Philadelphia-based American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has selected its hometown for its 2015, 2019 and 2024 annual meetings.
AACR will be the largest meeting in the city in 2015, taking place at the SMG-managed Pennsylvania Convention Center April 18-22. “Philadelphia was a natural choice for our 2015 Annual Meeting,” said AACR CEO Margaret Foti, PhD, MD. “The city is not only our hometown, but it is also an epicenter for groundbreaking cancer research and related biomedical science.
“We look forward to welcoming more than 18,500 laboratory cancer researchers, oncologists in a variety of disciplines, representatives from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries and patient advocates from around the world.”
According to the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau (PHLCVB), AACR Annual Meeting 2015 attendees are expected to use over 30,000 total hotel room nights and generate more than $41 million in economic impact for the Philadelphia region. Projected attendance and economic impact of the future meetings scheduled for 2019 and 2024 are not yet available, but these milestones are expected to be even high as the AACR has been dramatically expanding its membership and impact every year.
The mission of the American Association for Cancer Research is to prevent and cure cancer through research, education, communication and collaboration. The association’s annual meeting is the premier cancer research event in the world where the latest and most exciting basic, translational and clinical discoveries are presented each year. It provides a unique opportunity for members of the national and international cancer research communities to learn about cutting-edge advances, obtain feedback on their own research projects and make connections that will foster future collaborations.
Earlier this year, the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority and SMG entered into a new labor agreement with four trade unions that work on the show floor. That agreement has addressed a range of customer concerns, provides exhibitors with greater flexibility, has made work on the show floor more efficient and has generated a new sense of camaraderie among the four unions that work at the center.
In the wake of those changes, the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) and the National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) also recently announced the selection of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Convention Center as the venue for their upcoming conventions. These two events are projected to bring an estimated 14,000 attendees to Philadelphia and generate $35 million in regional economic impact.
