The Symposium on MPM Draws a Distinguished Panel of Scholars, Researchers, and Clinicians to UCLA to Discuss the Latest Breakthroughs in Detection & Treatment

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, September 30, 2016 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The 6th International Symposium on Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma was held on Saturday, September 24, at the UCLA Meyer & Renee Luskin Conference Center. The focal point of the symposium was on clinical therapies and research data to prevent, detect and treat malignant pleural mesothelioma. Health care professionals including physicians, nurses, and scientists joined students, mesothelioma patients and their families to attend this informative and educational conference. The Symposium was co-hosted by The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the Pacific Mesothelioma Center (PMC).
The morning session was opened by symposium chair, Dr. Robert B. Cameron, MD, FACS, who discussed options for intraoperative adjuvant therapies. “Adjuvant therapy enhances primary therapy,” said Dr. Cameron, Professor of Clinical Cardiothoracic Surgery and Surgical Oncology. The highlights of his presentation centered on how these therapies supplemented standard of care treatments through preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative therapeutic modalities. Dr. Cameron is a pioneer in the field of mesothelioma, Director of the Comprehensive Mesothelioma Program at UCLA, Senior Professor of Surgery at UCLA, and Chief of Thoracic Surgery at the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

“This year was incredibly hopeful as there are new biological advances likely to lead to new treatments in the future” said Dr. Cameron. “Immunotherapy is advancing rapidly and many other therapies, including thermal, chemical, gene and cell-based therapies are on the horizon”.
Additional presentation topics included an update on mesothelioma clinical trials, treatment options such as Cryoablation, Immunotherapy, Mesenchymal Stem Cells, HOX Genes, Targeting Dendritic Cells in Vivo, and East-West approaches to cancer. Other subjects such as the benefits of nurse navigators and tissue-banking resources for researchers were also presented during the symposium.

The symposium’s other distinguished faculty included: Edgar G. Engleman, MD, Professor of Pathology and Medicine Stanford University School of Medicine Palo Alto; Thierry M. Jahan, MD, Professor of Medicine, UCSF; Edward K. Moon, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania; Richard Morgan, PhD Director of The Institute of Cancer Therapeutics University of Bradford, England; Daniel H. Sterman, MD, Director of Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine NYU; Haining Yang, MD, PhD Professor Cancer Biology Program University of Hawaii; Olga Olevsky, MD, oncologist UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica and assistant clinical professor at UCLA; Fereidoun Abtin, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Radiology, UCLA; Raymond Wong, PhD research scientist at PMC and PHLBI; Ka-Kit Hui, MD, UCLA Center for East-West Medicine, UCLA; Graciela Hoal, R.N., N.P, nurse practitioner at the Mesothelioma Center for Excellence at the VA West Los Angeles Medical Center; and Clare Cameron, PHLBI executive director; PHLBI.

The symposium was supported by: Worthington & Caron, P.C., Eli Lilly and Company, The International Association of Heat & Frost Insulators, and Waters & Kraus.

About the PMC: Established in 2002, the Pacific Heart, Lung & Blood Institute (PHBI) is a 501(c) (3) non-profit institution. The Pacific Mesothelioma Center (PMC), a division of the PHLBI, is focused on the treatment and prevention of malignant pleural mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer caused by asbestos exposure. The PMC serves a growing number of mesothelioma victims by supporting the nation’s first-of-its-kind research lab which provides laboratory-to-the-bedside research that improves mesothelioma victims’ lives and longevity. www.pacificmesotheliomacenter.org.

Clare Cameron
The Pacific Heart, Lung & Blood Institute
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