Free public forum on breast health to precede international medical symposium

Leading breast disease experts will discuss hormone replacement therapy and other controversial issues related to breast cancer at a public forum on Thursday, Feb 13.

The event, “What Everyone Should Know About Breast Health,” is scheduled for 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Omni Jacksonville Hotel. The free program precedes the 8th annual Multidisciplinary Symposium on Breast Disease, a three-day scientific meeting of breast disease experts. Attendees will be able to question the experts on key aspects of breast cancer diagnosis, monitoring and treatment. Dinner will be provided.

Vivian Pinn, M.D., associate director for research on women’s health at the National Institutes of Health, will review the pros and cons of hormone replacement therapy. American Medical Association President Yank Coble Jr., M.D., of Jacksonville, will discuss access to health care, especially mammography for breast cancer detection. Robert Smith, Ph.D., director of cancer screening at the American Cancer Society, will talk about the controversies surrounding cancer screening technology, including conventional mammography.

Other panelists will be Randal Henderson, M.D., an associate professor of radiation oncology at the University of Florida Health Science Center/Jacksonville; D. Scott Lind, M.D., a UF professor of surgery and breast cancer expert; and C. Kent Osborne, M.D., a professor of medicine and of molecular and cellular biology and director of the Breast Center at Baylor College of Medicine.

The event’s moderators will be Shahla Masood, M.D., the symposium’s founder/director and associate chairwoman of pathology at the UF Health Science Center/Jacksonville, and Diana Rowden, M.D., past chairwoman of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation’s board of directors.

The scientific symposium opens Friday, Feb. 14 and runs through Sunday, Feb. 16 at The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island. Six of UF’s leading surgical and medical experts in breast cancer treatment will share the podium with specialists from prominent university-based cancer centers nationwide.

On Feb. 14, Umberto Veronesi, M.D., scientific director of the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, Italy, will present a keynote lecture titled, “Recent Advances in Breast Cancer Management.”

The symposium is sponsored by the UF Health Science Center/Jacksonville in association with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and AstraZeneca, and in cooperation with the UF Shands Cancer Center, the Breast Health Center at Shands Jacksonville, the International Society of Breast Pathology, the Breast Journal and the World Society of Breast Health.

For more information on the symposium, registration and hotel accommodations, call the UF department of pathology at (904) 244-3430 or visit http://www.hscj.ufl.edu/com/cme.asp. To R.S.V.P. for the public forum, call the pathology department.