AACR - Scientist-Survivor Program
In early July, I was contacted by the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (http://www.komen.org) and asked if I would like to attend this program. First, for those of you who check out my links, you know that the Komen website is chock full of great information, great fundraising, education, research and advocacy. They also have a large grant program in place. I am happy to do my share as a lay advocate and review grants for them with other members of the various committees.
I was thrilled to be contacted and immediately made arrangements to get the time off from work. I then checked out the website for AACR and found the American Association for Cancer Research (http://www.aacr.org) to be an almost 100 year old organization with research membership of most of the premier scientists in the United States and abroad. The attendance at the annual conference was estimated to be 12-16,000.
I flew to Washington D.C. on a Thursday afternoon, checked into the hotel about an hour later and it was non stop mental stimulation from that moment on. The afternoon program included a brief overview of AACR, a synopsis of the Scientist-Survivor program and some welcoming remarks by Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hon), the CEO of AACR. That evening they hosted a wonderful reception where we ate, mingled with the other survivors and had a chance to meet some of the scientists personally and ask them questions.
On Friday morning we met for breakfast with our mentors and they helped us select which sessions would be most beneficial to our particular area of concern. We then made a list of what topics we would like discussed in our own Scientist-Survivor sessions. It was then off and running to the actual convention!
The opening general assembly and plenary sessions were dedicated to celebrating the discovery of DNA 50 years ago. The director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) gave his vision statement for the role of research in the next decade. I took a short break andreturned for an evening session: "Mouse Models for Human Cancer". I always find the animal studies fascinating. Even though, as an animal lover, I worry about the fate of the "critters", as an advocate I know the importance of these studies for future cancer breakthroughs. We attended the advocates' dinner and shared the stories of our organizations and work. All the advocates are passionate, dynamic individuals who truly care about eradicating cancer.
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