2024 Robert Steel Symposium in Developmental Oncology

This Symposium brings together outstanding scientists from across the country to discuss the latest discoveries into the molecular mechanisms of cancers in children and young adults and the development of new approaches for their definitive therapy and control. The program will provide a unique opportunity to discuss genetic and epigenetic regulation of developmental processes, the molecular characterization of childhood cancers, and the identification of novel therapeutic strategies.

There are many unanswered questions that need to be addressed for childhood and young adult cancers:

• What causes cancer in children and young adults without inheritance of cancer-predisposing mutations or exposure to environmental mutagens?
• How do predisposing alleles and exposures contribute to cancer development?
• What developmental processes are dysregulated to cause mutations and cell transformation in otherwise healthy tissues?
• How do mutations in developmental pathways involving transcription factors and epigenetic signaling cause cancer?
• How do we design effective therapeutics to block, activate, and modulate protein interactions that control transcription factors and other developmental regulators?
• How do we identify targets for immune therapy in developmental tumors that have relatively few mutations?

This two-day live, in-person Symposium provides an intimate and exciting setting to share new advances for these questions. It will also allow an opportunity for established and young investigators to discuss new questions and interdisciplinary approaches of relevance to young-onset cancer biology.

Target Audience

The target audience for this Symposium includes scientists, physicians, APPs, nurses, and other healthcare providers interested in learning the latest advances in our understanding of the biology and therapy of childhood cancers. We invite students and trainees to attend this Symposium on a complimentary basis as well as registrants that reside and practice in low and lower-middle income countries.

Please note that this Symposium is set to be an exclusively in-person event at Memorial Sloan Kettering's Zuckerman Research Center (417 East 68th Street). A virtual option is not available.

Networking Reception and Dinner

We invite attendees to join us for a complimentary networking reception and dinner Upstairs at The Kimberly Hotel (145 East 50th Street) from 6:00-9:00 pm on Monday, April 29. To secure your spot at this complimentary event, please RSVP during the registration process. An RSVP is required in order to attend the networking reception and dinner at The Kimberly.

1. Explain biologic and developmental causes of childhood cancers.
2. Review recently developed therapies for patients with childhood and young-onset cancers.
3. Discuss new biologic questions in order to accelerate the development of definitive therapies for patients.

Registration Fees

• Physicians (MDs, PhDs, and DOs): $225
• Other Healthcare Providers: $40 (non-refundable)
• Employees of Pharma and Medical Devices*: $350
• Students, Trainees, and Registrants in Low-and Lower-Middle-Income Countries: Complimentary
• MSK Employees: Complimentary

*Employees who are currently employed by a Pharmaceutical and Medical Device company may attend MSK CME activities for their own education. Marketing, sales, and promotion of products and services is strictly prohibited at MSK CME activities. For more information, please visit our Help page.

Registration Discounts & Promotions

• We are pleased to offer complimentary registration for students and trainees, and registrants residing in low and lower-middle income countries as defined by The World Bank. If you qualify for complimentary registration, please submit a request here for a complimentary promotion code to use at registration. 
• A registration discount is available for MSK Alumni and MSK Cancer Alliance members to attend this program. If you are a member of one of these groups, please submit your request here for a promotion code to use at registration.
• Registration is complimentary for all MSK employees; however, you must complete registration through the 'Register' tab above in order to attend this course. If you are registered for this course and are unable to attend, please notify cme@mskcc.org.

Please note that after your payment has been processed, no further promotional discounts or adjustments will be made to your registration.

Cancellation Policy

If you wish to cancel your participation in this Symposium, you must email cme@mskcc.org at least seven (7) days prior to the start of the Symposium, and your refund will be subject to a $25 administrative fee if attending virtually or a $100 administrative fee if attending in-person. Cancellations or no-shows within seven (7) days of the Symposium are not eligible for a refund. Please note that if it has been more than 120 days since payment was processed, a W9 form must be submitted in order process your refund and your refund will be issued in the form of a check payment. Refunds are not subject to tax. You may substitute another registrant in your place at any time by contacting cme@mskcc.org with the appropriate information.

MSK CME reserves the right to cancel or postpone any Symposium due to unforeseen circumstances. In the unlikely event we must cancel or postpone this Symposium, you will be notified via email from MSK CME (cme@mskcc.org). A full refund will be issued for your registration. MSK CME is not responsible for any related costs, charges, or expenses to participants, including fees incurred by airline/travel/lodging agencies. 

