Symposium speakers include some of the world's leading researchers, including Alfred G. Knudson Jr., M.D., Ph.D., a senior researcher at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.
"Dr. Knudson is internationally recognized for his 'two-hit' theory that explains how a cell accumulates mutations before becoming cancerous," Dyer said. "And he predicted the existence of tumor-suppressor genes."
Barrett G. Haik, M.D., (University of Tennessee and chief of Ophthalmology at St. Jude) will make introductory remarks at Thursday morning's opening of the symposium.
Other internationally recognized speakers scheduled for Thursday morning are David Abramson, M.D. (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York); Brenda L. Gallie, M.D. (Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto); Murali Chintagumpala, M.D. (Baylor College of Medicine, Houston); Manuela A. Orjuela, M.D. (Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, New York), and Thomas Merchant, D.O. (St. Jude).
Guillermo Chantada, M.D. (Hospital de Pediatria JP Garrahan, Buenos Aires) will discuss challenges that developing countries face when using limited resources to confront the disease.
The afternoon session, which will focus on mouse models and the genetic basis of retinoblastoma, includes a presentation by Anton Berns, Ph.D. (The Netherlands Cancer Institute), a pioneer in the development of mouse models of human cancers. Other experts in the molecular basis of cancer include Dyer, Rod Bremner (Toronto Western Research Institute), Julien Sage, Ph.D., (Stanford Medical School) and Gerard Zambetti, Ph.D. (St. Jude).
The Friday morning session will include roundtable discussions on future directions of retino
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Contact: Bonnie Cameron
bonnie.cameron@stjude.org
901-495-4815
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
16-Feb-2005