Title: The Evolving Epidemiology of Brain Tumor Survivorship
Location: Mainz, Germany
Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (IMBEI)
University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Rhabanusstraße 3 – Turm A, 55118 Mainz, Germany
Dates: 5/15/24 to 5/17/24
Mainz is famous for its university, its Roman heritage, its status as a media hub and state capital, and its three most defining features: the Romanesque cathedral, the Gutenberg printing press and the Rhineland carnival.
For more than 1,000 years, the city’s skyline has been dominated by one building, Mainz Cathedral, one of the most important religious buildings in Germany, for which the foundation stone was laid in around 975 AD. In its shadows lie the Medieval and early modern districts of Mainz. The hustle and bustle centres around the twisting, narrow alleyways and the small shops, boutiques and cafés surrounding the pretty Kirschgarten square with its timber-framed buildings and Marienbrunnen fountain. Rhine-Hesse is the country’s largest wine-growing region and the Weinmarkt is one of the city’s three biggest festivals alongside carnival and St. John’s Night, celebrated in remembrance of Johannes Gutenberg.
Prospectus for the conference: Brain tumors (malignant and benign/non-malignant) affect approximately 25 persons per 100,000 people in the United States annually. It is estimated that there were 1,323,121 people living with a central nervous system tumor as of the end of 2019. The burden of these tumors is particularly large on children, adolescents and young adults where brain tumors are among the top causes of cancer and sources of cancer death. With improvements in treatment for several types of brain tumors, the proportion of this population that are long term survivors is increasing. As a result, the experience and needs of survivors is incrasinly relevant. The Brain Tumor Epidemiology Consortium (BTEC) was initiated in 2003 to facilitate interactions among brain tumor epidemiologists and clinicians. Since that date, BTEC has offered yearly meetings for its participants and created working groups leading to the funding of several consortium projects. To help enhance participation and increase accessibility of the conference to trainees and all participants, we offer a proposal to the NIH for partial funding of the 2024 BTEC conference in Mainz, Germany entitled, “Evolving Epidemiology of Brain Tumor Survivorship.” Our 2024 meeting will focus on brain tumor survivorship across the age spectrum, in addition to our usual topics including improvements in predicting brain tumor risk and survival. The Mainz conference follows the tradition of alternating between a North American and a non-North American site each year.