On Oct. 24, 2008, Michigan's cancer control community will gather in Lansing to celebrate a decade of success in the fight against cancer at the 8th Michigan Cancer Consortium (MCC) Annual Meeting. Nearly 200 cancer control leaders and experts are expected to attend the meeting.

Since 1998, the MCC has provided its member organizations a forum for collaboration to reduce the burden of cancer among the citizens of Michigan guided by the Consortium's cancer prevention and control priorities. These priorities include:

- Increasing rates of screening and follow-up care for breast, cervical and colorectal cancers

- Reducing smoking rates among adults and teens

- Increasing prostate cancer patients' understanding of treatment options

- Increasing cancer patients' awareness and participation in clinical trials

- Developing/promoting standardized reporting lexicons for pathologists

- Increasing timeliness of referrals to end-of-life care

- Developing a centralized database that links clinical and cost data to enable research and to support data-driven decision-making for cancer control

"We have much to celebrate at this year's Annual Meeting," said MCC Co-Chair Vicki Rakowski. "Over the course of 10 years, the MCC has achieved 4 (basic lexicon, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, and youth smoking) of our original 10 priorities. These accomplishments are a testament to what can happen when organizations work together on common goals."

There has been significant progress in reducing cancer incidence and mortality rates in Michigan, noting that:

- Breast cancer mortality has declined 38% since 1995

- Colorectal cancer mortality has declined 20% since 1995

- Invasive cervical cancer incidence has declined 30% since 1995

- Youth tobacco use has declined 25% since 2003

Other highlights of the 2008 MCC Annual Meeting include keynote speaker Tom Kean, Executive Director of C-Change; launch of Michigan's new breast cancer and prostate cancer income tax check-offs logo; and presentation of the prestigious Spirit of Collaboration Awards. Since 2001, the Spirit of Collaboration Award has been given to MCC member organizations that have produced superior and collaborative work to push forth significant cancer control policies and activities in the state of Michigan. This year five projects will be presented with Spirit of Collaboration Awards.

For more information about the MCC, please visit www.michigancancer.org.