Welcome

It is our pleasure to invite you to the 7th International Pacific Rim (PacRim) Breast and Prostate Cancer Meeting, an international “think-tank” meeting to improve the understanding, management and prevention of breast and prostate cancer.

In 2003 the inaugural PacRim Meeting was held in Adelaide, Australia. Since then, six highly successful PacRim meetings have been held (www.pacrimmeeting.com). The highly valued PacRim meetings are attended by a multidisciplinary network of internationally recognized breast and prostate cancer researchers, including scientists and clinicians and experts from biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.

PacRim meetings have facilitated the establishment of international networks across Australia, Canada, the Americas and the broader Asia-Pacific region to foster collaborative research studies and international funding opportunities, transfer of new cutting-edge technologies and exchange of expertise and personnel. The 7th PacRim meeting will leverage the very successful Australian Translational Breast and Prostate Cancer Research Symposium (TransABC), which has been held for the past three years at the Garvan Institute (Sydney). The meeting will maintain the format of 4 to 5 short presentations followed by a vibrant interactive discussion led by the session co-chairs who have an equally important role as the speakers in ensuring the success of these meetings. Poster presentations are encouraged to ensure that all participants are engaged in the meeting. Some abstracts will be selected for oral presentations.

The 7th PacRim Meeting, commencing on Sunday 17 March 2019, will focus on breast and prostate cancer – more similar than different with a view to leveraging similarities between these two cancers to develop new therapeutic targets and predictive biomarkers to improve disease outcomes. Highlights of the 7thPacRim Meeting include the Ron Ross Award and Oration, the inaugural Rob Sutherland Award. These prestigious awards recognize the outstanding contributions of two foundation members of PacRim to breast and prostate cancer research. Nominations are invited for the Ron Ross Award, which recognizes significant contribution to breast and/or prostate cancer research and mentoring of young researchers. The Rob Sutherland Award will be made to an outstanding early/mid-career researcher presenting at the meeting. Presenters will be selected from submitted abstracts. The meeting incorporates a Great Debate and will conclude on Wednesday 20 March with a conference dinner.

The 7th PacRim Meeting will be held at the Barossa Novotel located in the heart of the Barossa Valley, South Australia – Australia’s oldest wine region. The Barossa Valley wine-producing region, one hour northeast of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, is home to some of the most awarded wines in the world. There will be time for participants to enjoy this historic and spectacular region, including a social event at one of the areas iconic wineries, Seppeltsfield.

The Adelaide Fringe and Festival of Arts – a great time to be in Adelaide – precedes the 7th PacRimMeeting (see https://adelaidefringe.com.au/about-us; https://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/).

We look forward to your participation in the 2019 PacRim Meeting.

Wayne Tilley and Elgene Lim
On behalf of the 7thPacRim Organizing Committee