ASTRO Keynote Addresses

Better Than Band-Aids: America Needs Comprehensive Health Care Reform 

Victor R. Fuchs, M.A., Ph.D.

Henry J. Kaiser Jr. Professor Emeritus

Stanford University

In response to an ailing health care system, Americans are being offered a wide variety of remedies. Some promise to reduce the number of uninsured; some are aimed at controlling costs; and others seek improvements in the quality of care. Some proposed reforms are “incremental”; others are “comprehensive”. After a brief review of symptoms and diagnoses, I will critique several reform proposals and then present the plan I think will be most effective–universal healthcare vouchers.

Integration of Molecular Diagnostic Approaches in Cancer from Bench to Bedside 

David Sidransky, M.D.

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Clonal genetic alterations including gene mutations, epigenetic alterations, or mitochondrial changes are a hallmark of human cancer. These genetic alterations can be detected in clinical samples using DNA amplification techniques and used to estimate tumor burden and for the early detection of cancer. Moreover, these alterations can be tested by molecular techniques in clinical trials materials to provide better estimates of prognosis and prediction of therapy. Individualized models can also help integrate such markers and help define new combinations of novel and standard drugs. Biomarkers of sensitivity and resistance will emerge from these studies and will help guide personalized therapy with more success and less toxicity.