‘Emperor of All Maladies’ Author Headlines Cancer Survivorship Conference Sept. 27-28

MD Anderson News Release June 24, 2013

2011 Pulitzer Prize winner to discuss his ‘biography’ of the disease with patients, survivors

MD Anderson News Release 06/24/13

Cancer researcher and oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee, M.D., Ph.D., is fascinated with the human struggle to understand and control the devastating power of cancer.

His 2010 book, “The Emperor of All Maladies,” traces the people, politics and circumstances that have marked hard-won improvements in cancer treatment and research since the early part of the last century.

And, as Mukherjee says in the introduction, the book is also a tale of his “coming of age” as an oncologist.

The “compulsively readable” book was named to Oprah’s Top 10 Books of 2010 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 2011 for general nonfiction.

Mukherjee will headline The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center's 25th annual Anderson Network Cancer Survivorship Conference Sept. 27-28 at the Omni Westside, 13210 Katy Freeway.

The conference is open to all who want to learn more about the issues cancer survivors face, meet and share with other survivors, take wellness classes and have fun.

Thanks to MD Anderson, sponsors and individual donors, the cost of the conference is just $60 for early registrants, which includes all meals, activities and self-parking.

Registration is available online until Monday, Sept. 16. After that, participants may pay $70 at the door on the day of the conference.

Speakers, breakout sessions, medical panel

The conference includes nearly two dozen informative breakout sessions, including:

  • treatment-related cognitive issues,
  • bone health in cancer survivors,
  • fertility in young adult survivors,
  • fatigue and sleep disorders related to treatment, and
  • updates in neuropathy treatment.

The popular medical panel will present an overview of their research and answer questions from the audience. It includes Ronald DePinho, M.D., president of MD Anderson; Jeffrey Gershenwald, M.D., professor in Surgical Oncology; and Michael Keating, M.D., professor in the Leukemia.

Austin-based singer and brain cancer survivor Christine Butterfield will entertain at the banquet on Sept. 27.

Other keynote speakers are Oliver Bogler, Ph.D., and Irene Newsham, Ph.D., married MD Anderson researchers and survivors of breast cancer. Bogler is senior vice president of Academic Affairs and professor in Neurosurgery and Newsham is associate director of research planning and development in Genitourinary Medical Oncology.

For more information or to register, check the conference website or call 713-792-2553 in Houston, 800-345-6324 toll free.

The Anderson Network, an organization with support and educational services for patients/survivors, their families and caregivers, is a program of Volunteer Services at MD Anderson.

06-24-13