President’s Message – February 2018

Dear Colleagues,

As the field of cancer immunotherapy and tumor immunology has grown, so too has the critical need for both global scientific exchange and educational opportunities for a wide array of groups.

Education and scientific exchange is the cornerstone of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer.  While the Annual Meeting & Pre-Conference Programs and the Advances in Cancer Immunotherapy™ regional programs are well-known offerings, our society’s impact extends to many collaborative education programs as well.

SITC partners with other organizations around the world. These initiatives offer investigators opportunity for scientific exchange and networking, and provide high-quality education for advanced practice providers to learn current treatment strategies involving cancer immunotherapy.

In the past three years alone, SITC has supported more than 60 collaborative programs through connecting SITC member experts as speakers; SITC members’ direction on content development; organization and faculty selection of programs; marketing and promotion; financial support of educational programs; and access to SITC resources.

These are some highlights of upcoming collaborations involving SITC:

• 4th Forum on Immunotherapy and Translational Immunology of Cancer (FIT Cancer IV), a collaboration with the Spanish Group for Immuno-Biological Therapies in Cancer (GÉTICA) in Madrid, Spain, March 8-10
• Fifth Immunotherapy of Cancer Conference (iTOC5), a collaboration with the Cancer Drug Development Forum (CDDF) in Berlin, Germany, March 19-21
• Immuno-Oncology Young Investigators' Forum, a mentoring event in collaboration with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Creative Educational Concepts, Inc. (CEC) in Houston, Texas, April 19-22
• Combination Cancer Immunotherapy: Expanding Clinical Success, a SITC session at the American Association of Immunologists (AAI) Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas, May 5

Ultimately, all of these programs address the goals put forth in the SITC 2016-18 Strategic Plan:

• Collaboration: Cultivate meaningful relationships with key strategic partners
• Engagement: Create a network of cancer immunotherapy stakeholders, providing greater opportunities for engagement and interaction
• Education and Scientific Exchange: Serve as the leading resource for information and education on cancer immunotherapy
• Global Impact: Advance the science and application of cancer immunotherapy world-wide
• Science and Research: Challenge the thinking and seek the best research in the exploration and development of tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy

We’re looking forward to an additional 20+ educational programs in 2018. Our society has flourished because of our outstanding members. Thank you all for sharing your expertise and experience, dedication and leadership, which have allowed SITC to make strides towards making the word “cure” a reality for patients everywhere.

Best wishes,

Lisa H. Butterfield, PhD

SITC President