INCTR Annual Meeting 2002

Several strategy groups met immediately before or during the Annual Meeting. Shown here, the Breast Cancer Strategy Group.

INCTR’s third annual meeting took place at the Hilton Hotel in Brussels between May 29 and 1 June 2002. It was attended by 160 people from 44 countries and included a broad range of professionals involved in the prevention or treatment of cancer as well as policy makers, for example, the Minister of Health of Kuwait, Dr Al-Jarallah, and the Additional Secretary from the Indian Health Ministry, Mr G. R. Patwardhan. Dr Philip Mettens, Chief of Cabinet and Adjutant to the Minister of Scientific Research of the Belgian Federal Government, and Dr Joe Harford, Associate Director of the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, made opening remarks. The meeting provided both formal and informal opportunities for the exchange of ideas, experiences and perspectives as well as reports of ongoing activities and identification of areas for future endeavors.

Strategy Group Meetings
Several strategy groups met to discuss ongoing or future activities. Strategy groups are comprised of cancer specialists from developing countries and facilitators from INCTR and Associate Member organizations. Invited experts may also attend. Strategy groups have a disease specific focus, and encompass epidemiology, prevention, early detection and treatment. On the day prior to the meeting, the Leukemia Strategy Group, Cervical Cancer and Breast Cancer Strategy Groups met. Both of the latter, being newly formed, held free-ranging discussions which led to the identification of a number of potential areas for collaboration among the participants. From these, feasible areas of collaboration will be selected and developed further in subsequent meetings. At least one meeting for each group is being planned for later this year. At the meeting of the Leukemia Group a new treatment protocol was discussed and the final outline drafted while further plans for more detailed, molecular characterization were made.

The Retinoblastoma and Osteosarcoma Strategy Groups as well as the newly formed Lymphoma Strategy Group met in the course of the meeting. The latter was in conjunction with members of the Global Alliance for the Cure of Children with Cancer, a consortium of organizations convened by INCTR to discuss how to coordinate efforts to control childhood cancer, and to ensure that children living in resource-poor regions benefit from available knowledge. The Lymphoma Strategy Group focused specifically on Burkitt’s lymphoma in sub-Saharan Africa, since this disease is curable with relatively simple therapy, and accounts for a high proportion of childhood cancer in this world region—once 50%, but somewhat less now, because of the dramatic increase in Kaposi’s sarcoma that has resulted from the HIV epidemic. In addition to participants from African countries, representatives from organizations presently conducting collaborative studies in the treatment of Burkitt’s lymphoma in sub-Saharan Africa, including the International Society of Pediatric Oncology and the French African Pediatric Oncology Group presented their ongoing projects. Participants from both East and West African countries, including Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, agreed to develop a clinical protocol for the treatment of Burkitt’s lymphoma, and also to participate in a proposed study of the comparison of gene expression patterns in African Burkitt’s lymphoma versus Burkitt’s lymphoma elsewhere in the world.

Special Panel and Translational Research Committee
Since INCTR’s mission is to help build capacity for cancer treatment and research in resource poor countries, it is important that leading specialists from such countries participate in the development of INCTR’s overall strategies, and are available to provide advice whenever needed. For this reason, INCTR has established a Special Panel of its Advisory Board to provide advice regarding its programs and projects, including the choice of topics for INCTR’s Annual Meeting, and the selection of INCTR special award winners. The Panel met for the first time during the meeting and a number of decisions were made regarding its scope and modus operandi. The Panel will assemble every year at the Annual Meeting, but will also give advice throughout the year via e mail or fax communications.

Two “firsts” for this year’s Annual Meeting were the Award Lectures and a poster session. Shown here, the audience at the well-attended award ceremony.

Another new committee, the Translational Research Committee, chaired by Dr Kishor Bhatia, also met for the first time. This committee will provide advice and policy regarding the interface between clinical and laboratory research within the INCTR network. In the first meeting, a discussion was held regarding the scope of the committee and how it can encourage and support translational research.

