Throughout the Soviet era, most physicians in the USSR did not have access to international scientific literature or to information about medical advances developed outside of Russia. The proposed conference will help to bridge this gap. It will bring together American and Russian leaders in breast cancer and provide an opportunity for mutual information exchange. It will open doors to continued collaboration and information exchange between Russian and American breast cancer researchers and clinicians. It will introduce pharmaceutical and other companies to a market eager to learn about and purchase pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, and to a city ready to convert its former military manufacturing facilities and expertise to peaceful work. Saratov is a provincial capital of one million people situated 450 miles southeast of Moscow on the Volga River. Saratov is the ideal site for this conference by virtue of its medical center, its location and characteristics of the city itself The five-year Medical School, established in 1909, was one of the first in Russia. Saratov Medical University now has 5,000 medical students and 800 professors in 79 departments and laboratories. It has 2,400 beds in five teaching hospitals (surgery, neurology, ophthalmology, dermato-venerology, and children), plus additional departments in other local and regional hospitals. There are more than 7,000 surgical admissions annually with an average stay of 21 days, 2,100 internal medicine admissions averaging 19.9 days, and approximately 675,000 outpatient visits. This conference will be the first breast cancer meeting in Russia and the first major medical conference outside of Moscow in many years. The importance placed upon it by medical leaders in Russia is evident in the membership of the Conference Chairmen and Committee, whose members include the Directors of the National Cancer Institutes of Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kiev, four Academicians of the Russian Academy of Medicine and senior leaders in oncology in Russia. The Director of Cancer Treatment at the U.S. National Cancer Institute is a Committee member and speaker. Ten speakers--leaders in breast cancer epidemiology, etiology, diagnosis and treatment--comprise the U.S. faculty for this conference. Senior oncologists from the former USSR will moderate each half-day session. At least 150-200 medical leaders and practicing oncologists in Russia are expected to attend, as are oncologists from the United States. In addition to talks and discussion periods, medical exhibits and opportunities for informal interaction will be provided.
