Great Lakes Division participates in Middle East Cancer Consortium Conference

Drs. Joe Harford and Hoda Anton-Culver

Vicki Rakowski, COO of the Great Lakes Division, represented the American Cancer Society at the Middle East Cancer Consortium (MECC) Conference on Cancer Registration held in Istanbul, Turkey on March 30th, 2007. Conference attendees represented the six MECC member countries: Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Palestinian Authority, and Turkey. Among the distinguished conference participants were Dr. Joe Harford, Director of International Programs at the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Hoda Anton-Culver, Professor and Chief of the Epidemiology Division in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine, and Dr. Michael Silbermann, the Executive Director of MECC. Dr. Anton-Culver and her colleagues presented lectures and training on research methods using cancer registry data. Vicki Rakowski participated in discussions about genetic, environmental and behavioral risk factors specific to the region and appropriate research approaches for exploring these issues. Potential research collaborations between Middle East cancer registries and universities and institutes within the Great Lakes Division region also were discussed.