The free Focus on Ocular Melanoma Networking Event is a unique opportunity for researchers, clinicians and health professionals interested the field of Ocular Melanoma to meet and network with local, interstate and internationally renowned Ocular Melanoma and Melanoma researchers, including:

• Professor Richard Carvajal - Director of Experimental Therapeutics and Director of the Melanoma Service at Columbia University Medical Centre
• Dr Brian Marr who heads the Ophthalmic Oncology Service at the Harkness Eye Institute and is a collaborator on a Columbia University clinical trial for a first-of-its-kind, new class of drug treatment for uveal melanoma 
• Dr Anthony Joshua, Director of Oncology at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Conjoint Associate Professor, St. Vincent’s Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Sydney.
• Dr Bill Glasson, a renowned ophthalmologist specialising in Ocular Melanoma, practicing at Mater and the Terrace Eye Centre.
• Professor Mark Smithers, Director, Upper GI/Soft Tissue Unit, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Mayne Professor, Head, Discipline of Surgery, The University of Queensland, Brisbane

Presented by Mater Research in partnership with The Queensland Melanoma Collaborative, the Focus on Ocular Melanoma Networking Event will be held over four sessions on the 5, 6 and 9 March and feature leading Australian & US melanoma experts who will present the latest research and discuss howto improve treatment and survival rates for people with advanced Ocular Melanoma.

Ocular melanoma is the most common type of cancer originating from the eye in adults. There are currently effective treatments for early stages of this disease. However, options for patients who develop advanced (metastatic) disease are limited. Unlike skin melanoma, the survival rate of patients with ocular melanoma has not changed over the last 35 years. Further research is essential if survival rates are going to change.

The Focus on Ocular Melanoma Networking Event brings together experts from the ocular and skin melanoma fields. This comprises of four sessions:

1. Monday 5 March, 9am: Uveal melanoma genetics and genomics (Queensland Institute Medical Research)
2. Tuesday 6 March, 9am: How can cutaneous melanoma inform on ocular melanoma (Translational Research Institute)
3. Friday 9 March, 12pm: Ocular Melanoma – present management and role of trials - Part 1 (Translational Research Institute)
4. Friday 9 March, 2.30pm: Ocular Melanoma – present management and role of trials - Part 2 (Mater Hospital Campus, South Brisbane)

Registration to all seminars is free. Tea, coffee and light refreshments will be served at all four seminars. For more information about the event please contact catherine.forristal@mater.uq.edu.au

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