SAN ANTONIO (December 1, 2014) — Each year in the second week of December, thousands of breast cancer experts and advocates from across the globe gather in San Antonio to hear about the latest research at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
The 37th annual SABCS is presented by the Cancer Therapy & Research Center at the UT Health Science Center, the American Association for Cancer Research and Baylor College of Medicine and this year runs from Dec. 9-13 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.
With a total estimated economic impact of $19 million, the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium brings about 7,500 experts together to delve into information on everything from promising new triple-negative breast cancer treatments to the rising – and controversial – numbers of prophylactic mastectomies.
“Even as treatments improve and the rate of breast cancer recurrence is decreasing, women are increasingly choosing to have the healthy breast removed at the same time as the one with cancer,” said Ismail Jatoi, M.D., Ph.D., chief of surgical oncology at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio and a symposium co-director. “This is a perplexing trend.”
Several CTRC researches will be presenting new information based on their research and can be scheduled for advance interviews on the symposium, including Dr. Jatoi on prophylactic mastectomies; Andrew Brenner, M.D., Ph.D., CTRC oncologist, on the new research linking obesity and chemotherapy resistance in some breast cancers; and Virginia Kaklamani, M.D., CTRC Breast Center director, on figuring out more types of breast cancers that can be targeted with a promising new class of drugs.
Speakers this year include Mary-Claire King, Ph.D., who demonstrated that a single gene, BRCA1, was responsible for breast and ovarian cancer in many families. Her discovery of BRCA1 revolutionized the study of numerous other common inherited diseases, and was made into the 2013 film Decoding Annie Parker, starring Helen Hunt.
Reporters who wish to attend the symposium can pre-register here and learn more about upcoming press conferences, speakers and press room access.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, one of the country’s leading health sciences universities, ranks in the top 13 percent of academic institutions receiving National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. The university’s schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions and graduate biomedical sciences have produced more than 31,000 graduates. The $787.7 million operating budget supports eight campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. For more information on the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit www.uthscsa.edu.