Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center Hosts Melanoma Patient Conference with Special Guest Troy Aikman

PHILADELPHIA — Three-time Super Bowl Champion, Hall of Famer, and Fox Sports game analyst Troy Aikman will join Lynn Schuchter, MD, chief of Hematology/Oncology at Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center (ACC), for a “fire side chat” at the 14th Focus on Melanoma patient and educational conference, which is being held in collaboration with the ACC and Melanoma Research Foundation (MRF).

Aikman will take the stage with Schuchter to share his personal story with melanoma and why he teamed up with Novartis’ “Melanoma Just Got Personal” campaign to raise awareness about the disease. Troy was diagnosed with stage II melanoma patient in 1998. At the time, he didn’t know much about the disease, but he knew it could be deadly. Fortunately, his melanoma was caught early, before it spread.

Melanoma rates in men continue be on the rise, particularly in older men. It is most common in men over 50 – even more than colon, prostate and lung cancer, according to the MRF.

The conference will also feature talks from ACC faculty and staff on a wide range of topics, including the latest in immunotherapy and precision surgery, and interactive sessions on journaling, exercise and nutrition. Full agenda is below.

WHERE:

Hilton Hotel
4200 City Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19131

WHEN:

Friday, May 20, 2016
9 p.m. – 3 p.m. (Aikman takes the stage around noon)
AGENDA:
9:00 am Welcome
Lynn Schuchter, MD | CONFERENCE CHAIR
Joseph Carver, MD | CHIEF OF STAFF, ABRAMSON CANCER CENTER
Tim Turnham, PhD | EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MELANOMA RESEARCH FOUNDATION

GENERAL SESSION: Latest Advances in Melanoma
9:10 am Immunotherapy: Today's Research--Tomorrows Treatment
John Wherry, PhD | MICROBIOLOGY
9:25 am Revving Up Your Immune System to Tackle Melanoma
Tara Gangadhar, MD | MEDICAL ONCOLOGY

9:40 am Targeting Therapy for Melanoma: Now it's getting personal
Ravi Amaravadi, MD | MEDICAL ONCOLOGY

9:55 am Precision Surgery for Melanoma: What's on the horizon
Giorgos Karakousis, MD | SURGICAL ONCOLOGY

10:15 am Q & A Panel

9:45 am BREAK

11:00 am The Road to Wellness
In this interactive session learn strategies for using journaling, exercise
and a cancer-fighting nutrition plan to maintain health and well-being.

Journaling, Honoring the Writer Within You
Sandy Blackburn | PATIENT AND FAMILY SERVICES
Laura Kotler-Klein, MSS, LCSW, DSW | PATIENT AND FAMILY SERVICES
Matt Stevenson, LCSW | PATIENT AND FAMILY SERVICES

Exercise and Lymphedema
Mousley Le Blanc, MD | PHYSICAL MEDICINE AND REHABILITATION

Nutrition
Katrina Claghorn, MS, RDN, CSO, LDN | CLINICAL NUTRITION SUPPORT SERVICES

12:00 pm lnspirational Keynote–Melanoma Just Got Personal
Troy Aikman and Lynn Schuchter
12:30 pm Lunch
1:30 pm Melanoma and Other Skin Cancers:
What you need to know to protect yourself
Christopher Miller, MD | DERMATOLOGY

1:35 pm Take Control of Your Skin:
Learn to identify skin cancer before your doctor does
Emily Chu, MD | DERMATOLOGY

1:50 pm Guide to Skin Cancer Prevention:
Facts and myths about ultraviolet light and sun protection
Jeremy Etzkorn, MD | DERMATOLOGY

2:05 pm If I Get a Skin Cancer, What are the Different Ways to Treat It?
Thuzar Shin, MD, PhD | DERMATOLOGY

2:20 pm Q & A Panel

2:30 pm Putting in All Together:

What every patient should know about melanoma
Lynn Schuchter, MD | HEMATOLOGY ONCOLOGY
3:00 pm Conference Closing

Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.

The Perelman School of Medicine is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $550 million awarded in the 2022 fiscal year. Home to a proud history of “firsts” in medicine, Penn Medicine teams have pioneered discoveries and innovations that have shaped modern medicine, including recent breakthroughs such as CAR T cell therapy for cancer and the mRNA technology used in COVID-19 vaccines.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System’s patient care facilities stretch from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania to the New Jersey shore. These include the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Chester County Hospital, Lancaster General Health, Penn Medicine Princeton Health, and Pennsylvania Hospital—the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional facilities and enterprises include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, Penn Medicine at Home, Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, among others.

Penn Medicine is an $11.1 billion enterprise powered by more than 49,000 talented faculty and staff.

Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center Hosts Melanoma Patient Conference with Special Guest Troy Aikman

Aikman, a melanoma survivor, is Part of Day-Long Conference That Will Tackle the Latest in Melanoma Research, Treatments

May 20, 2016

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