Satellite Symposium Update 2020/2021
Michael Vogelbaum, MD, PhD, FAANS | Ian Dunn, MD, FAANS | Jason Sheehan, MD, PhD, FAANS
The Joint Section on Tumors’ much anticipated 15th Biennial Tumor Section Satellite Symposium has been rescheduled for October 15-16, 2021, in Austin, Texas. The meeting theme will be Neurosurgical Oncology: A Vision for the Future.
This two-day conference features engaging scientific sessions that explore technological advances in neurosurgical neuro-oncology, including tumor microenvironment and spinal oncology. It also focuses on neurosurgeons as clinical scientists and managing recurrence in neuro-oncology.
Breakout sessions for residents, fellows and young attendings address topics such as tips for the first 3-5 years of practice, endoscopic skull base surgery and incorporating technology in neuro-oncology. And the best original science will be presented with four select oral abstract sessions. Additionally, there will be industry-sponsored breakfast and lunch symposiums. On Saturday afternoon, the program transitions into the honored guest symposium highlighting the career of Edward R. Laws Jr., MD, FAANS(L).
The exciting Anniversary Gala takes place on Friday evening, during which the Tumor Section’s Career Awards are presented for distinguished service (The Mark Rosenblum Distinguished Service Award), career accomplishments (The Charles B. Wilson Award) and mentoring (The Andrew T. Parsa Mentorship Award), along with certificates for best oral and poster presentations from the open abstract sessions during the day.
CNS 2020
Christopher P. Cifarelli, MD, PhD, FAANS | Nduka Amankulor, MD, FAANS
The 2020 Tumor Section Scientific Planning Committee worked to develop a comprehensive program of symposia, lunch seminars, practical courses and general sessions that would highlight the CNS Annual Meeting theme, Vision for the Future. Complimentary to the planned Joint Section Tumor Meeting that was to immediately precede the 2020 CNS Tumor Program, the CNS Program featured two major thematic sessions: Glioblastoma 2050: An Eye to the Future, A Step Towards A Cure & Neurosurgeon-driven Adjuvant Therapy for Primary & Metastatic Brain Tumors.
In both, expert panelists and speakers would discuss and debate the practical advances and future directions of GBM surgery, clinical trial design and adjuvant management, focusing on the prominent role that neurosurgeons need to play in each. As the theme for the 2021 Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas will remain the same, we are confident that some of these topics will emerge as important components of the next Tumor Section Meeting.
SNO 2020 Virtual Meeting
Gelareh Zadeh, MD, PhD, FAANS
The SNO Virtual Meeting took place November 19-21, 2020. The education from the meeting was provided in three distinct delivery formats:
- Live sessions: 16 hours of invited lectures and top scoring abstracts;
- On-demand sessions: 250 pre-recorded presentations; and
- Over 700 searchable electronic posters.
Collectively, this content represents over 40 hours on Continuing Medical Education credit, which is double the number of hours that are typically offered for a SNO meeting.
The theme of this year’s meeting was 2020 Vision for the Future. Correspondingly, the virtual conference focused on cutting-edge topics that shape the future of neuro-oncology, including single-cell sequencing, big data and predictive analytics, biomarkers and liquid biopsy diagnostics and the role of AI in neuro-oncology research.
The meeting began on Thursday with an Education Day organized by Susan Short, Houtan Noushmehr and Daniel De Carvalho and entitled Liquid Biomarkers in Neuro-Oncology. Meeting participants had the opportunity to engage in two Thursday evening Town Hall sessions; the first addressing Clinical Trial Design, followed by a discussion of how COVID-19 has impacted our field.
Scientific Co-chairs Monika Hegi, Michael Lim, Farshad Nassiri and David Schiff started the main meeting on Friday with plenary presentations featuring invited lectures from Vinay Prasad, Dan Orringer and Johanna Joyce, followed by top scoring abstracts. Participants then had the option of viewing two concurrent Roundtables, one focusing on Tumor Microenvironment and the other on Artificial Intelligence.
Saturday began with a special Friends of SNO session, in which members of sister societies share updates from their organizations. This was followed by a plenary session with keynotes from Daniel de Carvalho, Paul Northcott, Ed Lein and Mario Suva, along with top scoring abstracts. This was followed by two concurrent roundtables; one on single cell sequencing and the other on pediatric neuro-oncology.
SNO Annual Meeting has historically provided opportunities for members to network and interact, so we have endeavored to integrate a number of ways for participants to connect with one another in our virtual environment. This included scheduled live chats with senior members, electronic Q&A sessions and other ways to interact directly with presenters and other attendees. Attendees could also participate in the SNO Quest, an interactive game designed to foster interaction with our virtual exhibitors.
New this year, all of the sessions are available for on-demand viewing post-meeting and attendees are able to claim CME credit at any time for one year.
Detailed information on the SNO Virtual Meeting can be found on the SNO website at www.soc-neuro-onc.org.
