Paskett To Lead Preventive Oncology Society Meeting

February 23, 2011

COLUMBUS, Ohio – As president of the American Society of Preventive Oncology (ASPO), Electra D. Paskett (43017), associate director of Population Sciences at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James), will lead the society’s annual meeting March 5-8 in Las Vegas.

ASPO is a multi-disciplinary society which, through a variety of professional education activities that take place surrounding its annual meeting, is primarily committed to serving as an advocate for cancer prevention, control and survivorship research. The society is the primary association for cancer prevention and control scientists.

This year’s meeting will focus on “Cancer Prevention and Control Across the Lifecourse,” and will feature national experts in cancer presentation, control and survivorship including:

Dr. Patricia Ganz, director of prevention and control research at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, who will receive the ASPO Distinguished Scientist Award for her work in cancer survivorship;
Dr. Alexander Prokhorov, director of the Tobacco Outreach Education Program at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, who will receive the Joseph Cullen Award for his work in tobacco research;
Julia Rowland, director of the Office of Cancer Survivorship at the National Cancer Institute (NCI);
Dr. Lars Vatten, an epidemiologist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology;
Wendy Atkin, a prominent bowel cancer researcher at the Imperial College London;
Dr. Christine Berg, chief of the Early Detection Research Group at the NCI;
Dr. David Alberts, director of the Arizona Cancer Center;
Dr. John Ruckdeschel, director and CEO of the Nevada Cancer Institute.

The meeting will honor the 40th Anniversary of the signing of the National Cancer Act, the 35th Anniversary of the founding of ASPO, and the 20th anniversary of the publication of the society’s premier journal, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention.

The meeting also will feature presentations by several Ohio State cancer researchers, including Paskett, who is leader of the Cancer Control Program at Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center, holds the Marion N. Rowley Designated Chair in Cancer Research and is a professor in Ohio State’s College of Medicine and College of Public Health.

Paskett will present “The Promise of a Cancer-Free World. Where Are We?” during the ASPO Presidential Address at 5 p.m. PST March 6, and also will moderate a panel discussion entitled “A Cancer-Free World: Collaboration in Science to Get There” following her address.

Dr. Michael Caligiuri, director of the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center and CEO of the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute and president of the Association of American Cancer Institutes, will be among the seven panelists discussing “A Cancer-Free World: Collaboration in Science to Get There.” The other six panelists are:

Dr. Karen Emmons, deputy director of the Center for Community Based Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and president of the Society of Behavioral Medicine;
Dr. Robert Croyle, director of the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences at the National Cancer Institute;
Dr. Judy Garber, director of the Cancer Risk and Prevention Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and president-elect of the American Association for Cancer Research;
Dr. Susan Gapstur, vice president of the Epidemiology Research Program at the American Cancer Society;
Dr. Ernest T. Hawk, vice president and division head for Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center;
Dr. Peter Shields, deputy director of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University and president-elect of ASPO.

In addition, two other Ohio State cancer researchers are scheduled for presentations during the ASPO meeting:

Jesse Plascak, who won a national scholarship to the meeting, will have a poster presentation of an abstract titled “An investigation of the association between glioma and socioeconomic status: effects of group-level spatial autocorrelation” at 6 p.m. PST March 5.
Mira Katz will give an oral presentation on “Patient activation increases colorectal cancer (CRC) screening rates among low-income minority patients” during Paper Session 2 at 8 a.m. PST March 7.

The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute cancer.osu.edu is one of only 40 Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the United States designated by the National Cancer Institute. Ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the top cancer hospitals in the nation, The James is the 205-bed adult patient-care component of the cancer program at The Ohio State University. The OSUCCC – James is one of only seven funded programs in the country approved by the NCI to conduct both Phase I and Phase II clinical trials.

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