ALTOONA – Despite its reputation as a “hopeless” disease, members of the pancreatic cancer community will offer a different perspective at the Griffith Family Foundation Pancreatic Cancer Symposium 2014: Stories of Hope.
The symposium is April 4, from 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. at the Penn State Altoona Devorris Downtown Center Theatre, 1431 Twelfth Ave., Altoona.
The symposium panel includes: Dr. A. James Moser, executive director of the Institute for Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, BIDMC/Harvard University, Dr. Herbert J. Zeh III, chief of the Division of Gastrointestinal (GI) Surgical Oncology at UPMC CancerCenter, co-director of the UPMC Pancreatic Cancer Center, and co-director of the UPCI GI Oncology Program at UPMC, Dr. Ralph D. McKibbin, director of operations at Blair Gastroenterology Associates in Altoona, and Erin Willett, Ambassador of Hope for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and 2011 semi-finalist of The Voice television series.
The panel will share their stories of hope and there will be time for question-and-answer with the public. The evening also will include a special address from Jack Andraka (in person or virtual, depending upon his schedule). Andraka is a Maryland high school student who, at age 15, invented a low-cost early-detection device for pancreatic cancer.
The evening public presentation is preceded by both a high school student forum and a Penn State Altoona student forum during the day at Penn State Altoona’s Sheetz Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence.
The event is presented by the Greg and Cathy Griffith Family Foundation in collaboration with Penn State Altoona.
Tickets for the event are $30 (100 student tickets are available for $10) and can be purchased at www.griffithfamilyfoundation.org online. All proceeds benefit the Griffith Family Foundation.