Shahla Masood, M.D.
Each year since 1995 an innovative, multidisciplinary program – developed at the University of Florida Health Science Center Jacksonville – has attracted the world’s most revered breast cancer researchers and clinical practitioners. This summer they gathered again to share their expertise and discoveries, only this time they did it with a certain je ne sais quoi flair.
They celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Annual Multidisciplinary Symposium on Breast Disease in Paris, France, and the French government joined them. The French Post Office issued a commemorative stamp for the event, and Bertrand Delanoë, the mayor of Paris, hosted a gala dinner in honor of the symposium’s pioneers and their success at the Hotel de Ville, the largest city hall in Europe. Fittingly, the dinner was held in the historic landmark’s Salon des Sciences, which featured a painting by French artist Albert Besnard that represents Truth pulling Science, which is spreading its Light to mankind.
Indeed, the search for truth in science is what the celebration was all about. The symposium – the brainchild of Shahla Masood, M.D., a professor and associate chair of the UF Department of Pathology – has attracted attention since its inception. “It was the first program in the world to bring together all the specialists involved in the study and treatment of breast disease and allow them to share their experience,” says Masood. “The event has become a national and international model for institutions that value the significance of a multidisciplinary and integrated approach to breast health care with the goal of better serving our patients.”
This innovative approach attracts international attention from participants and sponsors alike. “What better place than Paris to celebrate our event’s growth and success!” Masood says. “Paris is a one-of-a-kind world capital, and our meeting is a one-of-a-kind model for breast cancer research and treatment.”
Sponsored by UF’s Health Science Center in Jacksonville in association with France’s Institut Curie, Institut Gustave Roussy and Centre René Huguenin, the four-day Paris meeting featured several hundred of the most recognized authorities from Europe and the United States, who shared the latest scientific information about epidemiology, prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment of individuals with breast disease.
This year’s sessions discussed advances in medical oncology, new advances in the endocrine treatment of hormone receptor positive postmenopausal women, breast cancer risk prediction and management, treatment of early breast cancer, and contemporary issues in breast cancer. This was the second time the symposium was held outside of the United States, with the first being in Rome in 2000. The event has grown from 129 participants in 1995 to more than 500 in recent years and has featured 123 different international speakers.
Attendees have nothing but praise for the symposium, and their enthusiasm pervaded the Palais des Congrès, Paris’s state-of-the-art convention center.
“I’ve attended seven of the ten meetings,” says Ricardo Masetti, M.D., of Catholic University, Rome, Italy. “It’s amazing how Dr. Masood is able to recruit the top-ranking experts. The symposium has kept a very high level of science, and all scientists need a global view. This symposium is different because it really brings together different specialists in all breast cancer fields, and that’s what makes it unique. It’s a good way for updating, no matter what field you’re in.”
This year’s symposium was the first one that Lazlo Tabar of Falun General Hospital, Falun, Sweden, attended. “What impresses me most is that it deals with the most important issues in breast cancer,” he states. “Dr. Masood is able to pool all types of specialists together-not only from pathology but from all the disciplines. This is very much needed because it allows three things to happen – we have the opportunity to listen to each other, we get to bounce off ideas with one another and then we can develop new tools. To me, multidisciplinary means interaction.”
Vivian W. Pinn, M.D., director of the Office of Research on Women’s Health at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., has attended eight of the ten symposia and says the multidisciplinary approach is right on target. “It’s unique,” she says. “No other event has so many different specialists – pathologists, oncologists and radiotherapists – participate in one meeting. The intensity of the expertise shared is impressive, and the networking is superb. It’s the perfect environment for young practitioners and clinicians to interact with world-renowned breast cancer specialists and leaders. This interaction translates to better health care for women everywhere.”
Education is what this multidisciplinary symposium is all about, says Pierre Bey, M.D., director of the Institut Curie in Paris. “This meeting features the who’s who in breast cancer, with the goal of supporting breast cancer education,” says Bey. “I thank Shahla Masood for her dedication that makes this 10th anniversary of the symposium possible, and I welcome this prestigious group to Paris.” He reports the number of cases of breast cancer are increasing-greater than one million-which makes it 10 percent of all cancer cases worldwide. “But death rates from breast cancer are decreasing in developing countries,” he adds. “Our goal is to increase education to decrease death rates worldwide.”
This year marks yet another special anniversary of scientific excellence for Dr. Masood. The Breast Journal, a multidisciplinary journal for physicians, is celebrating 10 years of publication. Masood is its founder and editor.
The Breast Journal is the first comprehensive, multidisciplinary source devoted exclusively to all facets of research, diagnosis and treatment of breast disease. It encompasses the latest news and technologies from the many medical specialties concerned with breast disease care and addresses the disease within the context of a woman’s total health. The publication is the official journal of the American Society of Breast Disease, the Senologic International Society and the International Society of Breast Pathology.
Whether organizing and overseeing an international multidisciplinary conference, establishing and editing an international journal or developing a plan of care for a patient with a challenging case of breast cancer, Masood has one message: “The more educated we all become about this silent enemy, the better prepared we are to optimize and integrate the multidisciplinary care that all patients deserve. That’s the goal that drives us.”