Chemist Jean Cui at #ASCO17 posters with #ALK & #ROS1 NSCLC patients who thrive on drugs she helped develop

As cancer patients and caregivers transform into active cancer advocates, they may think about attending medical conferences.  On March 8, at 8 pm Eastern Time (5 pm PST), #LCSM Chat will discuss various aspects of cancer advocate participation in medical conferences.

Some reasons for cancer advocates to attend medical conferences are to:

• Learn more about cancer and treatment options for cancer
• Get details about new research
• Meet the top doctors who treat their type of cancer
• Support an advocacy organization’s outreach booth
• Network with other advocates, as well as clinicians and researchers
• Share an advocate’s perspective on a specific topic, sometimes as an invited speaker

As more advocates participate in conferences, the conference organizers, professional societies, and medical practitioners are coming to understand the benefits of including advocate voices in their programs. #LCSM Chat member Janet Freeman-Daily was recently interviewed by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer about her participation in conferences–read the resulting article here: Why Should Advocates Attend Academic Lung Cancer Conferences?

Tools exist to help advocates navigate cancer conferences and understand the content they will see:

• How to Navigate a Scientific Meeting by American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
• Advocate Resources by Research Advocacy Network (RAN)
• Being a Cancer Advocate by American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO)

If you know of other resources, please share them in the comments on this page or in the chat.

Some professional societies and cancer nonprofits sponsor programs that enable cancer advocates to attend conferences and learn more about medical research:

• AACR’s Scientist↔Survivor Program
  Participants receive travel grants and participate in special educational programs at cancer research meetings.
• ASCO’s Conquer Cancer Foundation Patient Advocate Scholarship Program
  Provides need-based grants to cover travel and registration for a variety of ASCO meetings, including the huge Annual Meeting in Chicago each June. Applications for the Annual Meeting are usually accepted during a window in early March.
• RAN’s Focus on Research Scholar Program
  Scholars participate in preparatory conference calls, virtual classroom (webinars), learning materials and mentoring for research advocates to improve skills and understanding of biomedical research, and attend the ASCO Annual Meeting.
• International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) Travel Awards for World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC)
  Provides travel grants to WCLC, which is held in a different international city each year—it will be in Toronto Canada September 2018.

Our moderator Janet Freeman-Daily (@JFreemanDaily) will lead our discussion using the following prompts:

• T1: When a cancer patient/caregiver attends a medical conference, what are benefits to the patient/caregiver? Benefits to medical professionals?  To the conference?
• T2: If you have attended a medical conference in which patients/caregivers participated, what did you like most about that conference? (Pls state whether you attended as patient, caregiver, or med professional)
• T3: If a cancer patient or caregiver wanted to attend a medical conference, which would you recommend for their first conference, and why?
• T4: What tips would you give a cancer patient or caregiver for making the most of their conference experience?
• T5: What programs help cancer patients and caregivers attend and/or afford conferences? Do you have experience with any of them?

We hope you’ll join our #LCSM Chat on Thursday 3/8 at 8 pm Eastern Time (5 pm Pacific). If you’re new to tweet chats, please read our primer “To Participate in #LCSM Chat.”