ACCREDITATION STATEMENT
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint sponsorship of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VSOM) and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). VSOM is accredited by ACCME to provide continuing medical education activities for physicians.
CREDIT DESIGNATION STATEMENT
Vanderbilt University designates this educational activity for a maximum of 24.5 AMA PRA
Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
STATEMENT OF EDUCATIONAL NEED, TARGET AUDIENCE, AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES
The new era of personalized medicine has brought with it great opportunities to improve patient care. The epitome of personalized medicine is to base treatment choices on specific molecular characteristics of an individual patient and his/her tumor. However, as this is an emerging and rapidly evolving field, many physicians are not aware of the advances being made in molecular technologies and their application to diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of cancer. In addition, the best practices and procedures for incorporating biomarkers into clinical trials are currently being developed, and few physicians are often involved in these smaller, science-driven clinical trials. The culture and infrastructure for implementing this approach broadly are also underdeveloped. A goal of this conference is to improve physicians’ awareness of the opportunities that are available to them and their patients today, as well as those that will be available in the future. This meeting will also bring together all of the key stakeholders with an interest in applying molecular diagnostics to cancer drug development. In this manner, the conference should be catalytic and result directly in advances in therapeutics and treatment. In addition, physicians will be able to use noninvasive molecular imaging and other technologies to diagnosis cancer and monitor response to treatment.
This trans-disciplinary, international conference is presented for basic, translational, and clinical scientists and physician-scientists from academia, industry, government, and other institutions who are interested in the application of molecular diagnostics to cancer therapeutic development and the integration of these technologies into clinical practice to improve the treatment of cancer patients.
Following this learning activity, physician participants will be able to:
- Apply molecular diagnostic technologies to identify germline determinants and appropriate patient populations for specific cancer therapies.
- Classify tumors using molecular profiles as a basis for more effective personalized therapies.
- More effectively integrate molecular diagnostics into cancer clinical trials in order to improve patient selection for clinical trials and to enable rapid assessment of the efficacy of anticancer agents.
- Use molecular imaging and tumor profiles to more accurately determine a clinically relevant and effective dose and schedule, to predict the efficacy and toxicity of targeted therapeutic agents, and to monitor tumor response during cancer therapy.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
It is the policy of VSOM that the information presented at VSOM-sponsored CME activities will be unbiased and based on scientific evidence. To help participants make judgments about the presence of bias, VSOM and the AACR will provide information that Committee members and speakers have disclosed about financial relationships they have with commercial entities that produce or market products or services related to the content of this CME activity. This disclosure information will be made available in the Program/Proceedings of this conference.
CLAIMING CME CREDIT
Individuals wishing to receive Category 1 Credit(s) for their attendance at this educational activity should obtain a
CME Request for Credit Form from the registration area or by writing to
cme@aacr.org. This form must be completed and returned to the registration area to obtain a CME certificate of credits awarded.
QUESTIONS ABOUT CME?
Please contact the AACR Office of CME at (215) 440-9300 or
cme@aacr.org.