Please note the fee for ‘Other Healthcare Providers’ is non-refundable.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

AMA Credit Designation Statement

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center designates this live activity for a maximum of 10.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

ABP MOC Recognition Statement

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the learner to earn up to 10.25 MOC points in the American Board of Pediatrics’ (ABP) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. It is the CME activity provider’s responsibility to submit learner completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABP MOC credit.

Hotel Accommodations

We look forward to welcoming you to Memorial Sloan Kettering for this program. If you’ll be traveling to New York City from out of town, we recommend that you plan your overnight stays as soon as possible. To make the planning a little easier, Memorial Sloan Kettering has negotiated special rates and amenities at select hotels in Manhattan. To view the list of select hotels and additional details on each, please visit: msk.org/accommodations

Parking Information

Street parking in Manhattan is extremely limited, so you may find it more convenient to park in Memorial Sloan Kettering’s garage or in a commercial garage. For a list of parking resources around MSK, click here. Please note that MSK CME does not offer parking validation for course attendees.

Symposium Organizers

Alex Kentsis, MD, PhD
Associate Member
Molecular Pharmacology Program
Director, Tow Center for Developmental Oncology
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Andrew Kung, MD, PhD
Chair, Department of Pediatrics
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Agata Smogorzewska, MD, PhD
Professor
The Rockefeller University

Symposium Peer Reviewer 

Makiko Yamada, MD, PhD
Senior Research Scientist
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Symposium Speakers 

Sheila Alcantara Llaguno, MD, PhD
Senior Research Scientist, Cancer Biology & Genetics Program and Brain Tumor Center
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, NY, USA

James Amatruda, MD, PhD
Interim Chief and Interim Director, Cancer and Blood Disease Institute 
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA, USA

Alva Annett, MSc
PhD. Student, Department of Human Genetics
McGill University
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Bradley Bernstein, MD, PhD
Chair of Cancer Biology
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Boston, MA, USA

Christopher Booth, PhD
Research Fellow
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Boston, MA, USA

Ylenia Cendon Florez, PhD
Research Scholar, Department of Cancer Biology and Genetics
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, NY, USA

Tal Cohen, MD
Clinical Fellow, Department of Pediatrics
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, NY, USA

Gerald Crabtree, MD
David Korn Professor
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford, CA, USA

Myron K. Evans II, PhD
Assistant Professor, Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research
Seattle Children’s Research Institute
Seattle, WA, USA

Yuan Gao, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA

Emily B. Heikamp, MD, PhD, MSc
Instructor in Pediatric Oncology and Stem Cell Transplant
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Boston Children’s Hospital Cancer and Blood Disorders Center 
Boston, MA, USA

Enrico Moiso, PhD, MSc
Senior Computational Biologist, Computational Oncology
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, NY, USA

Thomas R. W. Oliver, MD
Paediatric and Perinatal Pathology Specialty Registrar
Department of Histopathology and Cytology
Addenbrooke’s Hospital
Cambridge, UK

KJ Patel, FRS, FMedSci
Director of the Weatherall Institute for Molecular Medicine
University of Oxford
Oxford, UK

Siobhan S. Pattwell, PhD
Assistant Professor, Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research
Seattle Children’s Research Institute 
Seattle, WA, USA

Stephen Roberts, MD
Professor of Pediatrics
Robert C. Neerhout Chair of Pediatric Oncology
Oregon Health and Science University
Portland, OR, USA

Michael Taylor, MD, PhD
Director of the Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Research Program
Texas Children’s Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX, USA

Jeffrey Tyner, PhD
Professor, Cell, Developmental and Cancer Biology
Co-Lead, Translational Oncology Program
OHSU Knight Cancer Institute
Portland, OR, USA

Masahiro Uni, MD, PhD
Senior Research Scientist, Molecular Pharmacology Program
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, NY, USA

Elvin Wagenblast, PhD
Assistant Professor
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
New York, NY, USA

Liling Wan, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Cancer Biology
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA, USA

Nina Weichert-Leahey, MD
Instructor
Harvard Medical School, Dana-Farbar Cancer Institute
Boston, MA, USA

Mitigation of Relevant Financial Relationships

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center adheres to the ACCME’s Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education. Any individuals in a position to control the content of a CE activity, including faculty, planners, reviewers, or others are required to disclose all financial relationships with ineligible companies (commercial interests). All relevant financial relationships have been mitigated prior to the commencement of the activity.