LOS ANGELES, April 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 7, 2014 global experts on malignant pleural mesothelioma will convene in Santa Monica, CA at the 4th Annual International Symposium on Lung-Sparing Therapies for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that results from exposure to asbestos and commonly affects the pleura – the lining of the chest. The event is co-hosted by UCLA and the Pacific Meso Center (PMC), a division of the Pacific Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (PHLBI).

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This year's seminar will again be led by Robert B. Cameron, MD, FACS, Director of the UCLA Mesothelioma Comprehensive Research Program, and Chief of Thoracic Surgery at the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center. Dr. Cameron is a long-time staunch advocate of the lung-sparing  pleurectomy/decortication surgery, now considered one of the best therapeutic options for increasing survival in mesothelioma patients.  Dr. Cameron and his colleagues at PMC and UCLA are investigating novel interventions for mesothelioma such as Betadine Lavage Therapy, The Role of Genes and Molecular Mechanisms in Mesothelioma and they are also evaluating a multimodality approach to halting highly intractable, rapidly spreading, sarcomatoid-type mesothelioma.

The seminar will be geared toward physicians, and offers continuing medical education (CME) credit. It also will provide up-to-date information on mesothelioma for medical students, nurses, and other healthcare professionals as well as mesothelioma patients, their families, and interested individuals from the community.

This year's roster of distinguished international faculty at the Symposium will include Joachim Aerts, MD, of Erasmus MC Cancer Institute in the Netherlands; Jan P. van Meerbeeck, MD of Antwerp University Hospital in Belgium, Percy Lee, MD, Chief Thoracic Radiation Oncology at UCLA; Olga Olevsky, MD, of UCLA Medical Center; Dr. Richard Lemen, Former Assistant Surgeon General of the United States;  Linda Reinstein, President/CEO and Co-Founder Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization,  Irene I-Lan Wu, MD, UCLA Pain Management Center and other local experts. 

"Over the past four years we've seen unprecedented advances in mesothelioma research that we never would have predicted a decade ago," Dr. Cameron said.  "Our intensive collaborations between laboratory and clinical scientists are yielding new insights into promising future treatments for mesothelioma such as immunotherapy and ethical placenta-derived stem cells. The symposium gives an unrivaled opportunity for both the medically savvy and general public, including mesothelioma patients, to not only learn first-hand about groundbreaking discoveries, but also to exchange ideas."

Worthington & Caron P.C (http://mesothel.com) is once again sponsoring the symposium as a Platinum sponsor. Gold sponsor is Simons Greenstone Panatier  Bartlett P.C. (http://sgpblaw.com/) Silver sponsors are Lilly Pharmaceuticals (www.lilly.com) and Waters Kraus & Paul (www.waterskraus.com) and the Travel Sponsor is asbestos.com (http://www.asbestos.com)

Early Bird tickets can be purchased before May 23^rd online at www.cme.ucla.edu/courses.

For more information, please contact UCLA at 310-794-2620 or call Clare Cameron at the Pacific Meso Center at the Pacific Heart, Lung, Blood Institute at 310-478-4678.

www.pacificmesocenter.org.

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SOURCE Pacific Meso Center