Message from the Chair of the NCRI

Sir Prof Kenneth Calman - NCRI Chairman Welcome to the fourth NCRI Cancer Conference, and my first as NCRI Chair. I am proud to be involved with an event that has the visionary goal of attracting people from all the disciplines involved in cancer research with a view to sparking new and exciting collaborations. I firmly believe that working together in new and creative ways will deliver the research needed to improve outcomes for cancer patients and reduce the number of people getting cancer.

The Programme Planning Committee seeks to improve the Conference each year and once again they have responded to your feedback. The introduction of themed symposia in 2007 was well received and remains part of the programme for 2008. We have taken on board a request for more opportunity for oral presentation, by having two sessions dedicated entirely to proffered papers. We have also reinstated a third poster session to allow more of you to present your work.

The programme is again bristling with quality speakers from the UK and overseas, including Nobel laureate Sir Paul Nurse. The plenary speakers have been chosen both as excellent scientists and as great communicators with the ability to appeal to a multi-disciplinary audience. The NCRI Cancer Conference is the only conference designed to provide an eclectic overview of the whole cancer scene. We hope that this provides you with an opportunity for learning and also to meet with researchers you would not otherwise encounter. This year the social programme has been designed to maximise the potential for networking.

One feature we have pioneered is sessions organised by patients and carers, particularly targeted at the interests of Patients and Public. These sessions are hosted by our patient representatives as an integral part of the Conference programme and are attended by both lay and professional delegates. We will again offer bursaries to patients and carers wishing to attend the Conference and we are also opening our doors to the general public with a lecture by Professor Michel Coleman on International survival trends and comparisons, and the impact on UK cancer care.

Effective communication of new ideas and developments is an essential part of research and its implementation in the modern world. Please come to Birmingham in October and be part of this important event.

Sir Kenneth Calman
Chairman,
National Cancer Research Institute