The Basser Center for BRCA sponsors an annual scientific symposium, "BRCA1, BRCA2 and Beyond: An Update on Hereditary Cancer," which began in 2013 and is held every spring at the University of Pennsylvania. The symposium features BRCA experts from around the world and covers recent advances and future directions in BRCA research and clinical management of carriers. A highlight of the symposium is the Basser Global Prize presentation and keynote lecture by the awardee.
Previous Symposium Topics and Keynotes
May 13-14, 2024
The 2024 Scientific Symposium was held on Monday, May 13 and Tuesday, May 14, 2024 at the University of Pennsylvania, honoring Keynote speaker and Basser Global Prize awardee Kenneth Offit, MD, MPH from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). View the conference agenda. Coming soon: Dr. Offit's keynote presentation.
May 8-9, 2023
The 2023 Scientific Symposium was held on Monday, May 8 and Tuesday, May 9, 2023 at the University of Pennsylvania, honoring Keynote speaker and Basser Global Prize awardee Fergus J. Couch, PhD, from Mayo Clinic. View the conference agenda here. View Dr. Couch's keynote presentation below.
May 10-11, 2022
The 2022 Scientific Symposium was held on Tuesday, May 10 and Wednesday, May 11, 2022 at the University of Pennsylvania, honoring Keynote speaker and Basser Global Prize awardee Andre Nussenzweig, PhD, from the National Cancer Institute. View the conference agenda and the prize presentation below.
May 11-12, 2021
The 2021 Symposium was held on Tuesday, May 11 and Wednesday, May 12, honoring Keynote speaker and Basser Global Prize awardee Bella Kaufman, MD, of Sheba Medical Center in Tel HaShomer, Israel. View the conference agenda and prize presentation below.
The Basser Scientific Symposium is not typically archived and shared publicly because many talks contain as yet unpublished research, but for the 2021 virtual symposium, the following scientists have allowed us to share their presentations.
Bryson Katona, MD, PhD -- "Managing variable cancer penetrance in CDH1 carriers - Just follow your gut?"
Kathleen Moore, MD, MS -- "Changing paradigms for the treatment of ovarian cancer"
Kim Reiss Binder, MD -- "Better life on the horizon: Progress for patients with DNA damage repair deficient pancreatic cancer"
Ralph Scully, MBBS, PhD -- "Interactions between FANCM and BRCA1 at stalled replication forks"
September 9, 2020
The 2020 Symposium was held on Wednesday, September 9 featuring Keynote speaker and Basser Global Prize awardees Douglas Easton, PhD, and Antonis Antoniou, PhD, from the University of Cambridge. View the conference agenda and prize presentation below.
May 7-8, 2019
The 2019 Symposium was held on Tuesday, May 7 and Wednesday, May 8, 2019 at the University of Pennsylvania featuring Keynote speaker and Basser Global Prize awardee Maria Jasin, PhD, from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. View the Facebook album, conference agenda, and prize presentation.
May 22-23, 2018
Our annual scientific symposium was held on Tuesday, May 22 and Wednesday, May 23, 2018 at the University of Pennsylvania featuring Keynote speaker and Basser Global Prize awardee Professor Ashok Venkitaraman, MBSS, PhD from the University of Cambridge. View the Facebook album, conference agenda, and prize presentation.
May 4-5, 2017
The 2017 symposium featured keynote speaker, Basser Global Prize awardee, and cancer geneticist Steven Narod, MD, FRCPC, PhD (hon), FRSC, director of the Familial Breast Cancer Research Unit and a senior scientist at the Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. View the Facebook album and conference agenda.
May 24-25, 2016
The 2016 symposium featured keynote speaker and Basser Global Prize winner David Livingston, MD from Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. View the Facebook album, conference agenda, and Breakthroughs & Discoveries panel.
May 11-12, 2015
The 2015 symposium’s featured keynote speaker and Basser Global Prize winner was human genetics expert Dr. Mary-Claire King, PhD, American Cancer Society Research Professor of Genetics and Medicine at the University of Washington. Dr. King has been a pioneer in the development of experimental and bioinformatics genomics tools to study common, complex human diseases and health conditions. View the Facebook album and conference agenda.
May 6-7, 2014
The 2014 symposium’s featured keynote speaker and Basser Global Prize winner was cancer biology and genetics expert Professor Alan Ashworth, FRS, Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Cancer Research in London and leader of the Gene Function team in the ICR’s Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre. Ashworth has been a pioneer in efforts to develop therapies to target cancer cells that contain BRCA1/2 mutations. View the Facebook album, conference agenda, video recaps and conference news online.
April 16, 2013
The inaugural Basser Scientific Symposium featured Penn faculty, such as Basser’s Executive Director, Dr. Susan Domchek, MD; Associate Professor of the Perelman School of Medicine, Dr. Roger Greenberg, MD, PhD; Director of the Cellular Therapy Tissue Facility of the Abramson Cancer Center, Dr. Daniel Powell, PhD; and more. Guest speakers included Jorge Reis-Filho, MD, PhD, a surgical pathologist from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Michael Goggins, MD, professor of pathology at Johns Hopkins University, and Mark Robson, MD, Clinic Director of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s Clinical Genetics Service. View the conference agenda online.