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Cancer Clinical trials Medicine

The definition of a big meeting

As I mentioned a few days ago, I was at the ASCO Meeting over the weekend, arriving home Tuesday evening. ASCO has to be, as far as I can tell, the largest cancer meeting in the world. How big? 30,000 or so attendees big. Hundreds of sessions and talks big. Filling most of McCormick Center in Chicago big. Filling most hotel rooms in the city of Chicago big. Or, as these photos show, this big:

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And, to reflect the hugeness of the meeting, the exhibit hall is enormous:

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As is the hugeness of many of the drug company displays…

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Although I couldn’t really take pictures of it (too dark in general), the main plenary session lecture halls were on a similar monumental scale–the size of airplane hangars. Given the size of the meeting, it’s really hard to wrap my mind around the program, or even to see all the talks that might be of interest to me.

Next up (although maybe not until Monday, given that tomorrow is Friday, which is reserved for one thing and one thing only on this blog): The swag! Trust me, it was almost as impressive as the plenary session halls and exhibit hall.

By Orac

Orac is the nom de blog of a humble surgeon/scientist who has an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his copious verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few probably will. That surgeon is otherwise known as David Gorski.

That this particular surgeon has chosen his nom de blog based on a rather cranky and arrogant computer shaped like a clear box of blinking lights that he originally encountered when he became a fan of a 35 year old British SF television show whose special effects were renowned for their BBC/Doctor Who-style low budget look, but whose stories nonetheless resulted in some of the best, most innovative science fiction ever televised, should tell you nearly all that you need to know about Orac. (That, and the length of the preceding sentence.)

DISCLAIMER:: The various written meanderings here are the opinions of Orac and Orac alone, written on his own time. They should never be construed as representing the opinions of any other person or entity, especially Orac's cancer center, department of surgery, medical school, or university. Also note that Orac is nonpartisan; he is more than willing to criticize the statements of anyone, regardless of of political leanings, if that anyone advocates pseudoscience or quackery. Finally, medical commentary is not to be construed in any way as medical advice.

To contact Orac: [email protected]

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