Newswise — Fairfax, Va., September 10, 2014—The American Society for Radiation Oncology’s (ASTRO’s) 56th Annual Meeting, to be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, September 14-17, 2014, is the nation’s premier scientific meeting in radiation oncology, and the results of 2,874 radiation oncology-specific research studies and clinical trials conducted around the world will be presented at the four-day meeting. The 2014 Annual Meeting is expected to attract more than 11,000 oncologists from all disciplines and members of the entire radiation oncology care team from the U.S. and internationally.

ASTRO will present five News Briefings and a Meet-The-Expert session live, on-site and online to highlight the 18 most innovative clinical trials and studies of the 56th Annual Meeting.

What: Five live, webcast News Briefings and one Meet-The-Expert presentation from ASTRO’s 56th Annual Meeting at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Downloadable news photos, audio recordings and slides will be available online at the end of each day: www.astro.org/AMpress

When: Sunday, September 14 – Wednesday, September 17, 2014

2014 News Briefing Schedule:Sunday, September 14 at 2:45 p.m. Pacific time “ASTRO 2014: Hot Topics” Bruce G. Haffty, MD, FASTRO, ASTRO president and chair of the 2014 Annual Meeting Steering CommitteeHow: https://astro.adobeconnect.com/pressbrief1

Monday, September 15 at 8:15 a.m. Pacific time“Developments in Prostate Cancer” Moderated by Colleen A.F. Lawton, MD, FASTRO How: https://astro.adobeconnect.com/pressbrief2

Monday, September 15 at 11:00 a.m. Pacific time“Palliative Care, Quality of Life and Patient-reported Outcomes” Moderated by Tracy A. Balboni, MD, MPHHow: https://astro.adobeconnect.com/pressbrief3

Tuesday, September 16 at 7:00 a.m. Pacific time“Advances in Lung Cancer” Moderated by Benjamin Movsas, MD, FASTROHow: https://astro.adobeconnect.com/pressbrief4

Tuesday, September 16 at 2:00 p.m. Pacific time“Novel Approaches and Combination Therapies”Moderated by Theodore DeWeese, MDHow: https://astro.adobeconnect.com/pressbrief5

Wednesday, September 17 at 7:00 a.m. Pacific time“Meet-The-Expert: Technology and Biology: The Next Generation of Progress” Moderated by Laura Dawson, MDHow: https://astro.adobeconnect.com/pressbrief6

Led by ASTRO President Bruce G. Haffty, MD, FASTRO, a radiation oncologist specializing in breast cancer, the theme of the 2014 Meeting is “Targeting Cancer: Technology and Biology,” and the Presidential Symposium, “Local-regional Management of Breast Cancer: A Changing Paradigm,” will feature Jay R. Harris, MD, FASTRO, and Thomas A. Buchholz, MD, FASTRO, to highlight recent practice-changing, landmark studies and current developments in the local-regional management of breast cancer. ASTRO’s four-day scientific meeting includes presentation of four plenary papers, 360 oral presentations, 1,862 posters and 144 digital posters in more than 50 educational sessions and scientific panels for 20 disease-site tracks. Three keynote speakers will address a range of topics including oncologic imaging, biology and targeting in oncology, and human error and safety concerns: Hedvig Hricak, MD, PhD, Chair of the Department of Radiology and the Carroll and Milton Petrie Chair at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Frank McCormick, PhD, FRS, DSc (hon), Professor Emeritus and the David A. Wood Distinguished Professor of Tumor Biology and Cancer Research of the University of California at San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Sidney Dekker, PhD, MA, MSc, Professor and Director of the Safety Science Innovation Lab at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.

ABOUT ASTROASTRO is the premier radiation oncology society in the world, with more than 10,000 members who are physicians, nurses, biologists, physicists, radiation therapists, dosimetrists and other health care professionals that specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. As the leading organization in radiation oncology, the Society is dedicated to improving patient care through professional education and training, support for clinical practice and health policy standards, advancement of science and research, and advocacy. ASTRO publishes two medical journals, International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics (www.redjournal.org) and Practical Radiation Oncology (www.practicalradonc.org); developed and maintains an extensive patient website, www.rtanswers.org; and created the Radiation Oncology Institute (www.roinstitute.org), a non-profit foundation to support research and education efforts around the world that enhance and confirm the critical role of radiation therapy in improving cancer treatment. To learn more about ASTRO, visit www.astro.org.

###