Brief Report: Annual Meeting of the Metastatic Breast Cancer Network
The Metastatic Breast Cancer Network held its fifth annual meeting in Baltimore over this past weekend. Most of the nearly 300 registrants were women living with MBC.
The lively group of women coalesced in the face of unexpected, pre-seasonal wintry weather. At an evening reception they stood, sat, waited for drinks and lined up for buffet food. Some lingered, chatting at round tables for well over an hour beyond the party’s official end-time. Over breakfast and lunch breaks the next day, there was plenty of reconnecting, hugs and catching up.
Like other medical conferences, there were plenary and breakout sessions on the educational program. You could choose, for example, between panels on “Treatment of Bone Metastases,” “Role of Surgery in Soft Tissue Mets” and “Managing Side Effects.” Later, fuzzier and perhaps more intense sessions covered “Role of the Caregiver,” “Nutrition and Wellness” and a “Living with MBC.” Plenary talks ranged from introductory, light remarks to hour-long lectures on breast cancer immunotherapy, clinical trials and epigenetics. I took extensive notes.
Two highlights from this noteworthy gathering:
In introductory remarks shortly after 9AM, MBCN Board member Shirley Mertz recalled attending her first conference of this group, and the feelings she experienced upon meeting other women in similar straits. Her message was this: “Take a look around, you are not alone.”
Late in the day Dr. Stephen Baylin, a professor of oncology and medicine, prefaced his talk as follows: “It’s a privilege – talking with you, hearing what the disease is like, hearing your questions.” He was standing at the podium of Turner Auditorium at Johns Hopkins. “Please teach me,” he said – rare words emanating from the front of a prestigious medical school lecture hall.
Indeed, there’s a lot a doctor might learn at a conference like this. I did, for sure.
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So glad you were able to go. I just read Katherine’s intro for Dr. Baylin. Classic Katherine!! Sounds like a great conference.