INCTR Awards and Plenary Sessions
This year, two INCTR awards were made. Dr Shanta was the first recipient of the Nazli Gad-el-Mawla Award for outstanding contributions to cancer control by an individual from a country with limited resources and Dr John Ziegler the first recipient of the Paul P. Carbone Award for International Oncology, which is given for outstanding contributions to oncology or cancer research in a developing country by an individual from a resource-rich country. Recipients are invited to give a special lecture outlining their accomplishments. Both recipients gave excellent lectures which clearly demonstrated that a great deal can be accomplished, even in resource-poor settings, when there is a high level of motivation. These awards served both to honor the recipients for their remarkable achievements, and to provide inspiration to the meeting participants. More about these award winners and their work is provided on page 10.

The meeting proper consisted of a poster session, in which authors presented their own work on a broad range of cancer control topics, and plenary sessions for invited speakers who discussed cancers particularly prevalent in developing countries, breast cancer, supportive and palliative care, and new technologies.

Total Results This pie chart shows the Annual Meeting participants’ overall evaluation of the poster and plenary sessions. Figure 1

Informal Activities
In addition to the planned program, numerous more informal activities took place, and a number of small groups of people met for specific discussions, including new projects in Africa and Pakistan, the status of the Middle East Children’s Cancer Association (MECCA), the formation of an INCTR palliative care program and the development of a training course in data management. Meetings with groups of collaborators from Vietnam, Nepal and Boliva were held and discussion of a new project in Burkina Faso was initiated. Discussions were also held with the Minister of Health, Kuwait, the Additional Secretary of Health of India, and Dr Sankanarayanan of the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Marcela Gutiérrez, a producer from the BBC World Service, interviewed several participants and created a program on cancer control, with particular reference to cervical cancer and childhood leukemia, that was broadcast to Latin American audiences. It also was made available on the BBC World Service’s Internet site, Ciencias Noticias. Several participants were interviewed by newspapers from their own countries.

Since the meeting, over 50 messages expressing thanks and commenting on the value of the meeting have been received (see panel ) and an additional 20 institutions and one organization have become Associate Members. Throughout the meeting participants were asked to evaluate various aspects of the meeting; an overall evaluation of the poster and plenary sessions is shown in figure 1. The meeting was made the more enjoyable by the excellent organization of GIC Management and the high quality of the service provided by the Hilton Hotel, Brussels - aided by INCTR’s able administrative staff. Indeed, overall administration of the meeting was felt to be “excellent” by 85% of respondents and “good” by the remaining 15%. A remarkable 98 and 97% of respondents, respectively, wanted to attend future INCTR meetings and to be informed about INCTR activities. It would seem that the meeting can legitimately be called a success!

Comments on the Annual Meeting “The meeting was very rewarding and allowed us to share our experiences with colleagues.” — Dr Zakia Al-Lamki “The award lectures were very impressive and I returned to my country with a lot of ‘take home’ messages.” — Dr Kamer Uysal “It was a wonderfully organized event.” — Dr L S Arya “The meeting was very good and we all got to make new friends and meet old ones. I hope we can implement some of the projects we have identified.” — Dr Zeba Aziz “We want to thank you for a well conducted and informative meeting.” — Dr Muheez Durosinmi “The meeting was very good....and it was a very good opportunity for me to meet old and new colleagues from all over.” — Dr Adnan Ezzat “I’m confident that with your help we can improve the quality of care for our poor patients.” — Dr Mohamed Harif “Thank you very much for the valuable invitation to us, Vietnamese representatives from Ho Chi Minh city and Mekong Delta Province.” — Dr Tran Chanh Khuoung “I was rather impressed by the meeting and it was very good for me, especially the strategy groups.” — Dr Geoffrey Mutuma “It was my pleasure to be in such an interactive meeting.” — Dr Ugur Ozbek “I did enjoy the meeting very much and I hope I will be able to go to next year’s meeting as well.” — Dr Margarita Quintero “I appreciate very much the hospitality the INCTR has offered to all the delegates equally.” — Dr Arati Shah “Your enthusiastic attitudes to many colleagues from developing countries are most sincerely appreciated.” — Dr Emal Unal “The INCTR vision you had is clearly becoming a reality.” — Dr John Ziegler

INCTR would like to acknowledge the support of its sponsors: Agfa-Gevaert, Baxter Oncology, IDDI, Lilly, Pharmacia Oncology, Sanofi-Synthelabo and Schering-Plough.