UNMC hosts national cancer symposium

Jennifer Garcia and Liz Rider of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) organize handouts at Thursday’s NCCN symposium.

The UNMC Eppley Cancer Center Thursday hosted the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) symposium on “Colon, Rectal and Anal Cancers.”

Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center, gave opening remarks for the afternoon symposium, which began with tours of the Durham Research Center, UNMC’s newest research facility and the site of the NCCN symposium.

Approximately 50 health care professionals attended the regional symposium.

William McGivney, Ph.D., chief executive officer of the NCCN, shared an overview of the NCCN guidelines, followed by a series of presentations on the management of anal cancer, locoregional rectal cancer, locoregional colon cancer and management of metastatic colorectal disease. A reception followed.

William McGivney, Ph.D., of the NCCN addresses the group.

“We are very excited to have hosted the NCCN’s Colon, Rectal and Anal Cancers symposium,” said Peter Coccia, M.D., the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center at The Nebraska Medical Center member on the NCCN Board of Directors. “We welcomed some of the world’s experts in this area to UNMC.”

The symposium provided evidence-based treatment recommendations for the management of malignancies arising in the lower gastrointestinal tract. The symposium also focused on the clinical data supporting new approaches that have been incorporated into the recommended treatment algorithms.

UNMC’s Jean Grem, M.D., professor of oncology and hematology, UNMC Department of Internal Medicine, was one of the symposium’s featured speakers and discussed the management of locoregional colon cancer.

Jean Grem, M.D.

A nationally recognized expert on gastrointestinal cancer and the area of drug development and evaluation, Dr. Grem directs the Gastrointestinal Oncology Program and the Oncology Drug Development Program at UNMC. She recently was invited to join the panel of NCCN experts for cancers arising in the colon, rectal and anus.

She was joined by faculty members: Yi-Jen Chen, M.D., Ph.D., City of Hope Cancer Center; John Skibber, M.D., The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center; and Alan Venook, M.D., University of California San Francisco Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Dr. Grem joined UNMC in 2003 after serving as the head gastrointestinal cancer researcher/clinician at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, Md. Dr. Grem, who joined the NCI in 1986, was a colleague of Dr. Cowan, who worked at the NCI for 21 years before coming to UNMC in 1999.

UNMC’s James Shull, Ph.D., leads NCCN symposium participants through the Durham Research Center.

The NCCN is an alliance of 19 of the world’s leading cancer centers and is an authoritative source of information to help patients and health professionals make informed decisions about cancer care. UNMC is a member of this alliance. Through the collective expertise of its member institutions, the NCCN develops, updates and disseminates a complete library of clinical practice guidelines. These guidelines are the standard for clinical policy in oncology.

For more information, visit www.nccn.org.