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September 26, 2012

Purdue breast cancer prevention symposium to draw researchers from 15 countries

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A global symposium in October at Purdue University will join the research worlds of public health, medicine and advocacy with research scientists in biology, engineering, nanotechnology and nutrition to discuss models for primary prevention of breast cancer.

The Oct. 10-12 event, offered annually as part of the Purdue-led International Breast Cancer and Nutrition Project, is titled "Models for Breast Cancer Prevention: From Innovation to Action."

Sophie Lelievre

Sophie Lelièvre
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Experts from North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Africa will be featured in biology, epidemiology, medicine, nutrition, communication, education and public policy. This year's symposium also will include researchers, policymakers and public health representatives from Canada, Chile, Lebanon, Netherlands, Qatar, Uruguay and other counties.

"At the heart of any advancement in medical research is a better understanding of how a disease starts and grows. Discussing models necessary for research on primary prevention and implantation of the results is an essential tool to help researchers from many different disciplines in that understanding," said event co-organizer Sophie Lelièvre, an associate professor of basic medical sciences in Purdue's College of Veterinary Medicine and associate director of Discovery Groups for the Purdue University Center for Cancer Research.

Chaired by Lelièvre and Connie Weaver, a distinguished Purdue professor and head of the Department of Nutrition Science, the event is organized by the Purdue International Breast Cancer and Nutrition (IBCN) group.

"This symposium will highlight the advancements we believe we can make by bringing together public health experts and researchers in breast cancer prevention with the brightest minds in biological, engineered and animal models, nanotechnology, tissue banks, data hubs, nutritional models, behavioral models, economic and business models, health-care policy models, and communication," Weaver said.

Connie Weaver

Connie Weaver
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Activities for the three-day event are scheduled in the Purdue Memorial Union and the nearby Stewart Center. To register or for more information, go online to: http://www.purdue.edu/breastcancer/registration.html#register

A look at the schedule and the key participants:

* Wednesday, Oct. 10, 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. - Status of Breast Cancer Prevention from Around the World. Keynote speaker is Leslie Reinlib of the National Institute of Environmental Health Science at the National Institutes of Health. Other speakers include Philippe Kadhel of the University Teaching Hospital, Pointe-A-Pitre (Guadeloupe), France; Meghan McDonough of the Department of Health and Kinesiology at Purdue; Tam Truong Donnelly of the University of Calgary, Qatar; and 
Emma Brew Abaidoo of Peace and Love Hospital and Breast Cancer International, Kumasi, Ghana.

* Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2-5:45 p.m. Models in Biology from Tissue Samples to Epigenetic Analysis. Speakers include Leena A. Hilakivi-Clarke of the Department of Oncology at the Lombardi Cancer Center, Georgetown University; Brittney-Shea Herbert of the Department of Medicinal & Molecular Genetics at Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis; and Emily Ho of the College of Public Health and Human Science, Oregon State University.

* Thursday, Oct. 11, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Health-care and Policy Models. Symposium keynote speaker is Ricardo Uauy, University of London. Other speakers are 
Silvana Luciani, Cancer Control Program, World Health Organization, Pan American Health Organization; Dr. Graciella Sabini, Cancer Control, Ministry of Health, Montevideo, Uruguay; Temeika Fairley, Center for Disease Control & Prevention; 
and Sandra Liu of Purdue's Department of Consumer Science and Retailing.

* Thursday, Oct. 11, 3-6 p.m. Nutritional Models for Diversity. Speakers are professor Weaver and Reinlib of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences as well as Lindsay Allen, director, Western Human Nutrition Research Center at the University of California Davis; 
 and 
Farah Naja of the Department of Nutrition at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.

Susan Clare of the Indiana University Simon Cancer Center in Indianapolis and Reinlib will deliver the Catherine Peachey Lectures, beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 11. Their talks are free and open to the general public.

* Friday, Oct. 12, 9-11:15 a.m. Global Health Venture. Session keynote is Angela Brand of the Institute of Public Health Genomics at the University of Maastricht, Netherlands. Other speakers are Dr. Nora Arta Gaveytia, Tumor Bank, Faculty of Medicine, Montevideo, Uruguay; and Nolwenn LeMeur of the French School of Public Health, France.

The IBCN, involving the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer, is focusing initial efforts on the United States and Ghana as well as France, Japan, Uruguay and Lebanon.

Through the project launched in 2010, each country has a dedicated research team focused on a number of milestones and allows scientists to study worldwide diversity in breast cancer rates, dietary patterns and cultural contexts. These teams were assembled thanks to a 2010-11 project sponsored by the Purdue Global Policy Research Institute.

The 2011 IBCN conference was in France, and Purdue hosted the inaugural conference in October 2010. Lebanon is scheduled to host the conference in 2013.

The project is bringing together experts in nutrition, basic medical sciences, statistics, cancer epidemiology, communication, public policy, economics, health law, anthropology and medicine to study a variety of factors such as how cellular mechanisms in breast cancer development link to diet, as well as the role public policy plays in a population's available food source and disease prevention.

Writer: Phillip Fiorini, 765-496-3133, pfiorini@purdue.edu

Sources: Sophie Lelièvre, 765-496-7793, lelievre@purdue.edu  

Connie Weaver, 765-494-8237, weavercm@purdue.edu

Related websites:
Discovery Park

Department of Nutrition Science

Department of Basic Medical Sciences

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering