The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting is right around the corner. And for those interested in the future of cancer care, all eyes are already focused on Chicago. It is here from Friday, May 29 to Tuesday, June 2, that approximately 30,000 oncology professionals from around the world will meet to discuss state-of-the-art treatments, new therapies, and the latest in cancer research. 
The theme for this year’s meeting is Illumination and Innovation: Transforming Data into Learning. And according to ASCO President Peter Paul Yu, MD, FACP, FASCO, the continuous, active process of learning is central to the theme—and the practice of oncology.
“I chose ‘learning’ deliberately, rather than ‘knowledge,’” Dr. Yu said. “Knowledge is a book that sits on a shelf in a library. Learning is how we harness our vastly increasing knowledge base and deliver value to our patients. We have to take our knowledge and apply it to the real world to help all patients with cancer, including the majority of patients who don’t meet the eligibility criteria specified in clinical trials.”
And there is a lot of knowledge that will soon be translated into learning. A record 5,943 abstracts were submitted for this year’s meeting. Within the studies chosen for presentation, several themes have emerged:
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Significant advances in immunotherapy after many years of slow progress
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A focus on quality of life and the value of care
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Discoveries that cross-cut multiple cancer types
You don’t have to be an oncology professional or even attend the meeting to get your hands on the latest news and advances. Cancer.Net has a number of ways for you to stay up-to-date:
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Get daily research highlights direct to your inbox by subscribing to Cancer.Net’s e-newsletter.
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Check back here for daily blog posts that will help put these findings into context and explain what this news means for patients and caregivers.
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Get real-time updates by following Cancer.Net on social media, using the official #ASCO15 hashtag, or following ASCO’s expert tweeters.