The 2015 PacRim Breast and Prostate Cancer Meeting to be held July 20-24 at Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, Washington is the sixth in a series of meetings organized by the PacRim Breast and Prostate Cancer Group. This meeting series was inspired by the Hormones and Cancer 2000 Meeting held in Port Douglas, and focuses on contemporary issues in the field of breast and prostate cancer.
The inaugural PacRim Breast and Prostate Cancer Meeting was held in 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 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 2005. Continued success and interest led to the third meeting which was held at Fraser Island Australia in 2006, and produced more papers and collaborations. In 2009, the fourth meeting was held in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics, and the fifth meeting returned to Australia in 2011 to ‘Mantra on Salt Beach’ in Kingscliff, New South Wales.
The format of the PacRim Meeting provides excellent opportunities for presentation and discussion of current clinical issues, new treatment and prevention strategies and research into breast and prostate cancer. The unique environment and the Gordon Conference-style approach ensures interaction between scientists and clinicians of international standing, and facilitates future project formulation and planning at the cutting edge of the two fields.
PacRim Meetings are restricted to a small group of 100 – 150 participants, encompassing key leaders and decision makers who conduct research and clinical practice in the areas of breast and prostate cancer, and include a select group of younger researchers including postdoctoral and clinical research fellows and graduate students. The objective is to identify and address critical issues necessary to progress the field. The meetings have been, and will continue to be conducted 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 with structured social events creates a vivacious forum for discussing pertinent research questions and promoting cutting edge research to prevent and cure these two common diseases.
The foundation PacRim meeting organizing institutions are Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Southern California; Garvan Institute for Medical Research, Sydney; Vancouver Prostate Centre (VGH campus) Vancouver BC, DRMCRL, Hanson Institute and University of Adelaide, Australia, and the University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington.
Meetings take place every 2 to 4 years, with the responsibility for organizing the meeting rotating between cancer centers on the west coast of North America and in Australia.