Wow! What an amazing conference we had in Atlanta! I am so honored to be part of an organization with such great volunteers like our Conference Planning Committee who put on such an AWESOME conference! They gave hours and hours of volunteer time to make it the quality educational experience it was. And we couldn’t have done it without our wonderful management staff from Kellen. A special thank you to our sponsors and award and scholarship recipients. It was extra special and a highlight of my time as President to honor the inaugural cohort of AOSW Fellows as well. This amazing group is in the process of forming and will begin the honor of nominating future Fellows.
 

We also hosted another wonderful postconference Research Institute filled with excellent speakers and a great deal of research planning and collaboration through the Patient Centered Research Collaborative (PCRC). AOSW believes in the importance of the integration of research and practice, and the PCRC and the Research Institute are wonderful examples of this. If you didn’t catch the Real World Healthcare interview with Dr. Brad Zebrack, AOSW’s former Research Chair and the Chair of the PCRC, you can read it here. If you are interested in being a part of AOSW’s Research Committee or SIG, or learning more about integrating research into your practice, reach out to our Research Chair, Dr. Sophia Smith.

It was also a special honor to give Vice President Joe Biden the American Cancer Society/AOSW QOL Award for his work with the Biden Cancer initiative (BCI). Lisa Simms Booth, BCI Senior Director of Patient and Public Engagement, accepted the award on his behalf and gave an inspiring lecture about the efforts of the BCI. Its mission is to develop and drive implementation of solutions to accelerate progress in cancer prevention, detection, diagnosis, research and care, and to reduce disparities in cancer outcomes. Out of our connection with BCI, AOSW members have had a number of opportunities to advocate on behalf of our patients and families, and OSW in general, at various events BCI hosts. AOSW member Leora Lowenthal wrote about one such event in the last issue of the Navigator.

Here is another opportunity for our members: BCI is holding the Biden Cancer Summit on September 21 and is asking for communities nationwide to join the conversation by hosting a site for the summit. Each summit

• Creates an opportunity for you to share experiences and lessons and, most importantly, come together to map out actions needed to support patients with cancer and their families; and
• Provides the foundation for a cohesive national narrative that connects and scales ideas and approaches to provoke action needed to accelerate progress in cancer research and care.

The BCI team will be providing tools and resources to make it as easy (yet impactful!) as possible to host or just participate at home, with live-looks into DC, prerecorded videos and content to spur conversations, and guides at every step of the way to help. All information can be found at http://bidencancer.org/events.

And don’t forget about another great upcoming CE opportunity—the Joint Conference of AOSW and APOS in New York City on September 28, 2018. Make plans now to attend this one-day event focused on “Acceptance Based Therapies Throughout the Cancer Trajectory” and spend some time in New York City! We hope to see you there.

Finally, mark your calendar for the AOSW 35^th Annual Conference, June 5-7, 2019, at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort and Spa in Tucson, Arizona. The abstract submission site is open. Submit your abstract here!

These educational, research and networking opportunities are some of our highest value member benefits and we hope you’ll take advantage of them all. In addition to all of the above, your board continues to work hard to diversify our income sources and support the financial health of our organization as discussed in the President’s Message in the last issue of the Navigator.