Advances in personalised care the focus of 10th International Cancer Conference

Posted on: 21 October 2016

Trinity College Dublin' this week hosted the 2016 International Cancer Conference, with the theme “New Frontiers in Personalised Cancer Care”. 

The conference, held in the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, was opened by Trinity Provost Dr Patrick Prendergast and RTÉ Northern Editor and cancer survivor, Mr Tommie Gorman.

Dr Patrick Prendergast said, “The Cancer Conference is a major event in the calendar of events of Trinity College and St James’s Hospital as it brings together international and national experts to discuss recent advances in cancer for the ultimate benefit of society given the disease affects so many of us and takes so many lives.“

Tommie Gorman, who has become a comforting voice for those who are going through cancer, talked about his personal journey to reinforce why the work of clinicians and allied healthcare professionals as well as cancer researchers is in high demand.  He stated, "Twenty-two years after I was diagnosed with a cancer condition, I'm still alive, thanks to those involved in the delivery of cancer care.  No work is more raw or more real but it is as worthwhile as it is challenging. "

An outstanding group of international speakers gave talks on advances in cancer prevention, immunotherapy, surgical oncology, radiotherapy and targeted therapeutics.  They included:

• Sandra Demaria, Professor of Radiation Oncology & Pathology, Weill Cornell Medical College, USA;
• William Gallagher, Professor of Cancer Biology, Conway Institute, University College Dublin;
• Catherine Hayes, Associate Professor Public Health Medicine, Trinity College Dublin;
• Richard van Hillegersberg, Gastrointestinal Oncologic Surgeon, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands;
• William Jarnagin, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, USA;
• Dr David Gilham, Reader, Clinical and Experimental Immunotherapy Group, Institute of Cancer Sciences, Manchester Cancer Research Centre, University of Manchester, UK;
• Philippe Lambin, MD, Head of Dept., Maastricht Radiation Oncology Lab, University of Maastricht, the Netherlands; 
• Yifat Merbl, the Leonard and Carol Berall Career Development Chair, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel;
• Kingston Mills, Professor of Experimental Immunology, Trinity College Dublin
• Gabriel Nuñez, Paul de Kruif Professor, Dept. Pathology, University of Michigan, USA; 
• Christopher Peters, Clinical Senior Lecturer and Consultant Upper GI and General Surgeon, Imperial College London, UK;
• Elisabete Weiderpass, Professor of Medical and Cancer Epidemiology, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden;
• Kai Wucherpfennig, Chair of the Department of Cancer Immunology and  Virology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Professor, Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.

The Burkitt Lecture “Cancer Prevention: from Denis Burkitt to the Human Genome Project” was delivered by the 2016 Burkitt Medal Awardee,  Dr Paul Brennan, Head of the Genetics Section of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France. Dr Brennan was honoured at the conference dinner on 17 October when he was awarded the 2016 Burkitt Medal.

The last session of the conference focused on academic cancer centres. Mr Simon Oberst, Accreditation and Designation Working Group Chairperson of the Organisation of European Cancer Institutes, presented a talk entitled “The Role of Accredited Comprehensive Cancer Centres in the Drive for Personalised Cancer Care”. Professor John O’Leary, Chair of Pathology, Cancer Theme Leader, Trinity College Dublin, talked on the Irish Perspective and specifically plans by Trinity College and St James’s Hospital to take it to next level by working towards the establishment of a comprehensive cancer centre – a cancer institute. 

Professor O’Leary said, “While the current Trinity/St James’s cancer ecosystem is very broad and has performed excellently in the external peer review process, the institute will be more focused in terms of research, integration of cancer care and research, improvements of the broad education agenda and access to best cancer practices. It will be similar to best international exemplar models setting a new standard for cancer care in Ireland.”