Research Symposium Marks 50th Year of Scientific Exchange

 

The 50th Annual Symposium on Fundamental Cancer Research scheduled this fall continues a tradition that was started before M. D. Anderson was built.

 

According to historical records, seven scientists from Austin, Galveston and Houston discussed their research projects at the first symposium on April 13, 1946. At that time, the outlook for most patients affected by cancer was poor and cancer research was very primitive by current standards.

 

The idea for such a meeting was proposed by Dr. Ernst W. Bertner, a Houston surgeon and gynecologist who became M. D. Anderson's first acting director in the summer of 1942. Three years later, he was elected the first president of the newly established Texas Medical Center, Inc., but he maintained a keen interest in M. D. Anderson until he died in 1950.

 

After Dr. R. Lee Clark was appointed the first full-time director and surgeon-in-chief of M. D. Anderson in August 1946, he suggested the symposia be held annually to enable a timely exchange of research information and also to encourage scientists from outside Houston to visit the new institution. By the time M. D. Anderson opened its first facility in the Texas Medical Center in 1954, the yearly conferences were growing and gaining a good reputation.

 

The Ernst W. Bertner Memorial Award was first presented at the annual symposium in 1951. Over the years, it has been given to physicians and scientists who have made outstanding contributions in all aspects of cancer research. Seven Bertner Award winners later received Nobel Prizes while two other Bertner recipients had won Nobel Prizes prior to being honored by M. D. Anderson.

 

The bronze Bertner Medallion symbolizes the twin goals of cancer research: prevention and cure. The hands of Hygeia emerge from a star to hold a bowl from which the serpent, the ancient symbol of medical wisdom, is fed. The goddess Hygeia, daughter of the Greek God of medicine Aesculapius, represents hygiene and prevention of disease while the star denotes both the State of Texas and the native Texan for whom the award is named.

 

Since 1952, the annual symposia have had a specific theme; the topic that year was "Nutritional Factors in Cancer Research." The 1959 program on "Genetics and Cancer" attracted more participants than the new M. D. Anderson Hospital's 300-seat auditorium could accommodate. For many years, the meetings were held at the old Shamrock Hilton Hotel, the site of which now is the Edwin Hornberger Conference Center at the Texas Medical Center. As many as 1,000 physicians and scientists have attended most of the recent symposia.

 

The symposium was not held in 1970 because of its coincidental timing with the Tenth International Cancer Congress hosted by M. D. Anderson.

 

Themes through the years have included nucleic acid metabolism, viruses and tumor growth, conceptual advances in immunology and oncology, cellular radiation biology, cancer and the environment, identification of carcinogens, cellular and molecular targets of cancer therapy, growth factors and their receptors, cell death in development and cancer, and regulatory mechanisms of growth and differentiation.

 

The theme for the 50th symposium is "Molecular Determinants of Cancer Metastasis." It will be held Oct. 28-31 at the JW Marriott Hotel.

 

"M. D. Anderson has been ahead of other institutions and organizations in sponsoring fundamental cancer research symposia that focus on in-depth sharing of scientific findings about a single topic of great relevance at the time of the meeting. We invite the current leaders and thinkers in a particular field with the goal of hearing presentations that will contribute to translating research discoveries into better diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancer," explains Dr. Isaiah J. Fidler, chairman of the Department of Cell Biology and co-chairman of the 1997 symposium.

 

This year's Bertner Award will be given to Dr. Judah Folkman, the Andrus Professor of pediatric surgery and professor of anatomy at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston. He will report on substances that can inhibit a tumor's blood supply, thereby preventing cancer cells from spreading or metastasizing to distant organs.

 

Dr. Fidler says each of the symposium sessions will feature clinical experts as well as basic scientists discussing how they can accelerate applying laboratory findings about preventing and treating metastatic disease to patients with cancer.

 

"This year's symposium will epitomize the bringing together of the exponentially expanding understanding of fundamental cell mechanisms and control to preclinical and clinical applications," notes Dr. Frederick F. Becker, vice president of research and scientific director of the Tumor Institute at M. D. Anderson.

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