The Days of ASCO 2016

I returned yesterday from the ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago.  Over 30,000 oncologists, researchers, related professionals and advocates attended the meeting. McCormick Place was very busy from June 3 -7 , 2016. And the amount of information on topics from tumor biology to immunotherapy to targeted therapy to care delivery to the value of care was at times overwhelming.

In Chicago Here I Come- ASCO 2016, I wrote about the sessions I had hoped to attend. But it turns out even after planning a schedule in advance I still had to make adjustments. I didn't attend the Patient and Survivor Care, the Cancer Prevention and Epidemiology or the Genomics and Biomarker sessions. But I did add the Developmental Therapeutics and Transitional Research session on Biosimilars and the ASCO Book Club session When Breathe Becomes Air  as wells as a special advocate session on TAPUR to my schedule.

Some more schedule adjustments were made when I learned I would have the privilege of hearing Vice President Biden address the meeting attendees.  It was a great experience  and an ASCO experience I will not forget. Hearing him talk about the Cancer Moonshot program and how important collaboration and big data is to program gave me hope that it will a success.

Over the next week or so I will blog about the sessions I attended in person. I plan to cover:

• Ovarian Cancer Research: IV vs IP chemotherapy, neoadjuvant chemotherapy and immunotherapy/targeted therapy study results
• Endometrial and Cervical Cancer studies
• Liquid Biopsies in Precision Medicine
• Biosimilars in Cancer Treatment
• ASCO's TAPUR Study 

In addition to the research I heard about, there are other benefits of attending the ASCO meeting. I was able to ask questions, share my story and thank the researchers and oncologists who have made finding a cure for cancer their priority. In the Advocate Lounge and at the Research Advocacy Network dinner and the President's reception,  I was able to interact with other research advocates. We talked about how we could be better advocates, how we could work together to make a difference and how we could reach more survivors through social media. Those interactions will have a separate blog post.

I look forward to sharing what I learned with my readers. 

Dee
Every Day is a Blessing