I am honored to serve as the Chair of the AACR-Minorities in Cancer Research (MICR) Council for 2008-2009. I would like to thank Dr. Duane Smoot for his outstanding leadership as MICR Council Chairperson from 2007-2008.
The MICR activities at the 2008 AACR Annual Meeting in San Diego were excellent and well attended. I want to thank all of the MICR members for coming out and supporting these activities.
We are in the process of planning activities for next year's meeting and we are interested in involving as many of the MICR members as possible. Please let us know if you are interested in helping the Council by completing and submitting a MICR Volunteer for Committee Service form. We will involve as many members as we can in planning MICR activities for the coming year. We welcome your suggestions about specific topics that you would like to see covered in the MICR Forum, our Scientific Symposium, or any of our other activities. As we receive these suggestions, we will forward them to the appropriate Committee Chairs.
As you know, AACR, MICR, and the NCI's Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities sponsored the first conference entitled, "The Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved," in November 2007, in Atlanta. Because this meeting was a resounding success, we are now planning the second annual meeting, February 3-6, 2009, at the Carefree Resort and Villas in Carefree, Arizona, located in the greater Phoenix area. The abstract deadline is Monday, November 3, 2008. This is the only major conference dedicated to highlighting state-of-the-art methods and findings in cancer health disparities research. Please look for announcements about this conference. I hope that MICR members will participate in even greater numbers than last year.
Please forward any questions or comments to me in care of micr@aacr.org. I look forward to seeing everyone for the AACR 100th Annual Meeting 2009, April 18-22, in Denver. Visit the MICR website at www.aacr.org/micr for more information.
Sincerely,
Jean G. Ford, M.D.
MICR Council Chairperson (2008-2009)