There is allegedly a time for everything and a season for every activity. Days are getting longer and warmer, tax prep is in full swing, and the SWOG spring meeting is around the corner. It’s April 11-14 – just six weeks away!

Meeting registration is open, and you can get the scoop on events here. While an agenda book won’t be ready for about two weeks, the website will allow you to scan a general schedule, start building your itinerary, check out the line-up for plenary speakers, and see what travel funds might be available to you or your team members.

The big celebration of the session will be silver; our Hope Foundation turns 25 this year. We’ll mark the occasion at the general plenary with remarks from Hope President & CEO Jo Horn and three exceptional SWOG investigators who’ve received Hope grants. Investigators will talk about the research that the grants made possible, and how that work supported important trials, led to follow-on funding, provided critical mentoring, and generally helped advance science, patient care, and their careers.

Impact has been a big theme for me as group chair, and I know it’s also critical to the Hope board and staff. For SWOG, we need to demonstrate to the public that their tax-funded investments in our trials have improved the lives of people with cancer. This 25th anniversary year, Hope will be showcasing return on investment. And those investments have come from you. So many SWOG members have donated to the foundation over the years.

There are, of course, other reasons to head to the spring meeting:

  • Dr. Kent Osborne of the Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center at Baylor will deliver the first Robert B. Livingston Lecture at the breast committee meeting
  • Dr. Lee Ellis has lined up another terrific translational medicine plenary, where we’ll get the latest on the new CIMACs run by NCI, an overview of correlative science in the National Clinical Trials Network, and a look at the latest translational tools and technologies coming out of the ITSC
  • The fun run and walk along the famous Embarcadero on the morning of Thursday, April 12 will give everyone a chance to stroll or stride with friends and get some fresh air and views of the piers, the bay, and Alcatraz Island
  • Our palliative care and end of life and our immunotherapy committees in development will meet for the first time

See you in San Francisco!

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