Annual Breast Cancer Conference
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: Non-technical overview of the event and relevance to breast cancer: 
 
 For the past 15 years, the Cancer Prevention Institute of California (CPIC) has hosted an annual breast cancer conference to provide cancer patients and survivors with the information and support they need to make informed decisions about their health. Attendees ask questions of health care professionals find support for emotional and practical concerns from speakers and other cancer survivors, and learn the newest information about medical treatments. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Description of event structure and intended audience: 
 
 This one-day breast cancer conference is for newly diagnosed patients, long-term survivors, caregivers, family members, researchers, health care providers, and community service organizations. Approximately 225 attendees are expected (based upon room capacity and last year’s attendance). The audience includes approximately 30 nurses and social workers who attend for CEU credit. 
 
 
 
 
 
 The conference features nationally and regionally known medical experts from such institutions as Stanford, UCSF, California Pacific Medical Center, Palo Alto Medical Foundation and Kaiser Permanente. The morning session offers six brief presentations; the afternoon program consists of six breakout sessions, providing attendees with a varied choice of topics. A resource room featuring community service organizations and sponsors is available during the entire conference. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Innovative elements of the event and potential to generate new ideas/facilitate collaboration: 
 
 
 
 
 
 This year’s conference will introduce two critical new features: 
 
 
 
 
 
 -A conference theme of disparities in breast cancer incidence and mortality. A keynote address by a premier breast cancer researcher will set the stage for this focus and the theme will be threaded into sessions throughout the conference. -
 
 A breakout session focused on identifying gaps in breast cancer research. The session will be facilitated by a breast cancer researcher who will engage the audience in a discussion about unanswered research questions. Breast cancer advocates and researchers will be encouraged to attend this session and to explore new, collaborative research projects. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Advocacy involvement: 
 
 Two breast cancer care advocates have been and will continue to be heavily involved in all stages of planning for the 16th annual breast cancer conference: Judith Luce, MD, retired medical oncologist, University of California San Francisco, and Mark Rounsaville, MD, radiation oncologist, California Pacific Medical Center. In addition to helping to plan the conference, Dr. Luce will speak at the conference. In the past conference, she presented on the topic “Getting Through Breast Cancer Treatment” and led a breakout session “Treatment of DCIS”. Dr. Rounsaville has served as a highly engaging moderator in a number of past conferences and will help plan and moderate the upcoming conference. Input from a focus group of breast cancer advocates and past conference attendees will also guide topic selection. Each year conference attendees are asked to evaluate all aspects of the conference and recommend topics and speakers for future conferences. These comments are carefully reviewed by CPIC staff and directly influence future programming.