Conference Details - Overview
Continuing Education Information
Physicians: Physicians' Education Resource is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.This activity is approved for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
Physician Assistants: AAPA accepts category 1 credit from AOACCME, Prescribed credit from AAFP, and AMA Category 1 CME credit for the PRA from organizations accredited by the ACCME.
Sixth International Symposium on Melanoma and Other Cutaneous Malignancies
The Ritz-Carlton New York, Battery Park
New York, NY
March 13-14, 2009
Conference Overview
Oncology CME-Certified Symposium
This activity is presented by Physicians’ Education Resource in conjunction with St. Luke’s Hospital and Health Network, Bethlehem, PA.
Program Chair:
Sanjiv S. Agarwala, MD
Chief, Medical Oncology and Hematology
St. Luke’s Hospital and Health Network
Bethlehem, PA
Associate Professor of Cancer Biology
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
The complexity of possible therapeutic options for treating patients with melanoma and other cutaneous malignancies is constantly increasing in parallel with the growth in knowledge of the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of these diseases. The Sixth International Symposium on Melanoma and Other Cutaneous Malignancies will focus on therapeutic benefit from several novel agents that target key cellular systems involved in the progression of melanoma or other cutaneous diseases such as CTCL, including growth factor signaling pathways, DNA repair and apoptotic mechanisms, and CTLA-4 receptors. This interactive symposium will also emphasize issues concerning surgical management, adjuvant therapy, advanced disease therapy, and personalizing the course of treatment for individual patients. Physicians will also learn about clinical trials of novel therapeutic regimens in the adjuvant and advanced disease settings currently recruiting patients with melanoma and other cutaneous malignancies.
In addition, the Intralesional Therapy for Melanoma: Two Steps Forward and One Step Back? symposium will focus on intralesional therapy as a strategy for both local and potentially systemic control of melanoma. A variety of agents that are being developed to address this continuing medical need, including chemotherapy and immunotherapy options, will be discussed.
This symposium is directed toward medical oncologists, surgical oncologists, and dermatologists involved in basic science research, clinical research, and clinical practice. Fellows, oncology nurses, oncology physician assistants, and pharmacists who are interested in the treatment of melanoma are also invited to attend.At the conclusion of this symposium, you should be able to:
- Assess the risk of melanoma based on genetic factors and diagnose disease based on dermatologic manifestations
- Evaluate the role of digital dermoscopy in the diagnosis of melanoma
- Discuss the role of telediagnostics in the diagnosis of melanoma
- Describe the role of ultrasound technology in the diagnosis and monitoring of melanoma
- Discuss the new melanoma staging system and how it impacts disease management
- Explain the role of sentinel node biopsy in the surgical management of melanoma
- Describe the molecular biology and pathogenesis of melanoma and other cutaneous malignancies and relate it to the clinical development of targeted agents for those diseases
- Discuss the molecular biology and therapeutic potential of targeting signal transduction pathways involved in the pathogenesis of melanoma, such as the MAPK, Raf, PD-1, and PI3K pathways, as well as mediators of apoptosis and angiogenesis
- Evaluate the therapeutic benefit from targeting oxidative stress and DNA repair pathways in melanoma and investigational agents directed at those processes
- Review the current standard adjuvant therapy for patients with high-risk melanoma
- Discuss the continued use of IL-2 for patients with advanced disease as well as new approaches to the use of high-dose IL-2
- Describe the role of biochemotherapy in the management of advanced melanoma
- Appraise investigational agents for advanced disease, including antibody-based immunotherapies and targeted drugs
- Evaluate the therapeutic benefit from immunotherapeutic strategies such as anti–CTLA-4 monoclonal antibodies and Toll-like receptor agonists based on their effect on the signaling pathways involved in T-cell regulation and activation
- Describe the challenges of immunotherapy for melanoma based on the results of recent clinical trials
- Discuss the future of vaccine trials in the treatment of melanoma
Educational Grants
An educational grant for this activity was provided by:
- Bristol-Myers Squibb / Medarex
- GlaxoSmithKline / Synta Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
- Merck Oncology
- Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals
- Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals/
Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. - Curagen Corporation
- Eisai, Inc.