(June 2, 2008) More than 50 people involved in cancer research and patient care participated in the Masonic Cancer Center's third annual Population Sciences Retreat May 28 to discuss the center's Cancer Outcomes and Survivorship (COS) Program.

K. Scott Baker, M.D., and Beth Virnig, Ph.D., co-leaders of the COS Program, introduced the all-day retreat with an overview of the new program and its goals. Baker noted that in 2004 there were 11 million cancer survivors in the United States. Sixty percent of cancer patients are expected to live beyond five years, he said, and the incidence of chronic health conditions among adult survivors is increasing. This underscores the need for research that focuses on treatment outcomes and addresses survivorship issues.

The retreat was held at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska. Attendees included members of the cancer center's Prevention and Etiology Research Program and medical practitioners from various departments at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview; Children's Hospitals and Clinic; and Park Nicollet Institute.

The retreat speakers included:

• Debra Friedman, M.D., pediatric oncologist and director of the Survivorship Program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, spoke on "Methods of Clinically Based Survivorship Research";
• Cathy Bradley, Ph.D., economist and leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the Massey Cancer Center, Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, presented "Cancer Survivors and Return to Workforce";
• Todd Tuttle, M.D., M.P.H., Department of Surgery, discussed "Cancer Treatment Guidelines—Do They Improve Cancer Care";
• Karen Kuntz, Sc.D., professor of Health Policy and Management, spoke on "Using Decision-Analytic Methods to Evaluate Survivorship Issues"; and
• Dorothy Hatsukami, Ph.D., co-leader of the Prevention and Etiology Research Program, presented "Proposal for a Risk Reduction Clinic."

The retreat culminated in a discussion on "Outcomes and Survivorship Research: Where do we go from here," moderated by Beth Virnig, Ph.D.