President's Message

The SITC 26th Annual Meeting & Associated Programs was a great success! This year we had a record breaking attendance - 794 total annual meeting attendees. A total of 228 scientific abstracts were submitted for presentation, surpassing last year’s numbers in both late breaking abstract submissions and total submissions. This heightened meeting attendance and increased abstract submission underscore an exciting evolution that is taking place within SITC and in the field of cancer immunology and immunotherapy. Young people are getting involved; new fundamental discoveries are being made; industry is investing; new therapies are being approved; and more and more people are finding a home at SITC. All of these things serve as catalysts to move our field forward!

As SITC President I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who made this year’s SITC Annual Meeting & Associated Programs a success. Thank you to the faculty who shared their knowledge, expertise and time as well as the program organizers for their hard work in putting together such an exceptional group of sessions. Most of all, thank you to everyone who attended the SITC 26th Annual Meeting & Associated Programs.

It’s an exciting time for the field of cancer immunology and immunotherapy and there are many new groundbreaking projects on the horizon for 2012. SITC is moving forward with a number of strategic plan initiatives, so please watch for these developments in the months to come.


Sincerely,

Thomas F. Gajewski, MD, PhD
SITC President
 

 

SITC 2011 Annual Meeting & Associated Programs Recap

Visit the SITC website in the coming weeks to see presentations, abstracts, photos and award winners from the SITC 26th Annual Meeting & Associated Programs! Watch for an email alert when all of these highlights are live on the SITC website.

SUMMIT ON CELL THERAPY FOR CANCER
November 1-2, 2011
Over 400 attendees took part in the Summit on Cell Therapy for Cancer at Masur Auditorium on the NIH Campus. The Summit featured discussions and lectures by leaders in the field to provide an in-depth review of cell therapy as a cancer immunotherapy. The Summit included a dynamic mix of perspectives, concepts and techniques related to cellular therapy that are not normally presented together at any single meeting.

SITC collaborated with the National Institutes of Health, Clinical Center, Department of Transfusion Medicine (NIH, CC, DTM), the AABB (formerly the American Association of Blood Banks), the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT), the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT), and the Cancer Immunotherapy Trials Network (CITN), to organize this event.

PRIMER ON TUMOR IMMUNOLOGY & CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY
November 3, 2011
Approximately 175 clinicians, researchers, students, post-doctoral fellows, and allied health professionals took part in the 2011 Primer, which included lectures on tumor immunology and/or cancer immunotherapy delivered by highly acclaimed investigators in the field. Presentations extended from basic background on immunological principles to cutting-edge research in immunotherapy.

WORKSHOP ON IMMUNOTHERAPY COMBINATIONS
November 3, 2011
Close to 200 attendees took part in the Workshop on Immunotherapy Combinations which included presentations by leaders in the field as well as panel discussions on strategies combining various cancer immunotherapies and conventional cancer treatments. Logistical issues in immunotherapy combination trials were presented, including from the regulatory, legal, and industry perspectives, and from the perspective of independent academic investigators. Current clinical trial efforts on immunotherapy combinations were discussed, emphasizing considerations and applications for future trials.

ANNUAL MEETING
November 4-6, 2011
The SITC 26th Annual Meeting had a record breaking 540 attendees this year! Led by an internationally diverse and highly regarded slate of key opinion leaders, the three-day meeting had 48 scientific lectures and more than 190 poster presenters covering the cutting-edge science in the fields of biological therapy and tumor immunology.

HOT TOPIC SYMPOSIUM
November 6, 2011
Immediately following the conclusion of the SITC Annual Meeting, over 200 attendees took part in the Hot Topic Symposium which featured four lectures and an interactive panel discussion that focused on the newest approaches to targeting immune inhibitory pathways in cancer.

WIC MEETING  

Representatives from 15 domestic and international organizations were welcomed by SITC for a World Immunotherapy Council summit in conjunction with the SITC Annual Meeting on November 3. This meeting of organizations interested in promoting research and translation of cancer immunotherapy was organized by SITC in an effort to facilitate effective collaboration to accelerate delivery of new immunotherapies to patients with cancer throughout the world. Groups attending the summit expressed a shared interest in further discussions and collaborative projects in the future. Stay tuned!

SITC AWARDS
The SITC Annual Meeting Awards Ceremony on November 5 was an opportunity to recognize the lifetime achievements of a key leader in field, as well as promote young and up-and-coming researchers. We hope you had the chance to enjoy the awards ceremony and network with this year's winners.

Richard V. Smalley, MD Memorial Award

The Society selected Ralph M. Steinman, MD to receive the Richard V. Smalley, MD Memorial Award for his outstanding research, work and achievements in cancer therapy.

Sadly, Dr. Steinman passed away on September 30, 2011 from pancreatic cancer which he had been diagnosed with four years earlier. His life was extended using a combination of surgery, standard chemotherapy and experimental dendritic-cell based immunotherapy of his own design.

Named after one of SITC's charter members, the Richard V. Smalley, MD Memorial Award serves as recognition of lifetime research excellence in the field of cancer biologics.

Young Investigator Awards

The Society also honored ten young investigators for scientific excellence in abstract and/or oral presentation in the field of cancer immunotherapy and biological therapy.

