National Society for Medical Oncology (SNOMR) and continuously medical education

For the educational process in medicine generally and in medical oncology in particular, the experience exchange is very important. For this reason, I have organized in the National Society for Medical Oncology from Romania (SNOMR) many international events under the auspices of European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and International Society for Geriatric Oncology (SIOG). So, the first SIOG-SNOMR Symposium was held in 2006 in Poiana Braşov. The successive following events were the Symposium “Palliative and Supportive Care in Medical Oncology”, Bucharest 2007, ASCO-SIOG-SNOMR Symposium Poiana Braşov 2009, the ESMO Symposium “Update in Medical Oncology”, Poiana Braşov 2010,  “New Trend in Medical Oncology” ASCO-SNOMR Symposium, Poiana Braşov 2011,  International Symposium ASCO-SNOMR: “Lung cancer change for new therapies”, 2012 Poiana Braşov, “Breast Cancer Actual Knowledge and New Standards to Improve Survival and Quality of Life”, ESMO-SNOMR Symposium Poiana Braşov 2013, ESMO-Labelled Meeting “Some Current Data in Medical Oncology” Poiana Braşov 2015.
This year, in Poiana Braşov will also take place the SIOG-SNOMR Symposium, which is the last international event, where I invite all medical oncologists from Romania to participate. Besides specific problems of geriatrics and oncology, there will be presented some particular aspects of practice in medical oncology and radiotherapy. The participants will have the opportunity to discuss theoretical and practical aspects with world-class specialists such as Matti Aapro, Etien Brain, and Demetris Papamichael, representing SIOG.
Also, in the National Conference of SNOMR, in which the Symposium is included, other issues from oncology will be debated. I want to mention the support of doctors with Romanian roots in the conference presentations, such as Paul Doru, Daniela Bota, Sorin Buga, and Ciprian Enăchescu. I must also remember important role in organizing of national conferences of professor Florinel  Bădulescu, founding president of SNOMR. We also need to mention the decisive role of the pharmaceutical industry as the main proponent of this scientific sponsorship to support both the physicians participating in the conference and inviting and sponsoring the personalities in oncology: Rob Jones, Richard Ablin, Chen Jibing, XU Kecheng, NIU Lizhi, Lucio Crino, Manuela Schmidiger, Ayala Hubert, and Giuseppe Aprile. I welcome all participants and I hope there will be a good atmosphere for a knowledge exchange, I wish for the establishment of close ties between participants, and I also hope that the event will have good echoes in the scientific world in the country and outside.

Alexandru C. GRIGORESCU, MD, PhD
Editor-in-chief