The BPOS 30th Birthday Conference

17th 18th January, Southampton

2013 marked 30 years since the creation of BPOS in 1983 and so we pushed the boat out and organised an extra-special celebratory conference. Professor Maggie Watson was invited to open the conference with a short speech about her experiences of setting up BPOS and the growth that she has seen in the last 3 decades. Excellent keynote presentations were given by Professor Neil Aaronson (Netherlands Cancer Institute), Professor Eilis McCaughan (University of Ulster), Professor Jessica Corner (Southampton University) and Professor Amanda Ramirez (King’s College, London).

Oral presentations were grouped into four themed sessions: Caregiving, families and genetic risk; Treatment and transition; Measurement and methodology; and, Survivorship. The conference also saw one of the biggest poster presentation sessions of any recent BPOS conference.

Delegates at the conference were treated to a piece of the BPOS Birthday Cake which was cermoniously cut by Maggie Watson (Founder), Nick Hulbert-Williams (Current Chair), and Claire Foster (Conference Host). Those who came to the conference dinner were not only served excellent food, but were entertained by a local ukelele band. In spirit of healthy competition, delegates were also invited to compete in our gingerbread house decoration competition; the judges were incredibly surprised by the level of creativity displayed – there are clearly some home beakers in the BPOS membership!