Symposium exploring future of cancer research to be hosted at GUMC

The Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center hosts a symposium exploring the future of cancer research on Feb. 17th at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC). Sponsored by the Ruesch Center for the Cure of Gastrointestinal Cancers, the two-part symposium, "Fighting a Smarter War Against Cancer: Personalized Medicine & the Cure for Cancer," will offer a focus on personalized medicine by bringing together experts in academia, industry and advocacy. The two-part symposium from 2:00 to 6:30 p.m. is open to the public.  

The first part of the symposium discusses the scientific basis for personalized medicine, while the second brings in voices from pharmaceutical industries, bioethics and patient advocacy. Guest speakers include Carolyn "Bo" Aldige, president and founder of Prevent Cancer Foundation; Mace Rothenberg, MD, senior vice president of Pfizer Oncology; Carol Taylor, Ph.D., MSN, director of the Center for Clinical Bioethics at GUMC; and the Hon. W.J. (Billy) Tauzin, president and CEO of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).  Rothenberg will deliver the annual Thomas R. Schafer Memorial Lecture in Pancreatic and Gastrointestinal Cancer.

The symposium builds on the philosophy of the director of the Ruesch Center, John L. Marshall, MD, a leading gastrointestinal oncologist who advocates re-invigorating the war on cancer by focusing research on a cure, not incremental improvements.  He recently wrote about his views on cancer research in the Washington Post (Nov. 29, 2009). "Fighting a smarter war on cancer," describes the need "to wage a smarter, more personalized war against cancer instead of settling for a standard of care with high costs and minor progress."  

"The problem in cancer medicine is that we have very little evidence to support what we are doing," Marshall says. "We must further explore the genetic makeup of patients and their cancers. We can no longer diagnose cancers using only a microscope. We must profile them at a molecular level to determine precise treatments, instead of using our current trial-and-error approach."