June 2008 NUI Galway Hosts International Conference on Breast Cancer

NUI Galway's Department of Surgery will hold an inaugural International Breast Cancer Conference on 19–21 June. The main theme of the conference is multidisciplinary breast cancer care, which will be of interest to all professionals involved in breast cancer management including Surgeons, Medical Oncologists, Radiation Oncologists, Radiologists, Pathologists and Breast Care Nurses. Several of the key speakers are well-known internationally and include Professor Joe Ragaz, from McGill University in Canada, and Professor Carsten Rose, from Lund University Hospital in Sweden. From the UK, speakers include Professor Carlos Caldas, University of Cambridge; Mike Dixon, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh; and Professor Ian Ellis, NHS Trust City Hospital, Nottingham. Professor Roger Blamey, Emeritus Professor (Surgery) and Consultant Surgeon, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, will deliver a keynote lecture entitled 'Lifetime Experience of Breast Cancer Management: Changing Times'. According to Professor Michael Kerin, Professor of Surgery, NUI Galway and Conference Convener, "Breast cancer therapy is entering into a new era of individualised, patient-centered care. Each cancer has particular characteristics requiring individual approaches to therapy whether it is local surgery, radiotherapy, or newer biological targeted treatment. Some particular cancers pose major difficulties for diagnosis and some occur in patients who have a genetic predisposition or family history." Professor Kerin continued, "All of these issues will be discussed at the conference and we will also have an overview of changes in therapy from Roger Blamey and Joe Ragaz, two well established international experts. The University is proud to be associated with this meeting and is delighted that this prestigious international conference of this magnitude is bringing so much expertise to the city." National delegates and speakers features a 'Who's Who' of Irish Breast Cancer Management including Professor John Crown, St. Vincent's University Hospital; Dr. Ann O'Doherty, BreastCheck; Dr Fidelma Flanagan, Mater Hospital; Professor Tom Gorey, Mater Hospital; Dr. John Kennedy, St James's Hospital; and Professor Paul Redmond, Cork University Hospital. Local Galway contributors, apart from Professor Kerin, include Dr. Irene Sweeney, Dr. Maccon Keane, Mr Ray McLaughlin, Dr. Maeve Pomeroy, Mr Karl Sweeney and Professor Grace Callagy. The conference is being held in conjunction with the Nottingham series of meetings which take place on alternate years. For 20 years, the Nottingham meeting has been the best attended and most influential breast cancer meeting on these islands and the Galway meeting aims to ensure that these meetings are now annual events. The three-day conference takes place in the Arts Millennium Building on the NUI Galway campus. For further information on the International Breast Cancer Conference, please contact Grace Clarke at 091-524390 or grace.clarke@nuigalway.ie -ends-