Each year the NF Conference provides an opportunity for many events and meetings that are ancillary to the Conference itself but a vital part of NF community activities. This includes meetings of Foundation Boards and Committees as well as meetings of research consortia such as our NF Preclinical Consortium and the CDMRP NF Clinical Trials Consortium. On a special note on Thursday June 11, the Oregon Affiliate of the Children’s Tumor Foundation will host an NF Symposium for patients and families at Oregon Health Sciences University. An anticipated 60 attendees will hear Foundation program updates from me, as well as clinical trial and research updates from Dr. Bruce Korf (UAB) and Dr. David Viskochil (University of Utah) (in town for the Conference) as well as local Foundation-funded researcher Dr. Larry Sherman (OHSU). We are delighted to keep a local connection at the Conference by including three local lay presenters to share their stories of living with NF.
Preparations for the NF Conference begin well over a year in advance – from selecting venue to developing the agenda with the chairs, inviting speakers, and securing sponsors. I would like to offer some ‘shout outs’ before the conference gets started. We thank the 2009 NF Conference Chairs Dr. Kathryn North and Dr. Joe Kissil for their significant efforts throughout this year’s planning and for responding to the hundreds of emails that went back and forth between us. We are delighted to recognize the supporters of the 2009 NF Conference: the National Institutes of Health, Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, the Biotechnology Industry Organization and PTC Therapeutics. In addition we thank the New York University office of Continuing Medical Education for their patience and guidance in facilitating CME accreditation for the 2009 NF Conference for the first time.
