The Division of Hematology-Oncology at the Department of Internal Medicine and the Naef K. Basile Cancer Institute at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) organized the 18th annual Best of ASCO (BOA) Lebanon, under license from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), in collaboration with the Lebanese Society of Medical Oncology (LSMO) and the Arab Medical Association Against Cancer (AMAAC) in July 2023 at the Halim and Aida Daniel ACC Building at AUBMC. The meeting was help in a hybrid format where speakers and attendees in Lebanon were present in-person while speakers and attendees from outside Lebanon were online. In addition to speakers and chairpersons, there were 56 attendees in person and 145 online from USA, Europe, Arab countries, and of course Lebanon.
BOA Lebanon Planning Committee included Dr. Nagi S. El Saghir, head of the Division of Hematology-Oncology at AUBMC and chair of ASCO meeting; Dr. Reem Abdallah; Dr. Ghassan Abou-Alfa; Dr. Iman Abou Dalle; Dr. Albert El-Hajj; Dr. Hiba Moukadem; and Dr. Arafat Tfayli. Ample discussions were held to allow structured discussions and opportunities for take-home messages and recommendations.
After welcoming remarks from Dr. El Saghir; president of LSMO, Dr. Roger Khater; and president of AMAAC, Dr. Sami Khatib, the meeting started with an Early Breast Cancer session where Dr. David Cameron (University of Edinburgh, Scotland), Dr. Etienne Brain (Institut Curie, Paris), and Dr. Nagi El Saghir (AUBMC) discussed adjuvant targeted therapy and hormonal therapy. At the Advanced Breast Cancer (ABC) session, Dr. Ahmad Awada (Institut Jules Bordet, Brussels) and Dr. Javier Cortes (IBCC, Barcelona & Madrid) discussed optimal use of CDK4/6i and Antibody Drug Conjugates.
Dr. Julio Garcia Aguilar and Dr. Ghassan Abou-Alfa (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer [RA1] Center, New York) discussed advances for patients with rectal cancer by possibly omitting radiation therapy or omitting surgery. Dr. Suresh Ramalingham (Emory, Atlanta) and Dr. Fadlo R. Khuri (AUBMC) discussed adjuvant therapy in lung cancer and immunotherapy in pleural mesothelioma. Dr. Hussein Tawbi (MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston) immunotherapy in melanoma. Dr. Hazem Assi (AUBMC) discussed treatment of patients with recurrent glioma.
On the second day, Dr. Mohamad Mohty (The Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale, Paris) and Dr. Ali Bazarbachi (AUBMC) discussed CAR-T-Cell therapy for patients with multiple myeloma and targeted therapy for Hodgkin's Disease. Dr. Meehan Shahzad (MOFFIT Cancer Center, Florida) discussed new advances in surgery for patients with early-stage cervical cancer. Dr. Toni Choueiri (Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston), Dr. Morgan Roupret (Sorbonne, Paris), Dr. Samer Salah (King Hussein Cancer Center, Amman), and Dr. Bassem Youssef (AUBMC) discussed immunotherapy in kidney cancer, limited surgery in early bladder cancer, and radiation therapy in prostate cancer.
Dr. Maxlilian Hochmair (Floridsdorf Hospital, Vienna), Dr. Marwan Ghosn (Université Saint Joseph, Lebanon), and Dr. Hassan Ghazal (King's College Hospital, Dubai) presented satellite talks on immunotherapy, anti-HER2 therapy, and oral SERDs.
International BOA meetings were started in Japan, Mexico, and Lebanon in 2006 and are being held in 31 countries in 2023. They are very popular by physicians-in-practice as well as physicians-in-training. Attendees learn how to conduct clinical trials and how to interpret and apply results in clinical practice.