered for Hong Kong.

The PacRim Meetings have evolved to provide a forum for presentations and discussion of current clinical issues, new treatment and prevention strategies and contemporary research in breast and prostate cancer. The unique environment of these meetings and the Gordon Conference style format ensures interaction between scientists and clinicians of international standing, and facilitates future project formulation and planning at the cutting edge of the two fields. The PacRim Meetings have become an annual event, with the responsibility for organizing the meeting rotating between Cancer Centres on the west coast of North America and in Australia. The meeting itself will rotate between locations determined by the host Cancer Centre.

The foundation PacRim meeting organizing institutions are Norris Comprehensive Cancer Centre, University of Southern California; Garvan Institute for Medical Research, Sydney; The Prostate Centre at Vancouver General Hospital and the Hanson Institute, Adelaide.

The PacRim meetings are restricted to a small group of participants, encompassing key leaders/decision makers who conduct research and clinical practice in this area, as well as a select group of younger researchers including postdoctoral and clinical fellows and graduate students. The objective is to identify and address critical issues necessary to progress the field. The meetings have been, and will develop along the lines of a "think tank" rather than a conventional meeting. Formal talks are short and designed to set the stage for in-depth discussions rather than reporting data in the traditional sense. An informal program organized in 'interesting' venue settings and structured social events create a vivacious forum for discussing pertinent research questions and promote cutting edge research to prevent and cure these two common diseases.

ARTICLES

Hormones and Cancer 2000 Meeting Report

Hormones and Cancer: New Insights, New Challenges

The 3rd Pacific Rim Meeting on Breast and Prostate Cancer:
Progress in Hormonal Carcinogenesis and the Enduring Influence of Ron Ross

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