President's Message - April 2019

Dear Colleagues,

I wish you all a happy spring. While I certainly do not hope for the next seven months to speed by, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer’s 34^th Annual Meeting & Pre-Conference Programs (SITC 2019), to be held Nov. 6–10, will no doubt be here before we know it. Registration is already open for SITC members (and opens for all on April 9). This is our society’s cornerstone conference, and this year we return to the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center in National Harbor, Md. I am already excited to see and welcome back existing members and to meet the new members of our Society.

Last year, 5,000 professionals in the cancer immunotherapy field attended our Annual Meeting & Pre-Conference Programs, a 36 percent increase over 2017. Similarly, we received nearly 800 abstract submissions, a 34 percent increase year-over-year. For me personally and I’m sure for all of us involved in the Society, it has been astounding to witness the growth of our annual gathering of basic scientists, translational researchers, clinicians, industry and governmental representatives and others in recent years.

This year, the Annual Meeting will feature several new oral abstract presentation opportunities. Increasing the number of oral presentations has been a key goal of our Board for several years, affording researchers, and in particular younger investigators, additional time to share the findings of their work and connect to others in the field. First is a Poster Symposium on Thursday, Nov. 7, from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., which will comprise several short abstract presentations and expert discussants. Secondly, the number of rapid oral abstract sessions has doubled; two sessions will be held on Friday and two on Saturday. Half of these rapid oral abstract sessions will feature clinical advances in the field. Finally, three designated clinical trial sessions will ensure the conference captures the important clinical trial work being done in the field:

• High Impact Clinical Trials: Friday, Nov. 8, 4:50-6:15 p.m.
• Single Agent Phase 1 Clinical Trials: Saturday, Nov. 9, 3:45-5 p.m.
• Combination Phase 1-2 Clinical Trials: Saturday, Nov. 9, 5:15-6:30 p.m.

More than 16 months of planning and preparations go into each Annual Meeting. Dedicated committee members, lead by Annual Program Committee Chair Sandra Demaria, MD (Weill Cornell Medicine), and assisted by the Board of Directors and faculty, work tirelessly to ensure program schedules contain impactful data and meaningful panel discussions. It’s this devotion and enthusiasm that brings the highest quality data to the SITC’s Annual Meeting & Pre-Conference Programs. For immune therapy of cancer, I believe it is the most influential conference in the field.

Please join me in congratulating our recently announced 2019 Richard V. Smalley, MD, Memorial Award and Lectureship recipient Olivera (Olja) J. Finn, PhD, of University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Finn will deliver her highly anticipated keynote address during the Annual Meeting, on Friday, Nov. 8. I’m also very pleased to announce that Ronald N. Germain, MD, PhD, of the National Institutes of Health, will deliver Saturday’s keynote address.

Please remember that SITC members receive discounted SITC 2019 registration rates and early access to housing. There are so many reasons to become a SITC member, and the savings for attending just part of SITC 2019 will more than cover the cost of a membership. So don’t wait, join SITC today to save on your SITC 2019 attendance.

Although our Annual Meeting & Pre-Conference Programs is our most highly attended program, we offer a variety of other opportunities for education and scientific exchange throughout the year, including interim workshops. Two exciting and timely 2019 workshops – dedicated to cancer immune responsiveness and adoptive cellular therapies – are scheduled for Sept. 4–6, 2019, in Houston, Texas, and registration is now open. Participants who attend both back-to-back workshops will receive a 30 percent discount on registration.

Sincerely,

Mario Sznol, MD
SITC President

President's Message - November 2018

Dear Colleagues,

The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) is now ready to welcome more than 4,000 attendees at our 33^rd Annual Meeting & Pre-Conference Programs (SITC 2018) in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 7-11, 2018. The SITC 2018 team has worked for more than a year to present exemplary scientific and educational programs during our five-day annual conference that covers the breadth of basic, translational and clinical of cancer immunotherapy. The cutting-edge science being presented begins with the Industry Committee program on mechanisms of immune escape. The highly-attended primer serves as a refresher course for many professionals, while a new workshop on the microbiome in cancer therapy will lead into the meeting. These Pre-Conference Programs are Nov. 7-8.

The SITC Annual Meeting (from Nov. 9-11) is the premier venue for all aspects of immunotherapeutic research, and this year is no exception. There will be state-of-the-art immunotherapy clinical trial presentations that have the potential to change practice, and sessions will include T cell immunology, the tumor microenvironment and engineering the next-generation of immunotherapeutic agents. I wanted to remind you about the outstanding 2018 SITC Smalley Award Winner, Philip D. Greenberg, MD, (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center), who will discuss research on advancing cellular immunotherapies first thing Saturday morning. The Friday morning Keynote presentation from Nicholas P. Restifo, MD, (National Cancer Institute) will, no doubt, be excellent.

We must remember that all work and no play can make us quite dull indeed! The CheckPoints Party, the annual concert and gathering of the SITC family featuring our very own house band, is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018, in the Marriott Marquis Liberty Ballroom. Many of your favorite leaders in the field (now featuring a Nobel Prize awardee!) will play rock and blues hits. I’ll see you all there!

Sincerely,














Lisa H. Butterfield, PhD
SITC President

P.S. Because SITC expects our highest attendance yet for an Annual Meeting, I’m encouraging attendees to pick up your badge and materials the night before your first program, to avoid the early morning onsite registration lines. SITC 2018 onsite registration begins on Wednesday, Nov. 7, from 10 a.m. – 8 p.m., at L St. Bridge of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Badge pick-up is also available from 6:30 a.m. – 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and a brief period on Sunday morning.