SARS takes toll on cancer research meeting

Philadelphia, PA April 3, 2003 The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has cancelled its annual meeting, which was scheduled to take place in Toronto on April 5-9.

In a memo to members, the AACR’s CEO, Margaret Foti, PhD, said that the organization decided to cancel the event as a result of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak. She noted that they want to minimize the risk of spreading SARS, especially for those whose immune system is already compromised from their fight with cancer.

More than 12,000 cancer researchers conducting the world’s most important basic, translational, clinical, and epidemiological studies were pre-registered to attend this meeting, and 16,000 attendees were expected in Toronto.

The association says that information about refunds can be found in coming days on the association’s website at www.aacr.org.