Bladder Cancer Think Tank

November 2010

In August, BCAN hosted the fifth annual Bladder Cancer Think Tank Meeting. BCAN’s Bladder Cancer Think Tank is the only annual scientific meeting in North America to focus solely on bladder cancer. The goal of the meeting was to encourage researchers from different fields of medicine to work together to advance bladder cancer research.

BCAN’s Bladder Cancer Think Tank gave me a unique opportunity to meet and work with leading senior investigators in different academic disciplines to develop strategies that will help advance bladder cancer management and treatment.

– Andrea Apolo, MD, associate clinical investigator at the National Cancer Institute

This year, it was especially rewarding to be able to work with so many young researchers. A record number of young investigators attended the 2010 Think Tank Meeting, and many of them shared with us that it was a unique chance for them to connect with senior doctors, scientists, and potential mentors.

Travel Fellows Andrew Feifer, Heather Honore Goltz,
William Brandt, and Kilian Gust

This was the second year that BCAN presented four young researchers with John Quale Travel Fellowship Awards to cover the cost of attending the meeting. These promising scientists also gave presentations on their recent research:

• Andrew Feifer, MD, a second year fellow in urologic oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, presented on a survey examining chemotherapy use in bladder cancer patients;
• Heather Honorѐ Goltz, PhD, LMSW, a NIDDK KURe Scholar in the VA Health Services Research and Development Center of Excellence at the Michael E. DeBakay VA Medical Center, spoke about health literacy in bladder cancer patients;
• William Brandt, PhD, a post-doctoral fellow in Pathology at Johns Hopkins University, discussed efforts to target the Notch pathway in bladder cancer stem cells; and
• Kilian Gust, MD, a post-doctoral fellow at the Vancouver Prostate Centre, presented research on the differential expression of Notch receptors in bladder cancer.

BCAN hopes that continuing to fund programs like the Travel Fellowship Award and the BCAN Award for Bladder Cancer Research will encourage young investigators to pursue careers studying bladder cancer.

Attending the Think Tank provided an amazing forum in which to interact with leaders in the field. The depth of experience and knowledge in a discussion-based environment fostered ideas, and the working group model created opportunities to participate in a relevant and active way in the development of future research.

– Jennifer Taylor, MD, clinical fellow at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

BCAN greatly appreciates the dedicated efforts of the 2010 Think Tank’s Program Chair, Dr. Cheryl Lee, University of Michigan, and co-Chairs, Dr. Seth Lerner, Baylor College of Medicine and Dr. Gary Steinberg, University of Chicago.

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