Doctors attend conferences to exchange ideas and report on new findings and unusual cases. They network with their peers to build relationships for jobs, referrals and support. Oncologists and others who work with cancer treatments attend cancer therapy conferences to revitalize and get reacquainted with friends and acquaintances in the industry. Some conferences offer healthcare providers an opportunity to meet with vendors and view new technologies. Conferences typically are annual affairs that occur in the same time period each year to allow cancer therapy providers sufficient time for planning. Following is an overview of conferences dedicated to cancer therapy.
American Association for Cancer Research
Like many professional organizations, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) holds a variety of conferences that focus on specific topics in the cancer therapy field. The group sponsors a conference on cell death mechanisms and cancer therapy, an international conference on tumor micro environment and a yearly conference that focuses on genetics and biology of cancer. Leaders in the field are invited to speak to the attendees, who also are given a wide range of workshops and breakout sessions in which they can participate. AACR conferences are open, but members receive discounts on registration fees.
Physician's Education Resource (PER)
Companies, such as Physician's Education Resource (PER), organize conferences as a business. They provide doctors with various topics and focuses as options from which to choose. PER organizes conferences directed at specialists, such as nurses or pharmacists that work with cancer therapy, in addition to surgeons and oncologists in private practice. Healthcare providers can earn continuing education credits they need to maintain their licenses at these conferences. Some topics covered by PER include clinical conundrums in lymphomas, debunking the myths surrounding breast cancer treatment, emerging trends in haematology and a aymposium on melanomas and other cutaneous mallignancies.
Online Conferences
With advances in video conferencing and online interactive technologies, many healthcare professionals can save time and resources by attending online conferences, such as those presented by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Webcasts of the conference seminars include topics such as acute myeloid leukemia and combining targeted therapies in metastatic colorectal cancer. Those attending online conferences also earn continuing education credits. IngentaConnect is a publishing company for scholastic reports online and also offers online conferences. Web-based software is used to connect international parties in discussions and presentations on topics, such as defining therapy options, discussing individual cases and other areas of interest.
