Prof Edward Ambinder explains how the organisers of the Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium have worked to provide doctors with information about the latest treatments and also some new ways to use older therapies. This meeting was structured so that attendees do not need to choose between numerous presentation and risk missing key findings.

Cancer has traditionally been seen as a small number of individual diseases but recent advances have shown that it can be caused by a variety of genetic abnormalities. In light of this clinicians are now finding similarities between different cancers that were previously thought to be entirely unrelated. An example of this is mutation of the BRCA gene which was initially thought to only relate to breast cancer. However, recent findings have established links between BRCA and both ovarian and prostate cancer. Such findings open the possibility of targeted agents that can be used to treat numerous different cancers. Prof Ambinder concludes by talking about his work developing the first electronic health records and explaining the importance of this technology for health care professionals.