I haven’t always been convinced of the importance of sun safety. In my younger years, I got more sunburns than I’d like to admit in an attempt to develop a tan. In college, I spent afternoons studying outside on a sunny quad with nothing more than shorts and a tank top for sun protection.

During the State-of-the-Science Lecture at the 43rd Annual Congress in Washington, DC, Jane Fall-Dickinson, PhD, RN, AOCN®, of Georgetown University School of Nursing and Health Studies, discussed chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD), specifically its oral cavity complications. She presented challenges, clinical data, and goals for improving its treatment and management options.

Catherine Bender, PhD, RN, FAAN, of the University of Pittsburgh, and Amy Hoffman, PhD, RN, of Michigan State University, shared their experiences in building interdisciplinary research teams to assess symptom management during a session at the 43rd Annual Congress in Washington, DC.

Margaret Bevans, PhD, RN, AOCN®, FAAN, program director and clinical nurse scientist at the National Institutes of Health’s Nursing Research and Translational Science department, detailed her own journey and empowered nurses to amplify their impact during her Mara Mogensen Flaherty Memorial lecture at the 43rd Annual Congress in Washington, DC.

During the American Association for Cancer Research/ONS Bench to Bedside session at the 43rd Annual Congress in Washington, DC, Victor Velculescu, MD, PhD, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Maura Kadan, RN, MSN, of Personal Genome Diagnostics, dissected the science behind precision oncology, including an understanding of genetic alterations, the use of immunotherapy, and how to advance survival with these clinical breakthroughs.

During a session at the 43rd Annual Congress in Washington, DC, various speakers discussed the latest findings in patient safety.

The development of targeted therapies brought new progress to lung cancer treatment and research in the past 20 years, and new options will continue to be available in the future. Roy Herbst, MD, PhD, director of thoracic oncology research program at the Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, CT, spoke at the 43rd Annual Congress in Washington, DC, on new standards of care for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), immunotherapy for NSCLC, and development of rational drug combinations using biomarkers.

Geographic location impacts life expectancy and even cancer care. Marylynn Ostrowski Ireland, PhD, of Viability, Inc., and Deborah Watkins Bruner, PhD, RN, FAAN, of Emory University in Atlanta, GA, discussed geographic health disparities during a session at the 43rd Annual Congress in Washington, DC.

Immunotherapy is becoming an important role in cancer care and having an understanding of immune-related adverse events (irAEs) is critical for oncology nurses to provide safe and effective patient care. Rowena Schwartz, PharmD, BCOP, of the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, discussed strategies for managing these AEs during a session at the 43rd Annual Congress in Washington, DC.

During a session at the 43rd Annual Congress in Washington, DC, various speakers discussed symptom management and supporting patient needs.