Monday, 14th November Joint 2016 COSA and ANZBCTG Annual Scientific Meeting

This one day workshop is intended to encourage and inform Medical Oncologists and Cancer Care Nurses about the management of complex symptoms experienced by women living with advanced breast cancer and the value of early integration of palliative care into standard oncology care for Australian patients. More information about the program will be available shortly, however as places are limited we encourage delegates to register now so they don’t miss out.

Join us for this informative full-day workshop, which is for all members of the oncology team, including medical oncologists, gynae-oncologists and nurses who are interested in understanding and gaining practical experience in delivery of mainstreaming approaches to genetic counselling. Compare mainstreaming to traditional genetic counselling approaches in the ovarian cancer setting; review options for mainstreaming genetic counselling as part of the oncology care pathway; consider the importance of psychosocial support in the mainstreaming setting; gain familiarity and practical experience with tools and resources to support mainstreaming of genetic counselling for ovarian cancer patients, via a mix of case study and role playing activities; and consider the practicalities and steps required to implement mainstreaming as part of your own clinical practice in the ovarian cancer setting.

The COSA Cancer Pharmacists Group invites its members and other interested pharmacists to attend the 5th Pre-ASM Clinical Development Workshop. This workshop will allow experienced cancer pharmacists to get together and share ideas and develop their practice, as well as providing a place for less experienced pharmacists to meet and network with experienced practitioners.

Networking is one of the strongest tools we have and this meeting allows face to face networking, promoting peer to peer work throughout the country subsequent to the ASM. The CPG Clinical Development Workshop has traditionally been well attended and provides another attractive reason for pharmacists working in oncology to make the COSA ASM their primary national meeting for the year.

The workshop topics have been chosen in order to minimise overlap with other COSA CPG educational activities.

Professional development: Antimicrobial stewardship; methodology and outcomes in clinical trials; advanced pharmacy practice credentialing.

Clinical development: immunotherapy; MASCC update, clinical cases in breast cancer &‘practice pearls of wisdom’.

Presented by the COSA Clinical Trials Research Professionals Group

Good Clinical Practice, Immunotherapy and Risk-Based Monitoring Workshop

Clinical trials research professionals are warmly invited to attend this one day workshop focused on GCP, Risk-Based Monitoring and Immunotherapy.

In the morning session we will take a walk through the history of Good Clinical Practice, review investigator site personnel responsibilities as well as some interesting examples and case studies. We will also focus on recent changes to GCP guidelines expected to be released in November. We will apply the updates to case scenarios and discuss your own real-life challenges. These GCP Refresher sessions meet TransCelerate training criteria; attendees who complete the sessions will receive a certificate that is valid for three years. This session will be interactive so be prepared to share your own experiences and bring your questions! 

The first afternoon session will focus on immunotherapy. Immunotherapy has been chosen as the "clinical cancer advance of the year" by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in its Clinical Cancer Advances 2016report. Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment designed to boost the body's natural defenses to fight the cancer. It uses substances either made by the body or in a laboratory to improve or restore immune system function to increase its effectiveness at eliminating cancer cells.  An overview of the latest advances in cancer immunotherapy through clinical trials, new treatments under development, as well as potential strategies that have shown promising results in both the Australian and international setting will be presented. 

The final session is an update on the application of Risk-Based Monitoring, which is increasingly gaining momentum.  This approach to monitoring is supported by regulatory authorities and represents a significant change in the way clinical studies are monitored.  We will explore the impact on the role of site staff and trial sponsors and, in particular, review the implementation status of Risk-Based Monitoring in Australia and New Zealand and available tools and guidelines.