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UTHSCSA
SABC, and 60 percent are international. She describes it as a bridge
between the basic scientists and clinicians, where all the subspecialties older than 50 whose novel and significant work has had or may have
(surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, pathologists, laboratory
researchers, epidemiologists and others) come together to create the
next evolutionary steps in breast cancer treatment and research. She
also points out the ancillary benefit brought by being located here,
where our underserved and minority populations – who suffer dis-
proportionate risks and incidence of many diseases, including cancer
– can be focused on in research and benefit from leading treatments.
As co-director of the SABCS, Dr. Kaklamani sits on the committee
that reviews an average of 1,650 abstracts every year. Approximately
45 of those will become platform presentations and more than 1,200
will become posters.
Credit for the success of the conference also goes to the other co-
director: Carlos L. Arteaga, MD, professor of medicine and cancer
biology, associate director for clinical research, and director of the
breast cancer program, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in
Nashville, Tenn.
Unlike most medical conferences, the SABCS is not affiliated with
any medical association or organization, so there are no administra-
tive duties and ceremonies. The meeting is singularly focused on con-
tinuing medical education (CME), for which it provides AMA PRA
Category 1 credits via the SOM’s CME office.
The SABCS also recognizes achievement in the fields of breast can-
cer research and treatment with three annual awards. The Susan G.
Komen® Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction, established in
1992, recognizes leading scientists for significant work in advancing
research concepts and for clinical application in breast cancer re-
search, screening or treatment. The award is presented each year to
one basic and one clinical researcher who have made seminal ad-
vances in the fight against breast cancer. In addition, the award rec-
ognizes scholars for a specific contribution, a consistent pattern of
contributions, or leadership in the field who have had a substantial
impact on the fight against breast cancer. The award includes money
to further the recipients’ activities in breast cancer research. The re-
cipients also are invited to deliver plenary lectures during the sym-
posium.
The William L. McGuire Memorial Lectureship Award was estab-
lished in 1992 to commemorate Dr. McGuire’s significant contribu-
tions to oncology. His research played a major role in introducing
estrogen receptor assays on breast tumor tissue as a guide to treatment
decisions for women with breast cancer. Breast cancer patients every-
where now receive these tests.
Co-sponsor American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
presents two awards at the meeting. The first is the AACR Outstand-
ing Investigator Award for Breast Cancer Research, which also is
DEAN’S MESSAGE
funded by Susan G. Komen® and is presented to an investigator no
a far-reaching impact on the etiology, detection, diagnosis, treatment
or prevention of breast cancer. Their other award, the AACR Distin-
guished Lectureship in Breast Cancer Research, is to recognize out-
standing science that has inspired or has the potential to inspire new
perspectives on the etiology, diagnosis, treatment or prevention of
breast cancer.
DOWNLOADABLE MATERIALS
The value of the SABCS extends well beyond the meeting itself.
For the many investigators and clinicians who would like to attend
the meeting but cannot, SABCS update meetings are held through-
out the year. They are recognized and supported by the SABCS with
all the materials from the general meeting made available through
the SABCS website. In the weeks and months after the meeting, the
website sees a spike of tens of thousands of visitors, many of which
download the many presentations and other materials.
The development and operations of the meeting, as well as all the
planning, are managed by symposia director Rich Markow, a 14-year
veteran. With his small staff of four, their hands are full year-round
coordinating and planning – not to mention managing the huge
volume of scientific literature distributed at the meeting. Planning
the following year’s meeting begins before the current one takes place.
In the days immediately following the event, Dr. Kaklamani and
other medical oncologists all over the world return to their offices
and change their treatment protocols. They are able to improve the
treatment options they offer patients with knowledge shared at the
symposium. Despite the advances and the great science, there will be
approximately 232,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer and ap-
proximately 60,000 new cases of carcinoma in situ (CIS) in the
United States in 2015. Approximately 40,300 women will die from
breast cancer.
Obviously, our work is far from done. Hope for all these cases lies
in the determination of the thousands of researchers and physicians
who will gather here in December, as many of them have for decades,
to exchange ideas and discoveries that are driving the evolution of
treatments and cures in breast cancer. Learn more at their website:
www.SABCS.org.
Francisco González-Scarano, MD, is dean of the
School of Medicine, vice president for medical af-
fairs, professor of neurology, and the John P. Howe
III, MD, Distinguished Chair in Health Policy at
the University of Texas Health Science Center at San
Antonio. His email address is scarano@uthscsa.edu.
visit us at www.bcms.org 31