VICC hosts public forum on hereditary cancer

Anyone with interest or concern about inherited risk of breast, colon or ovarian cancer is invited to "Hereditary Cancer: A Public Forum," a free community event offered by the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.

The public forum held from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18, will be followed on Saturday, Jan 19, by a daylong conference on Hereditary Cancer designed for medical professionals. Both events will be in the 8th floor Conference Center of the Frances Williams Preston Building, at the corner of 23rd and Pierce avenues.

Special guests at the public forum will be Dr. Judy E. Garber, director of the Cancer Risk and Prevention Program at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and Dr. Mark E. Robson, clinical director of the Clinical Genetics Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Amy Marsalis, co-anchor and medical reporter for NewsChannel 5, will host the event.

Participants will have the opportunity to discuss concerns and ask questions of these experts as well as of Susan Caro and Jennifer Moore, both of the VICC Family Cancer Risk Service.

The public forum is supported by a grant from the Greater Nashville Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Garber and Robson will also be speakers at the conference on Saturday, which is offered through the Vanderbilt Division of Continuing Medical Education. In addition to Caro and Moore, speakers will include Vanderbilt faculty members Drs. Alfred L. George Jr., Roy A. Jensen, Mark C. Kelley, Kay Washington, William M. Grady, Raymond N. DuBois and Ellen Wright Clayton.

For more information about the public forum, call 936-5855. For more information about the conference for medical professionals, call 322-4030.

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