Qualified investigators were designated through the SITC abstract submission process and judged by a committee of SITC leadership. To qualify for a SITC Young Investigator Award, the primary/presenting author had to be a student, post doctoral research fellow, clinical fellow, junior faculty (instructor or assistant professor) with three or less years on staff and be listed as both the primary author and the presenting author on the abstract submitted.

SITC Presidential Travel Awards
Four abstracts submitted in any category and authored by young investigators were selected for 20 minute oral presentations during the Presidential Session on Saturday, November 5. Of those abstract presenters, all four received Presidential Travel Awards and one was selected as the 2011 Presidential Award winner. Recipients of these awards include:

SITC Presidential Award Winner
• Joshua Brody, MD – Stanford University Medical Center

SITC Presidential Travel Award Winners
• Lenka V. Hurton – MD Anderson Cancer Center
• Lorenzo Uccellini, PhD – National Institutes of Health
• Yan Zheng, PhD – University of Chicago

SITC Abstract Travel Awards
Six young investigators were also selected to receive SITC Travel Awards for presenting a poster at the SITC 26th Annual Meeting. Recipients of these awards include:

SITC Abstract Travel Award Winners
• Jessica A. Chacon – MD Anderson Cancer Center
• Drew Deniger – MD Anderson Cancer Center
• Evripidis Lanitis – University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine
• Petra Prinz, PhD – Institute of Molecular Immunology
• Emanuela Romano, MD – University of Lausanne
• Seng-Ryong Woo, PhD – University of Chicago
 

SITC in Action

Melanoma Research: A Bridge from Naples to the World

The second annual meeting of Melanoma Research: A Bridge from Naples to the World, will take place December 5–6, 2011, in Naples, Italy. Organized by Paolo A. Ascierto, MD, Istituto Nazionale Tumori Fondazione G. Pascale and SITC Vice President, Francesco Marincola, MD, National Institutes of Health (NIH), this meeting will bring together a congress of international faculty members to discuss the recent advances in melanoma molecular biology, immunology and therapy. Collaborating organizations for this meeting include: SITC, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), INT Fondazione G. Pascale and Fondazione Melanoma ONLUS. This meeting is held under the auspicies of: Italian Melanoma Intergroup (IMI) and the Italian Network for Biotherapy of Tumors (NIBIT). SITC encourages all its members to attend this very special meeting. For more information, please click on the link below.

Articles of Interest

Act Now - Urge 2012 Presidential Candidates to Declare Their Stance on Health and Research Issues!

Your Candidates-Your Health 2012 is a Research!America initiative that invites all 2012 presidential candidates to let voters know where they stand on health and research by filling out a brief questionnaire. Please send a message to the presidential campaigns to urge them to complete the questionnaire and get on the record with their views on our issues. Research!America has created a Tweet Sheet with suggested Twitter messages to send to the presidential campaigns. Please get involved in this initiative and spread the word so that research for health will be part of the conversation during the next 12 months. If candidates don’t talk about our issues before they are elected, there is little chance they will do so after taking office! For more information on this important initiative, click on this link.

Events Calendar

Find meeting announcements along with important dates to remember for the months of November and December here:

• November – Lung Cancer Awareness Month
• December 5-6, 2011 – Melanoma Research: A Bridge from Naples to the World Meeting

Community Update

SITC would like to welcome the following new members for the months of September and October:                                            
• Mads Hald Andersen, PhD
• Christopher Campbell, MD, PhD
• Tim Chan, PhD
• Jung-Chieh Chao, MD
• Brendon J. Coventry, PhD
• Michael C. Cross, PhD
• Alain Delcayre, PhD
• Jens Harborth, PhD
• Nancy M. Hardy, MD
• Weizhou Hou
• Kendra A. Hyland, PhD
• Ramy Ibrahim, MD
• Aya Jakobovits, PhD
• Patrice Jichlinski, MD
• Kevin M. Johnson, MD
• Krithika Kodumudi, PhD
• Alan J. Korman, PhD
• Joshua M. Lang, MD
• Wei Liu, PhD
• Boris Minev, MD
• Pippa Newell, PhD
• Joanne Parker, PhD
• Kelly G. Paulson, PhD
• Kyle K. Payne
• George E. Peoples, MD
• Sonia Quaratino, MD, PhD
• Scott H. Robbins, PhD
• Frank F. Shi, DVM, MS
• Sylvia Adams, MD
• Zwi N. Berneman, MD, PhD
• Dirk G. Brockstedt, PhD
• Scott R. Burger, MD
• Daniel Chen, MD, PhD
• Laura Chow, MD
• Tanja D. De Gruijl, PhD
• Andrea De Maria, MD
• Benedetta Nicolis De Robilant
• Arindam Dhar, MD, PhD
• Gordon Freeman, PhD
• Dan Herendeen, PhD
• Jeong M. Kim, PhD
• Linda N. Liu
• Taha Merghoub, PhD
• Richard Morgan, PhD
• Sergio Occhipinto
• George N. Pavlakis, MD, PhD
• Julie Rubinstein
• Barbara L. Shacklett, PhD
• Josef Singer, MD 

SITC Highlights

Save the Date for SITC 2012!

• SITC Workshop - October 24-25, 2012
• SITC Primer - October 25, 2012
• SITC Annual Meeting - October 26-28, 2012

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