Symposium Sponsors:

Welcome!

Spring is a wonderful time of year to be in New York City, and on behalf of the organizing committee, I want to extend to you a hearty invitation to join us in the Big Apple, May 12-14, 2011, Thursday afternoon through Saturday afternoon, for the 4th International Symposium on Cancer Metastasis and the Lymphovascular System: Basis for Rational Therapy.

Building on the success of our previous biennial meetings in San Francisco, we will convene the most renowned international faculty to date as we advance our goal of fostering genuine translational dialogue among the disciplines responsible for discovering, preventing and delivering therapies for metastatic cancer.

Biomarkers and their diagnostic and prognostic applications in cancer progression and metastatic cancer as well as their usefulness in radioimaging and molecular targeted therapy is a core focus of the Symposium. Recent developments in sentinel lymph node concepts and technology will be prominently featured, the cancer microenvironment, the molecular mechanisms involved in the progression of cancer cells to metastasis, and immune trafficking and responses to cancer cells will be explored and results of recent clinical trials of emerging therapies discussed.

The Symposium will bring basic scientists and clinicians together, resulting in a cross-fertilization of ideas that will enhance the translation of basic science into clinical application—and challenge basic scientists with clinical issues—thus linking "the bench to the bedside."

In addition to our regular sessions, this year’s program will feature distinguished-guest lectures, meet-the-professor programs, mini-symposia, and poster exhibits—including award-winning abstracts from young investigators and trainees in the field of cancer metastasis.

A late-breaking pre-conference has been added to highlight the recent JAMA report concerning axillary dissection versus no axillary dissection in breast cancer which has implications for the clinical care of patients with cancer. In addition, Dr. Donald Morton, the surgical pioneer of the sentinel node sampling paradigm, will be honored with an inaugural invited lecture.

New York is a great place for such a meeting—a city of vitality and energy and new thinking—where you can hear about and discuss the latest research and catch up with esteemed colleagues as well as visit exciting tourist destinations or merely enjoy a pleasant walk down lively streets on a soft spring evening.

We hope to see you at what should be a truly memorable conference in New York City May 12-14, 2011.

Sincerely yours,

Stanley P. L. Leong, MD, FACS Symposium and Organizing Committee Chairman, Chief of Cutaneous Oncology, California Pacific Medical Center and Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation; President, Sentinel Node Oncology Foundation, San Francisco, CA

Organizing Committee

Robert Ferris, MD Professor and Vice-Chair for Clinical Operations; Chief, Division of Head and Neck Surgery, Co-Leader, Cancer Immunology Program, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute

Dave Hoon, PhD Director, Molecular Biology Laboratory, John Wayne Cancer Institute, Santa Monica, CA

Mohammed Kashani-Sabet, MD Director, Center for Melanoma Research, California Pacific Medical Center Senior Scientist; California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, San Francisco, CA

Hope S. Rugo, MD Director, Breast Oncology and Clinical Trials Education; Professor of Medicine, University of California at San Francisco

Alessandro Testori, MD Director, Melanoma and Muscle-Cutaneous Sarcomas Division, Istituto Europeo di Oncologia, Milan, Italy

Harold J. Wanebo, MD Professor of Surgery, Boston University; Adjunct Professor of Surgery, Brown University; Chief, Surgical Oncology Division, Landmark Medical Center, Woonsocket, RI

Marlys H. Witte, MD Professor of Surgery, Director of Student Research Programs; Director, Lymphology Laboratories, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, AZ

Markus Zuber, MD Chief of Surgery, Kantonsspital Olten, Professor of Surgery, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Supported by educational grants from: