Harvard Breast Cancer New Horizons, Current Controversies 2025

• Include:  videos +  pdf, size:  GB
• Target Audience: surgical, and radiation oncologists, breast surgeons
• Sample video: contact me for sample video
• Information:

Breast Cancer: New Horizons, Current Controversies is a comprehensive educational curriculum that encompasses the full range of breast cancer care. Topics include mechanisms of disease, improvements in diagnostic methods, treatment innovations, and management of breast cancer survivors. The primary goal of the course is to improve the knowledge, competence, and clinical skills of health care professionals who specialize in oncology. As such, the curriculum is well suited for medical, surgical, and radiation oncologists; breast and general surgeons; internists; physician assistants; nurse practitioners; oncology nurses; and other clinicians involved in the care of breast cancer patients.

This year, we will be again offering an in-person program as well as a livestream for those who still do not feel comfortable traveling to Boston. Continuing with the livestream allows participants to engage with our faculty from the convenience of their own community, be it in Boston or across the globe. This hybrid format worked very well last year and is appropriate given both the range of potential attendees and persistent uncertainty over travel and large group gatherings.

The timing of the course for summer 2025 is particularly fortuitous owing to the extraordinary progress happening in breast cancer. In the last two years, we have seen transformative breakthroughs in all types of breast cancer treatment:

FDA approval of novel antibody-drug conjugates for the treatment of advanced hormone receptor-positive, HER2-positive, and triple-negative breast cancer, with new data showing benefit of these agents in tumor types beyond their initial application.

FDA approval of the AKT pathway inhibitor capivasertib in combination with fulvestrant for patients with hormone receptor-positive, PIK3CA/AKT/PTEN-mutant metastatic breast cancer and reported phase III data of another agent in this class (inavolisib).

FDA approval of the CDK4/6 inhibitor abemaciclib in high-risk, early-stage hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, and mature data showing compelling benefits including overall survival for this class of drugs in advanced breast cancer, as well as preliminary reports of a second agent in this class (ribociclib) with adjuvant efficacy.

FDA approval of a novel antibody-drug conjugate for patients with a HER2-low metastatic breast cancer.

Learning Objectives

Apply knowledge of recent clinical data together with current expert recommendations to patient selection for new and emerging therapies for advanced breast cancer.

Select appropriate risk assessment modalities, where applicable, and make evidence-based therapeutic selections for women who are candidates for neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapy and know the limitations of genomic testing.

Apply recent clinical data and expert recommendations to the management of women with breast cancer who are treated with mastectomy, including integration of surgical methods, breast reconstruction options, and post-mastectomy radiation if needed.

Assess current practices regarding symptom management during active treatment and in survivorship and consider the needs for fertility and lifestyle counseling among patients with breast cancer and survivors and improve current practices if needed.

Evaluate the genetic and personal risk factors of breast cancer and utilize appropriate genetic testing for hereditary breast cancer.

Participant Types

Nurse Practitioners, Primary Care Physicians, Physician Assistants, Nurses, Pharmacists, and Specialty Physicians

• Topics:

Theme: Advances in Radiation Therapy, Pathology, and Breast Cancer Management

Welcoming Remarks

Speaker: Harold Burstein

Session I: Radiation Oncology

Time

Session Title

Speaker(s)

50 Years of Radiation Therapy

Abram Recht

Standard Radiation Therapy: The Long and the Short

Julia Wong

The Future of Breast Radiation Therapy

Atif Khan

Radiopharmaceuticals

Heather Jacene

Q&A

Abram Recht, Atif Khan, Julia Wong, Heather Jacene

Session II: Pathology

Time

Session Title

Speaker(s)

Lobular Breast Cancer

Stuart Schnitt

ctDNA: The Evolving Role for Molecular Diagnostics

Stefania Morganti

Q&A

Stuart Schnitt, Stefania Morganti

Special Lecture

Speaker(s): Sydney Smith & Julie Bosworth

Topic: What’s New in Supportive Care: Management of Gastrointestinal Side Effects

Time

Session Title

Speaker(s)

Essentials of Germline Genetics

Judy Garber

Q&A

Julie Bosworth, Sydney Smith, Judy Garber

Schwartz Rounds: A Complex Case

Speaker: Ann Partridge

Tumor Board: Early Breast Cancer

Time

Speaker(s)

Harold Burstein, Faina Nakhlis, Julia Wong, Brittany Bychkovsky, Adrienne Waks, Filipa Lynce, Elizabeth Mittendorf

Session III: HER2 Positive Breast Cancer

Time

Session Title

Speaker(s)

New Approaches in Early Stage HER2 Positive Breast Cancer

Adrienne Waks

The Progress Continues: Late Stage HER2 Positive Breast Cancer

Sarah Sammons

Can We Cure Metastatic Breast Cancer?

Nancy Lin

Q&A

Sara Tolaney, Sarah Sammons, Nancy Lin, Adrienne Waks

Special Lecture

Speaker(s): Erica Warner, Filipa Lynce, Antonio Giordano, Jennifer Ligibel

Time

Session Title

Speaker(s)

Racial Differences in Breast Cancer Survival Between Black and White Women According to Tumor Subtype

Erica Warner

Inflammatory Breast Cancer

Filipa Lynce

Early Drug Discovery in Breast Cancer

Antonio Giordano

Lifestyle/Diet/Exercise in Breast Cancer Patients

Jennifer Ligibel

Reception

Theme: Surgical Interventions and Advanced Breast Cancer Treatment

Session IV: Surgery

Time

Session Title

Speaker(s)

Oncoplastic Reconstruction: Common Indications and Outcomes

Indranil Sinha

The Axilla After Neoadjuvant Therapy: How Much Is Too Much?

Elizabeth Mittendorf

Implications of the SOUND Trial

Olga Kantor

Cryoblation Instead of Surgery

Francys Verdial

Q&A

Barbara Smith, Indranil Sinha, Olga Kantor, Francys Verdial, Elizabeth Mittendorf

Schlager Lecture: Immunotherapy in Early Breast Cancer: Today and Tomorrow

Speaker: Marleen Kok

Session V: Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC)

Time

Session Title

Speaker(s)

Small TNBCs: How Small Is Small Enough?

Steven Isakoff

Antibody Drug Conjugates in TNBC and Refractory ER Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer

Ana Garrido-Castro

Immunotherapy in TNBC

Guilherme Nader Marta

Managing Endocrine Side Effects of Immunotherapy

Elad Sharon

Q&A

Steven Isakoff, Ana Garrido-Castro, Guilherme Nader Marta, Elad Sharon

Tumor Board: Advanced Breast Cancer

Time

Speaker(s)

Rachel Freedman, Barbara Smith, Sarah Sammons, Erica Mayer, Laura Spring, Leticia Varella, Guilherme Nader Marta, Daniel Abravanel

Session VI: ER Positive Breast Cancer

Time

Session Title

Speaker(s)

New Approaches in Early ER Positive Breast Cancer

Erica Mayer

PI3K Inhibitors in Metastatic Breast Cancer: Choosing the Right Target

Dejan Juric

Advanced ER Positive Breast Cancer: A Surfeit of Choices

Seth Wander

Emerging Antibody Drug Conjugates in ER Positive Breast Cancer

Paolo Tarantino

Q&A

Erica Mayer, Seth Wander, Paolo Tarantino, Dejan Juric

CDK4/6: Which One? For Whom? – Debate

Speakers: Shana Berwick, Laura Spring

ASCO Highlights

Speaker: Harold Burstein

Closing Remarks

Speaker: Harold Burstein