COVID-19: Largest global cancer meeting goes virtual as pandemic continues
The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) announced that due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, its annual meeting will not be held as planned as a physical conference. Instead, the meeting, which was scheduled to be held from May 29 to June 2 in Chicago, IL, will be delivered in a virtual format, with abstracts also published online and in the Journal of Clinical Oncology as per usual.
ASCO said "while we recognise that our face-to-face meeting…is ideal for sharing the best science and optimal approaches to patient care, we will unite as a global community to meet these unprecedented challenges and address the acute clinical care issues."
The decision comes shortly after the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) said that it will now cancel its annual meeting, having previously announced that the conference would be moved to an online delivery platform. ECCMID noted that the move to fully cancel the meeting "was made with consideration of feedback received from registered participants, faculty members, service providers and sponsors."
Meanwhile, Digestive Disease Week (DDW), which was scheduled to be held from May 2 to 5 in Chicago, has also been cancelled, with the organisers "exploring options for virtual education."
Other conferences that have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak include:
- American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) annual meeting
- American College of Cardiology's Scientific Session together with the World Congress of Cardiology (ACC.20/WCC)
- Acute Cardiovascular Care 2020, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC)
- Annual Conference of the European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (ENTS)
- Annual Meeting of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP)
- Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR)
- European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) scientific congress
- American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) annual meeting
- Endocrine Society's annual meeting ENDO 2020
- Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) annual meeting
- American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) annual meeting
- American College of Physician's Internal Medicine Meeting
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) annual meeting
- American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS)
- American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) annual meeting
- Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) congress
- ESC Preventive Cardiology 2020, the scientific congress of the European Association for Preventive Cardiology
- Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting
- American Urological Association (AUA) annual meeting
- American Academy of Neurology (AAN) annual meeting
- Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) annual meeting
- American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS) annual meeting
- World Congress on Osteoarthritis (OARSI)
- European Lung Cancer Congress (ELCC)
- American Geriatrics Society (AGS) annual scientific meeting
- American Thoracic Society (ATS) international conference
- American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) annual scientific and clinical congress (EMBRAACE)
Conferences that have confirmed they will be held virtually due to the COVID-19 outbreak include:
- Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS) conference
- Conference On Retroviruses And Opportunistic Infections (CROI)
- American Psychiatric Association (APA) annual meeting
- National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Spring Clinical Meetings
- Congress of the European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association
- European Renal Association – European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA) congress
Conferences that have been postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak include:
- International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (ISICEM)
- Annual European Association of Urology Congress (EAU)
- European Congress of Radiology (ECR)
- National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) annual meeting
- World Congress on Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases (WCO-IOF-ESCEO)
- Annual Meeting of the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO)
- European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) annual conference
- American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting
- European Psychiatric Association (EPA)'s European Congress of Psychiatry
- American Nephrology Nurses Association (ANNA) national symposium
- European Musculo-Skeletal Oncology Society (EMSOS) annual meeting
- European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) International Liver Congress (ILC 2020)
- European Society of Hypertension (ESH), International Society of Hypertension (ISH) joint meeting
- European Congress of Endocrinology (ECE)
- European and International Congress on Obesity (ECOICO)
