Invitation

On behalf of the Scientific and Organizing Committees,we would like to cordially invite you to join us for the 7th International Symposium on VHL and Hereditary Kidney Cancer and Pheochromocytoma.

We have invited speakers with international reputations in the field of VHL. We have support mechanisms to share with patients and their families. We have resources to help focus attention on this disease that robs so many of us of our health and our future. The faculty for this meeting includes many world experts in various aspects of VHL clinical care and the basic science of kidney cancer. We have planned interactive sessions to facilitate discussion and foster collaboration amongst researchers, clinicians and patients affected by these diseases.

This symposium is jointly sponsored by the University of Western Ontario, the Robarts Research Institute and the Canadian von Hippel-Lindau Family Alliance. It is an opportunity for researchers, clinicians and trainees to interact with those who provide care for those living with VHL. It is a two-way street of communication, knowledge and support.

Researchers, medical practitioners, patients and their families will gather at the Four Points Sheraton in London, Ontario, Canada, this coming October to hear about the progress being made on von Hippel-Lindau Disease, a genetic, incurable disease, either commonly misdiagnosed or missed completely in diagnosis. This conference will be about research, awareness, and hope.

The fact that this significant event will be held in London, Ontario, is timely, given recent media attention to the predicted rise in cancer statistics for this region. An increase of 28.5% is predicted by 2015, and not all of that increase can be attributed to earlier diagnosis. Environmental, genetic and lifestyle components factor in greatly. With von Hippel-Lindau, the genetic factor predominates.

Heightened awareness is required for effective treatment of VHL. Early diagnosis means much to someone diagnosed with the defect on the VHL gene. It can mean that people with the defect may make better informed choices. It can mean that blurred vision occurring in a teenager may be something other than eyestrain or an eye condition, and that more thorough investigation may lead to tumours or cysts being discovered elsewhere in the blood-supply-rich parts of the body (spine, kidneys, liver and eyes).

It can mean better quality of life for the duration, thanks to gentler, more effective treatment modalities offered sooner. It can mean that a family physician with heightened awareness of VHL may look more closely and diagnose this disease earlier, when treatment plans can truly work better. Heightened awareness can also mean more research funding for more researchers, more resources for those living with VHL and for those who care for them. It can mean more hope for an eventual cure.

So please, join us for this very important conference and help us “untie the knot” to VHL. Please click here for more information, symposium poster and to register.

With sincere thanks from,

Highlights of the agenda
click for the preliminary agenda

Thursday

• Mechanisms of VHL-dependent tumorigenesis
• HIF-dependent and independent tumour suppressor functions of VHL

Friday

• Nature of VHL Disease and Advances in Treatment Protocols
  • Eye
  • Central Nervous System
  • Pheochromocytoma and Paraganglioma
  • Kidney
  • Reproductive Tract
  • Pancreas
  • Polycythemia
• Consensus Meeting

Saturday

• Living with VHL
• Managing VHL
• Leadership meeting

Click here to register

As printed in the VHL Family Forum 14:2, August/September 2006. For permission to reprint, please contact VHL Family Alliance, editor@vhl.org. Further information is available from the VHL Family Alliance, info@vhl.org.