SNOSSA 2020
James Balogun, MD, MBBS
President, Society for Neuro-oncology Sub-Saharan Africa (SNOSSA)
Arnold Etame, MD, PhD, FAANS
Executive Committee , AANS/CNS Tumor Section
The Society for Neurooncology Sub-Saharan Africa (SNOSSA), like most other societies, could not hold a physical meeting, due to the constraints imposed by the Coronavirus pandemic. Therefore, whilst the opportunity to visit the beautiful city of Accra, located in the center of the universe, in 2020 was not to be, the city has retained the hosting right for the 2021 meeting.
In lieu of the physical meeting however, a two-day virtual meeting was held on the August 22-23, 2020. The meeting had speakers from across the neurooncology world; Sub-Saharan Africa and friends from across the world, discussing contemporary topics in neurooncology including basic epidemiology, specific tumor pathology and treatment, the impact of covid on neurooncology practice and evolving treatment paradigms, such as immunotherapy.
The Society has continued to pursue educational and research opportunities for members as part of her cardinal points. The society collaborated with the African organization for research and training in cancer (AORTIC) to organize the first neurooncology session at their meeting in Maputo in November 2019. There are also efforts to establish training opportunities in the various fields of neurooncology for residents and new fellows through collaborations with the contemporary oncology team, Hygiea Hospital in Athens, Greece, and the Barrow Neurological Institute in Arizona. We welcome more of these collaborations to widen the horizon of members of SNOSSA in the concepts of neurooncology.
We will continue to appreciate the immense support from sister organizations like SNO, EANO as well as the IBTA. The tumor section of the AANS/CNS has also through her publications and participation of her members being support of the activities of the society, which we appreciate.
The tumor section of the AANS/CNS has also through publications and participation of members being *supportive* of the activities of the society, which is appreciated.
NASBS 2021
Danny Prevedello, MD
In light of the concerns about COVID-19 and the growing number of institutional travel bans placed on our international and domestic colleagues, the NASBS Board of Directors has made the decision to postpone the NASBS 31st Annual Meeting originally scheduled on February 12-14, 2021, in Atlanta to February 18-20, 2022, in Phoenix.
In place of the 2021 annual meeting, NASBS will present a virtual symposium to be held in February 2021. The topics of the symposium will reflect the unique multi-disciplinary and multi-specialty membership of NASBS. The 2021 Virtual symposium will be Saturday, February 13th. There will be up to three concomitant virtual rooms with high impact, up-to-date presentations reflective of the issues confronting skull base surgery.
The best abstracts will be presented, and they will be available online as recorded talks along with the electronic posters until the NASBS 31st Annual Meeting taking place February 2022. In addition, the selected abstracts will be published in the February special edition of the Journal of Neurological Surgery Part B: Skull Base.
We encourage you to follow us on Twitter @nasbsorg to stay up to date on the latest announcements. We look forward to seeing you all again when it is safe to be together in-person.
Stay healthy and safe.
2021 AANS Annual Scientific Meeting
Kaisorn Chaichana, MD, FAANS | Brian Williams, MD
The 2021 AANS Tumor Section scientific program was developed to highlight developments in brain tumor management from intra axial to skull base surgery, as well as discuss most relevant basic science developments in brain tumor treatment. The main session focuses on brain tumor management of complex cases and discuss controversies in the literature, while the three satellite sessions focus on skull base surgery, glioma surgery and tumor basic science. In the skull base session, topics include open and endoscopic approaches to the cavernous sinus, clivus and temporal bones from experts in the field. In the glioma session, topics include brain mapping, intraoperative imaging, fluorescence and laser therapy. The basic science topics include discussion on tumor genetics, stem cell therapy and immunotherapy.
We hope to have a diverse and informative session for the 2021 AANS Annual Scientific Meeting.
CNS 2021
Brad Zacharia, MD, FAANS | Edjah Nduom MD, FAANS | Johnathan Sherman, MD, FAANS | Maryam Rahman, MD, FAANS | Michael Ivan, MD, FAANS
The Tumor Section is planning for a dynamic educational program for the CNS Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas, Oct 16-20, 2021. The weekend symposia include topics covering malignant and benign brain tumor management, incorporation of advanced techniques, such as functional mapping, novel therapeutics including immunotherapy, and 3D neuroanatomy didactics with world renowned faculty. During the week there will be several tumor related sessions, luncheon seminars and afternoon abstract presentations that feature diverse speakers and topics of interest for tumor surgeons including pituitary tumors, low grade gliomas, meningiomas, brain metastases and glioblastoma. Highlights include case-based formats, complications discussions, novel upfront and adjuvant treatment strategies, alternatives to traditional surgery (such as LITT, brachytherapy, CED), quality and efficiency of care, guidelines for primary and metastatic tumors and complex intracranial approaches. Most importantly, this comprehensive program is designed to offer opportunities for Tumor Section members to highlight their work and to engage learners from diverse backgrounds. We look forward to seeing you in Austin!