Help on the Hill

Answers to Cancer: Learning you can live by

Help on the Hill is a 2-day educational program for patients and their families dealing with cancer. It is designed to help people understand cancer research and cancer clinical trials. Hear patients, community support groups, researchers and physicians talk about cancer. Ask questions that are important to you. Meet other patients and their families who are dealing with the same challenges you are. Learn, make new friends, establish a network of support, and feel empowered to deal with your situation.

Registration fee is $10 and covers the entire event, including valet parking, two receptions, one breakfast, one dinner, and all sessions.

Program
 

Meeting:

• Welcome and Purpose of Help on the Hill  
  Jeffrey Trent, PhD
• Scientific Session: “Overview of the Clinical Trial Process“
  John Bender, PharmD
• Keynote Speaker: “A Guided Tour to a Miracle”
  Patrick Gavin, RPh
• Videos:
  "It's Our Time"
  “Cancer Clinical Trials: Real Answers, Real Options, Real Miracles in West Michigan”

8:30 - 12:15 a.m.

Meeting:

• Keynote Speaker: “Breast Cancer - How clinical research has changed prevention and treatment” – Joyce O’Shaughnessy, MD
• Scientific Session: “Genes & Cancer”
  Carrie Graveel, PhD
• Scientific Session: “Tissue is the Issue”
  Scott Jewell, PhD
• Educational Sessions – Cancer: causes, treatment, new research
  - Lung Cancer: Alan Campbell, MD
  - Breast Cancer: Amy Vander Woude, MD
  - Colon Cancer: Mark Campbell, MD 
• Concurrent Sessions – Ask the Experts
  - “The Doctor is in”
  - “Insurance” Questions
  - “Pharmacy” Questions
  - Display Booths
  - Tour Van Andel Institute
• Scientific Session: “Personalized Medicine”
  Mike Berens, PhD

1:15 - 5:30 p.m.

Meeting:

• Breakout Sessions:
  - I have cancer – now what? - Wendy Koopman, RN, MSN, FNP, AOCNP
  - Alternative Therapies – what is the evidence? - Leonard Wright, MD
  - Diet & life style – does it make a difference? - Bill Baer, MD, PharmD
  - Faith – Reconciling cancer with a loving God - Susanne Tracy, OP 
• Community Resources:
  - Gilda’s Club: Wendy Wigger – Director, Community Relations & Program Development
  - Hope Lodge: Cindy Paquin – Director, American Cancer Society Hope Lodge/ Peter M. Wege Guest House
• Breakout Sessions:
  - Online Resources: Giovanna Guerrero, PhD
  - Champion cancer research in your community: Connie Szczepanek, RN, BSN
  - Understanding scans – CT, MRI, PET: Paul Shreve, MD
  - Radiation - Dealing with it
• Educational Sessions – Cancer, causes, treatment and new research
  - Prostate Cancer: Brian Lane, MD, PhD
  - Melanoma: Laurence McCahill, MD
  - Pancreatic Cancer: Mathew Chung, MD