Staff from the American Brain Tumor Association attended the 2018 Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO) Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA in November. This four-day annual meeting highlights the recent advances in brain tumor research, the latest treatments, and gives a glimpse of the newest ideas on the horizon. Clinicians and researchers attend to learn from each other and collaborate on all aspects of brain tumor treatment and research.

The American Brain Tumor Association sponsored an informational session on brain metastases (cancers that begin elsewhere in the body and spread to the brain), where presenters covered emerging treatments for treating the most common type of brain tumor. In another session, ABTA President and CEO Ralph DeVitto had the honor of presenting the Adult Clinical Research Award to Martin van den Bent from Erasmus MC Cancer Institute in The Netherlands for his recent clinical trials in recurrent glioblastoma. Several current and former American Brain Tumor Association grantees presented findings from their ABTA grants in platform presentations and posters throughout the meeting.

We brought together members of the American Brain Tumor Association Alumni Research Network (AARN) for a networking reception, a gathering that has become an annual tradition. And this year we had the opportunity to meet the talented young trainees of many of our AARN members, at the AARN Trainee Networking Dinner, which will hopefully become a new annual tradition.

The 2018 SNO Annual Meeting was, as always, a fantastic opportunity to meet new partners, spread the word about the work that we are doing, catch up on the latest research, and connect with the researchers and clinicians that help us to advance the American Brain Tumor Association mission.