ESO2

Five years ago, as part of its 25th anniversary celebrations, ESO invited Europe’s media to Rome to participate in an event called “Cancer: A Reality Check”. At a time when excitement over advances in our understanding of cancer was giving way to disappointment over how little patients were seeing the benefits, this unique event gave journalists the opportunity to question leading researchers, policy makers and industry leaders about what needed to be done to deliver progress faster. The agenda was heavily influenced by a feature article in Fortune magazine by Clifton Leaf, titled “Why we are losing the war on cancer and how to win it,” and by responses from eight European specialists published in Cancer World under the title “It’s not a war… and we are not losing”.  Some of the questions posed five years ago have now been answered, but new ones have been raised in their place. On the occasion of its 30th anniversary, ESO will therefore revisit this theme. It will bring together a highly selected group of clinicians, researchers, advocates, politicians, industry leaders and journalists at a World Oncology Forum®  to re-evaluate how well the war is going: are we on the right track, or heading for defeat?

The World Oncology Forum® aims to help focus global efforts against cancer by:

• Benchmarking to what degree we are winning the war on cancer today;
• Exploring the many diverse factors that can contribute to or impede better outcomes for cancer patients
• Identifying what can be done over the next decade to improve cancer outcomes.
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The Forum will look at successes and challenges in finding scientific and medical solutions to curing, controlling and preventing cancer. It will also look at what needs to happen on political, social, economic and behavioural levels to ensure that populations across the world can benefit from this scientific progress.

One hundred experts will be invited to attend the meeting and contribute to the discussion. Participants will be selected based on the following criteria:

• Leading cancer clinicians and researchers as evidenced by impact factor, presentations at leading conferences and membership of boards of regional/international organisations;
• Advocacy leaders who represent important patient organisations;
• Journalists with a strong track record of reporting cancer stories.

October 26
The morning session will feature three keynote lectures by international authorities which will set the scene:
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• Mapping the global cancer burden: who’s most at risk from cancer and why?
  Keynote Lecturer:
  Prof. Paolo Vineis, Chair in Environmental Epidemiology, MRC/HPA Centre for Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
   
• Outwitting cancer: the big questions that remain unanswered
  Keynote Lecturer: 
  Prof. Douglas Hanahan, Head of the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer (ISREC), Lausanne, Switzerland 
   
• Survival trends: a worldwide look at who's winning and who's losing
  Keynote Lecturer: 
  Prof. Michel Coleman, Cancer Research UK Cancer Survival Group, Department of Non-Communicable Disease Epidemiology, Faculty of Epidemiology & Population Health, London, School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
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Each speaker will be challenged by a discussant and a session leader.

During the afternoon participants will split into three working groups for two hours to discuss the individual issues in detail. After a coffee break all participants will continue the exchange of views in plenary session.

October 27
This morning session, which will be moderated by Sir Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet, will focus on securing consensus on priority strategies to tackle cancer over the coming decade. 
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By the end of 2012 it is planned to publish the World Oncology Forum®  consensus statement in The Lancet together with the three keynote lectures and an editorial. A publication on the consensus statement will also appear in Cancer World early in 2013.