PROGRAM COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSON:
Gordon B. Mills, UT M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
CO-CHAIRPERSONS:
Laura J. van’t Veer, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Barbara L. Weber, GlaxoSmithKline, King of Prussia, PA
The Third International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development: Fulfilling the Promise of Personalized Medicine was held from Monday, September 22 to Thursday, September 25, 2008 at the Marriott Philadelphia Downtown Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The conference program, sessions, and speakers were markedly changed and updated for the third installment in this series to reflect a much greater emphasis on the challenges that have arisen during attempts at fulfilling the promise of personalized medicine.
Importantly, approaches to limiting and overcoming the challenges were presented as well as clear examples of successes and failures in this process. New education sessions on patient decision making, assay validation, non-coding RNAs, molecular imaging, the process from discovery to product, and clinical trial design were added to the program. Discussion during these sessions delved into the identification, validation, and delivery on new ideas in molecular markers and patient treatment. Together the education sessions and main conference helped to delineate the path to "Fulfilling the Promise of Personalized Medicine." The Plenary Sessions maximized the opportunities for trans-disciplinary interactions by having no overlap with other scientific sessions. The Opening Session on Monday evening featured Keynote Addresses from Dr. David Sidransky of Johns Hopkins University and Dr. Joe W. Gray of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.