PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The WIN Consortium (www.winconsortium.org) today proudly announces that Scott P. Serota, President and CEO of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA), will deliver the opening address of the WIN 2014 Symposium. The WIN 2014 Symposium (www.winsymposium.org), to be held June 23-24 in Paris, is the first event worldwide entirely dedicated to innovation in combined therapeutic approaches in cancer care.
WIN Symposia are an initiative of the WIN Consortium, a non-profit global collaboration of academic, industry, health plan, and advocacy organizations dedicated to bringing the most promising advances in personalized cancer medicine to patients worldwide. BCBSA joined the WIN Consortium as a member in 2013.
“We are delighted that Scott Serota will open the WIN 2014 Symposium,” said Dr. Vladimir Lazar, Chief Operating Officer of the WIN Consortium. “Mr. Serota will bring a valuable perspective to the innovative dialogue facilitated by presentations from prestigious leaders including Robert Weinberg, Leroy Hood, Rene Bernards, Guido Kroemer, Bob Löwenberg and many others, as we collectively work to improve quality and efficiency in cancer care.”
“Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies throughout the U.S. participate in diverse collaborations that foster productive dialogue and the sharing of knowledge and best practices that can produce meaningful, life changing results for patients and their families,” said Mr. Serota. “Innovation in therapeutics and active cooperation between stakeholders involved in delivering care to patients is needed to effectively drive efficacy and quality improvement in the area of cancer care, in a realistic societal and economic model.”
Mr. Serota has served as president and CEO of BCBSA since 2000. His prior responsibilities included leadership of the Blue Technology Evaluation Center, the United States’ leading source for evaluating the safety and efficacy of emerging medical treatments. BCBS companies also are expanding their global reach. Mr. Serota announced Jan. 9 that a group of Blue companies have formed a strategic partnership with the U.K.’s Bupa to create the world’s biggest provider network for international health-insurance customers. The combined provider network will collectively include more than 11,500 hospitals in more than 190 countries.
”The scientific program will address major developments in precision cancer medicine in sessions featuring the world’s leaders in basic and clinical cancer research, each session focusing on the rationale for combinations,” said Pr. Alexander Eggermont, chair of the symposium.
Sessions themes and confirmed speakers are
1. Molecular analysis of immune cells and immunotherapy: Jérôme
Galon (France); George Coukos (Switzerland); Axel Hoos, GlaxoSmithKline,
(USA); Guido Kroemer, (France)
2. What can we learn from
hemato-oncology? Bob Löwenberg, (Netherlands); Eric Solary (France);
Ross Levin (USA); Jesus Gomez-Navarro, Millennium-Takeda (USA); Olli
Kallioniemi (Finland)
3. Innovative therapeutic initiatives and
models of cooperation: Denis Lacombe (Brussels); Jean-Charles Soria
(France)
4. Tumor cell plasticity and drugable targets:
Robert Weinberg (USA)
5. Combination of targeted therapies:
Hans Clevers (Netherlands); René Bernards, (Netherlands); Razelle
Kurzrock (USA); Richard Buller, Pfizer (USA); Antoine Yver, AstraZeneca
(UK); Silvia Formenti (USA); Elias Zerhouni, Sanofi (France)
6. New
findings in fundamental mechanisms in pediatric solid and liquid cancers:
Stefan Pfister (Germany); Gilles Vassal (France)
7. Blood and
body fluids – non-invasive investigations in oncology: Leroy Hood
(USA); Mathias Uhlen (Sweden); Caroline Dive (UK)
For further information visit www.winsymposium.org.
About the WIN Consortium:
Founded in 2010 with leadership
from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (USA) and the
Institut Gustave Roussy (France), the WIN Consortium today includes 30
leading academic, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, health plan, healthcare
IT, and patient advocacy organizations representing 13 countries and
four continents. WIN is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization
headquartered in Paris.
About BCBSA
The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association is a
national federation of 37 independent, community-based and
locally-operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies that collectively
provide healthcare coverage for nearly 100 million members –
one-in-three Americans. For more information on the Blue Cross and Blue
Shield Association and its member companies, please visit bcbs.com. We
encourage you to connect with us on Facebook, check out our videos on
YouTube, follow us on Twitter and check out The BCBS Blog, for
up-to-date information about BCBSA.
