2010 Bladder Cancer Think Tank

Fall 2010

In early August, BCAN hosted the fifth annual Bladder Cancer Think Tank Meeting in Traverse City, Michigan.

BCAN’s Bladder Cancer Think Tank is the only annual scientific meeting in North America to focus solely on bladder cancer. More than 90 leading physicians, researchers, and advocates attended. This included urologists, pathologists, basic scientists, oncologists, radiation oncologists, and survivors.

The goal of the meeting was to encourage researchers with different scientific backgrounds from across the country to work together to advance bladder cancer research, treatment and education. All of the participants were also assigned to working groups, which will continue to meet and work throughout the year.

Just a few of the Working Group goals include:

• determining what the highest priorities in bladder cancer research are;
• creating a survivorship care plan specifically for bladder cancer; and
• studying doctors’ practice patterns to help determine treatment and surveillance guidelines as well as whether doctors are following existing recommended guidelines.

Our next newsletter will highlight details from these working groups, information about the 2010 John Quale Travel Fellowship award winners, and much more.

The 2010 meeting was supported by grants from Abbott Molecular, Inc.; Allergan, Inc.; Endo Pharmaceuticals; GE Healthcare; Predictive Biosciences; and Tengion.