Meeting HighlightsThe 4th Marie Skłodowska-Curie Symposium on cancer research and care: Mechanisms of support for regional & international collaborations

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Symposia on Cancer Research and Care (MSCS-CRC) promote collaborations between cancer researchers and care providers in the United States, Canada and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) to accelerate the development of new cancer therapies, new strategies for early detection and prevention, and improve cancer care and the quality of life for patients and their families. The 4th MSCS-CRC (September 25-27, 2024, Buffalo, New York) brought together 147 participants from the US, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Ukraine, and involved representatives of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Cancer Institute (NCI) and their counterparts from Poland, Ukraine Lithuania and other CEECs. They were accompanied by New York State (NYS) and local representatives of the NYS Empire State Development, and of the Translational Research Consortium of Cancer Centers (TRCCC), involving 13 cancer centers from the Northeastern US and Canada, as well as several Pharma and Biotech companies. The 4th Meeting focused on prevention and early detection of smoking- and HPV-related cancers, reducing disparities in cancer detection-, care and outcomes, and increasing the feasibility and reducing costs of high-end treatments, such as cell therapies for patients with advanced cancers. The second focus area were the available sources of funding of regional and international collaborations in these areas. The relevance of the successful model TRCC to promoting the oncology training and research collaborations in the CEE Countries was discussed. The 5th MSCR-CRC meeting will take place September 3-5, 2025, in Warsaw, Poland.