Cancer education plays a key role in the nation's war on cancer suffering and death. For 60 years, the American Association for Cancer Education (AACE) has brought together an interdisciplinary membership from the world's academic medical centers who are responsible for developing, implementing and evaluating cancer education. Many of their innovative ideas have been published in the AACEs Journal of Cancer Education and other leading medical and educational journals. ? ? The 2006 Annual Meeting (the 40th) will be held in San Diego in October 2006, with the next two years scheduled for Birmingham, Alabama (the 41st in 2007), and New York City (the 42nd in 2008). Cancer educators come together to share the results of their educational research, learn new education and research strategies, and keep abreast of developments in the field. ? ? Each annual meeting is developed based upon the expressed needs of the membership of the AACE, both from their evaluation of the past meeting and in response to surveys identifying the 'most important' aspects of the meeting that would meet the needs of the members. Based on these evaluations, the overall goals of the 2006 meeting are for cancer educators to: ? ? Learn about innovative interventions and methods to successfully educate cancer care professionals, patients/families and the public in the areas of: Cancer Research - Basic, behavioral and clinical; Cancer Prevention - Risk factor reduction (such as smoking), screening, and nutrition; Cancer Treatment - Chemotherapeutic, immunological, radiological, and surgical; Supportive Cancer Care - Communication skills, growth factors and antiemetics, access to care and services, including literacy ; Palliative Cancer Care - Pain and symptom control; Survivorship. ? ? Develop new skills in the design, development, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of cancer education programs ? Identify federal and non-federal sources of support for education programs ? Renew a sense of professional enthusiasm for the field ? ? ? ?
