and care at the end of life (IOM, 1997, 2003b), the committee decided to exclude these broad areas from their consideration for the purposes of this report.

ASCO’s co-sponsorship of this symposium is significant. ASCO is the leading professional organization representing physicians of all oncology subspecialties who care for people with cancer. ASCO’s more than 20,000 members from the United States and abroad set the standard for patient care worldwide and advocate for more effective cancer treatments, increased funding for clinical and translational research, and, ultimately, cures for the many different types of cancer that strike an estimated 11 million people worldwide each year.

In addition to co-hosting the symposium, ASCO has undertaken a range of other activities to move the IOM recommendations forward under the direction of ASCO’s Survivorship Task Force, formed in December 2004 and co-chaired by Drs. Horning and Ganz. ASCO’s newly convened Survivorship Expert Panel is developing new evidence-based guidelines on the long-term medical care of adult cancer survivors. The overall purpose of the guidelines is to provide health professionals with the knowledge and expertise to decrease morbidity and to improve quality of life for adult survivors of cancer. The panel will draft guidelines in the following areas: cardiovascular disease; hormone replacement therapy; osteoporosis; sexual dysfunction; second malignancies; neurocognitive dysfunction; and psychosocial distress. In response to the IOM’s call for public/private partnerships to monitor and improve the care that survivors receive, ASCO and NCCS are co-chairing the new Cancer Quality Alliance, a forum for diverse stakeholders in the cancer community who will work to improve the quality of the cancer care delivery system. Through this partnership, ASCO, NCCS, and the other members will work to establish integrated treatment systems to ensure all people with cancer receive the best care possible. ASCO also will provide educational opportunities to healthcare providers on survivorship through sessions in a new “Patient and Survivor Care” track at its annual meeting in June 2006. One session in this expanded track will focus on how to write a “Survivorship Care Plan,” which will highlight the IOM recommendations for outlining a follow-up care plan. Topics addressed in other sessions will include developing cancer survivorship programs; minimizing long-term consequences of breast cancer therapy; nutrition issues for survivors; and survivorship issues in genitourinary malignancies, among other sessions.

The one-day symposium reported here was designed by members of ASCO’s Survivorship Task Force, members of the IOM’s committee and staff, and the leadership of the NCCS. The morning of the symposium featured an overview plenary session introduced by ASCO President, Sandra Horning and IOM member Fitzhugh Mullan, with presentations from IOM