CHOP Pediatric Cancer Summit 2011

The Pediatric Cancer Summit at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia gave childhood cancer advocacy and community fundraising groups and members of the media the opportunity to listen to five of CHOP’s scientific experts discuss their work.

Attendees had a unique opportunity to ask questions of the very people who split their time between treating patients in CHOP’s Cancer Center and working in the state-of-the-art labs housed in CHOP’s Colket Translational Research Building. A Welcome from Dr. John Maris

Dr. John Maris, director of the Cancer Center, chief of the Division of Oncology and director of the Center for Childhood Cancer Research at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, in his welcoming remarks, told participants, “We are on the verge of a second revolution in childhood cancer.”

The first revolution, he explained, started about 35 years ago, when mortality rates in pediatric cancers began a steady decline. “But cure rates have been stuck at a plateau for the past decade. Now greater understanding of the molecular basis of different cancers and advances in psychosocial care are bringing us closer to a new era of advances,” he added. Some of these advances were presented at the event that followed.

A virtual version of the Pediatric Cancer Summit at CHOP was created to share online. Click here for details and downloads of each presentation.

Maris is also featured in UCD's I am University City video.