Early Detection and the Future of Cancer Care

By detecting molecular cancer signals in the bloodstreams of seemingly healthy patients, a new generation of early cancer detection tests promises to put more patients on the path to personalized cancer treatment more quickly and with more minimal intervention.

What might this mean for the future of cancer care?

That question is at the heart of the Personalized Medicine Coalition’s planned conversation titled “Early Detection and the Future of Cancer Care.”

Moderated by the President of the Association of Health Care Journalists, Felice Freyer, this panel discussion will explore what the prospect of early cancer detection means to test developers, physicians, and patients. Participants include senior executives from the American Cancer Society and Exact Sciences, as well as the Director of Strategic Planning for Prevention and Early Cancer Detection at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The panel will also include Bruce Ratner, who authored the recently published book titled Early Detection: Catching Cancer When It’s Curable after losing his grandmother, mother, and brother to the disease.

For more than two decades, scientists have been anticipating the emergence of minimally invasive early detection tests that rely on an advanced understanding of molecular signals in patients’ bodies to warn physicians more quickly about the development of potentially fatal diseases. Today, early detection tests can help physicians find cancers, which are the second-leading cause of death in the United States.

This distinguished group of panelists will discuss how early detection tests may change the trajectory of cancer care.