Meetings

Breakthrough Breast Cancer Sponsors International Conference

Breakthrough Breast Cancer sponsored a cancer complementary therapies conference entitled “Complementary Therapy Research– Tackling the Challenges” at the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research in the United Kingdom (UK) on Tuesday, December 12, 2006. Breakthrough is the UK's leading charity committed to fighting breast cancer through research, campaigning, and education. In the UK, charities like Breakthrough are frequently involved in sponsoring, supporting, and funding medical research.

The conference provided participants with the opportunity to learn more about and address the challenges involved in designing and carrying out research in complementary cancer care as well as share their experiences in using complementary therapies in research and clinical practice. The ultimate goal was to learn from others' experiences, in an effort to refine and improve research and practice for the benefit of patients.

Conference presenters included Professor Alan Ashworth, Director of the Breakthrough Research Centre; Dr. Michelle Kohn, Medical Advisor in Integrated Cancer Care to Breakthrough Breast Cancer; Dr. Wendy B. Smith, OCCAM's Deputy Director and Director of the OCCAM Research Development and Support Program; and Breakthrough's patron The Prince of Wales, Founder and President of The Prince's Foundation for Integrative Health. Topics included lessons from research in Europe, lessons from research in the United States, the UK's position in cancer complementary therapy research, several case studies, and discussions about funding opportunities.

Through a live video feed, Dr. Smith presented information about NCI's efforts in developing and supporting complementary therapy research. Specifically, she discussed CAM definitions and examples, NCI's CAM history beginning in 1945, functions of OCCAM, OCCAM programs, and research funding opportunities. Following her presentation, Dr. Smith explained that there are many funding opportunities for researchers outside of the United States. She also suggested that international researchers partner with United States research institutions as another strategy for obtaining grant funding from the National Institutes of Health. In addition, Dr. Smith's presentation helped participants to better understand OCCAM's role in supporting the advancement of research in complementary therapies for cancer.

OCCAM’s Monthly Lecture Series Completes Its First Year of Programming

Intended as a way to acquaint the NCI community with topics in cancer CAM research with recent promising findings, the OCCAM Monthly Lecture Series was launched in January 2006. During the year, the program featured eight guest lecturers presenting topics that spanned the range of research, various cancer types, and different CAM therapies. Examples of lecture topics included ascorbic acid, soy phytochemicals and tamoxifen, thunder god vine, andgreen tea. As a result of the popularity of the lecture series with both the NCI community and the general public, OCCAM began to archive videocasts of the lectures on the OCCAM Web site in May 2006.

In 2007, the OCCAM Monthly Lecture Series will feature
the following guest lecturers:

OCCAM Monthly Lecture Series

2nd Wednesday of each month
10:00-11:00 a.m. ET
6130 Executive Blvd, 1st floor conference rooms
Bethesda, MD 20892

To view the past archived lectures or for information on other future lectures, please visit http://cam.cancer.gov//news_lectures.html.