2024 Sylvester Cancer Survivorship Symposium Recap
The 3rd Annual Sylvester Cancer Survivorship Symposium took place on October 18, 2024 a The Ritz-Carlton, Coconut Grove. More than 300 attendees gathered at the 3rd Annual Sylvester Cancer Survivorship Symposium, to exchange ideas, explore new opportunities and shape the future of survivorship care and research. The event was dedicated to improving the health and quality of life for cancer survivors beyond treatment.
Keynote Speakers
Mary Reid, MSPH, PhD
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
Dr. Reid is a cancer epidemiologist, Distinguished Professor of Oncology, Chief of Cancer Screening and Survivorship, and Director of Collaborative Research at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (RPCCC). She has over 20 years of experience directing cancer screening and surveillance studies on upper aero-digestive cancers, particularly those evaluating the natural history of epithelial premalignant lesions. In 2014, under Dr. Reid’s leadership, RPCCC developed a mixed model comprehensive cancer screening and survivorship clinical and research program, with a central clinic and small satellites. The comprehensive cancer screening program includes lung, breast, cervical, colorectal, and pancreatic cancers and has a general screening clinical service. The survivorship program provides comprehensive patient centered survivorship care, symptom management, referrals to an array of support services and the generation of a detailed care plan for all patients and community providers. Over 4600 patients have been seen in the clinical program since its inception from multiple disease sites. The entire multidisciplinary team of providers places great emphasis on wellness, cancer screening and risk reduction while supporting research that will enhance the evidence base of comprehensive screening and survivorship care.
Bill Brummel
Survivor
Bill Brummel is an award-winning documentary producer/director. He and his films have been recognized with a Peabody Award, two International Documentary Association (IDA) Awards, five national Emmy nominations, and been named to an Oscar shortlist. After having his voice box removed in 2016, Brummel produced and directed “Can You Hear My Voice?”. The film chronicles London’s Shout at Cancer choir, whose singers are also living without voice boxes.
Many of Brummel's previous films have focused on civil rights and human rights issues. Some of Brummel’s other credits include Selma-The Bridge to the Ballot, Erasing Hate, Blood Diamonds (Emmy nomination), Rwanda-Do Scars Ever Fade? (Peabody Award, two Emmy nominations, IDA award), Viva La Causa (Oscar shortlist), Bullied, Inside Pol Pot's Secret Prison (IDA award, two Emmy nominations), Opus Dei Unveiled, Civil Rights Martyrs, Standing Tall at Auschwitz, Child Warriors, The Greensboro Massacre, Inside North Korea, and The Ku Klux Klan: A Secret History.
After finishing the film “Can You Hear My Voice?”, Brummel has become a sought-after speaker on the psychosocial issues of cancer survivorship, especially head & neck cancers. As a 26-year cancer survivor and after 7 years speaking with a voice prosthesis, Brummel tells his cancer story and addresses the stress, isolation, and despair that often accompanies the disease - and he does so with empathy, compassion, film clips (or full screenings), and a little bit of humor.
Brummel has given keynote speeches, conference presentations, and participated in webinars and screening events for cancer support and advocacy organizations, medical universities, hospital groups, and professional clinician organizations. A partial listing of event follows.
Michelle Mollica, Ph.D.
Deputy Director, NCI Office of Cancer Survivorship
Michelle Mollica, PhD, MPH, RN, OCN, serves as deputy director of the NCI Office of Cancer Survivorship and is responsible for developing, supporting, and promoting research efforts focused on improving outcomes for people impacted by cancer. Dr. Mollica also holds a secondary appointment as a program director in the Outcomes Research Branch (ORB) of the Healthcare Delivery Research Program, where she manages a research portfolio of grants focused on cancer survivorship and healthcare delivery across the lifecourse, from childhood through older adulthood.
With an enduring interest in improving care for those impacted by cancer, Michelle focuses her research on the intersection of survivorship and healthcare delivery, including the transition into post-treatment survivorship, models of survivorship care, integration of oncology and primary care providers, and specific survivor populations (e.g., individuals living with advanced and metastatic cancers). Michelle has a background in mixed methods research and community-engaged research, and has experience conducting qualitative research and intervention development in underserved populations. Prior to her position at NCI, Michelle worked clinically as an oncology nurse.
Felicia Knaul, Ph.D.
Director, Institute for UM Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas
Felicia Marie Knaul, BA (International Development, University of Toronto), MA, PhD (Economics, Harvard University), is internationally recognized for her transformative, translational research in global health, health systems, and health economics focused on reducing inequities. Her research has influenced policy and improved the condition of at-risk populations in low- and middle-income countries and especially in Latin America. Her work is focused on access to pain relief and palliative care, cancer and especially breast cancer, violence against women and children, health systems and reform, health financing, women and health, medical employment, poverty and inequity, female labor force participation, and at-risk children and youth. She has held numerous leadership positions in academia, including Director of the Harvard Global Equity Initiative and Associate Professor at the Harvard Medical School. At the University of Miami, she is the Director of the Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas and the Office for Hemispheric and Global Affairs where she leads the Secretariat of the Hemispheric University Consortium, a Professor at the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine with secondary appointments at the School of Nursing and Health Studies, the Miami Herbert Business School and the College of Arts and Sciences, and a Full Member of the Cancer Control Program at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Have Questions?
Please contact SurvivorshipSymposium@miami.edu for any survivorship symposium related questions.
To learn more about our Survivorship Research and Clinical Programs please visit Sylvester's Cancer Survivorship Programs