Harvard Breast Cancer New Horizons, Current Controversies 2025

Breast Cancer: New Horizons, Current Controversies is a comprehensive educational curriculum that encompasses the full range of breast cancer care. Topics include mechanisms of disease, improvements in diagnostic methods, treatment innovations, and management of breast cancer survivors. The primary goal of the course is to improve the knowledge, competence, and clinical skills of health care professionals who specialize in oncology. As such, the curriculum is well suited for medical, surgical, and radiation oncologists; breast and general surgeons; internists; physician assistants; nurse practitioners; oncology nurses; and other clinicians involved in the care of breast cancer patients.
The two-day course is taught by clinical experts in medical oncology, surgical oncology, radiation oncology, and pathology. Each year, the course faculty identify emerging practice gaps in breast oncology and address those gaps by translating the latest scientific knowledge into practical clinical applications. Course participants engage with the material through interactive learning formats, including group case discussions, question and answer sessions, and panel presentations. This interactive learning process assists healthcare professionals in integrating the latest evidence-based information on breast cancer screening, diagnosis, treatment, and long-term monitoring into their clinical practices.
This year, we will be again offering an in-person program as well as a livestream for those who still do not feel comfortable traveling to Boston. Continuing with the livestream allows participants to engage with our faculty from the convenience of their own community, be it in Boston or across the globe. This hybrid format worked very well last year and is appropriate given both the range of potential attendees and persistent uncertainty over travel and large group gatherings.
The timing of the course for summer 2025 is particularly fortuitous owing to the extraordinary progress happening in breast cancer. In the last two years, we have seen transformative breakthroughs in all types of breast cancer treatment:

FDA approval of novel antibody-drug conjugates for the treatment of advanced hormone receptor-positive, HER2-positive, and triple-negative breast cancer, with new data showing benefit of these agents in tumor types beyond their initial application.
FDA approval of the first-in-class oral SERD elacestrant in hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer, with companion diagnostic genomic testing for targetable ESR1 mutations.
FDA approval of the AKT pathway inhibitor capivasertib in combination with fulvestrant for patients with hormone receptor-positive, PIK3CA/AKT/PTEN-mutant metastatic breast cancer and reported phase III data of another agent in this class (inavolisib).
FDA approval of the CDK4/6 inhibitor abemaciclib in high-risk, early-stage hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, and mature data showing compelling benefits including overall survival for this class of drugs in advanced breast cancer, as well as preliminary reports of a second agent in this class (ribociclib) with adjuvant efficacy.
FDA approval of a novel antibody-drug conjugate for patients with a HER2-low metastatic breast cancer.

Learning Objectives

Apply knowledge of recent clinical data together with current expert recommendations to patient selection for new and emerging therapies for advanced breast cancer.
Select appropriate risk assessment modalities, where applicable, and make evidence-based therapeutic selections for women who are candidates for neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapy and know the limitations of genomic testing.
Apply recent clinical data and expert recommendations to the management of women with breast cancer who are treated with mastectomy, including integration of surgical methods, breast reconstruction options, and post-mastectomy radiation if needed.
Assess current practices regarding symptom management during active treatment and in survivorship and consider the needs for fertility and lifestyle counseling among patients with breast cancer and survivors and improve current practices if needed.
Evaluate the genetic and personal risk factors of breast cancer and utilize appropriate genetic testing for hereditary breast cancer.

Participant Types
Nurse Practitioners, Primary Care Physicians, Physician Assistants, Nurses, Pharmacists, and Specialty Physicians
 
+ Topics:
Day 1 – Thursday, July 17, 2025
Theme: Advances in Radiation Therapy, Pathology, and Breast Cancer Management

Welcoming Remarks
Speaker: Harold BursteinTime: 8:00 – 8:15 am

Session I: Radiation Oncology

Time
Session Title
Speaker(s)

8:15 – 8:35 am
50 Years of Radiation Therapy
Abram Recht

8:35 – 8:55 am
Standard Radiation Therapy: The Long and the Short
Julia Wong

8:55 – 9:15 am
The Future of Breast Radiation Therapy
Atif Khan

9:15 – 9:35 am
Radiopharmaceuticals
Heather Jacene

9:35 – 9:50 am
Q&A
Abram Recht, Atif Khan, Julia Wong, Heather Jacene

Session II: Pathology

Time
Session Title
Speaker(s)

9:50 – 10:10 am
Lobular Breast Cancer
Stuart Schnitt

10:10 – 10:30 am
ctDNA: The Evolving Role for Molecular Diagnostics
Stefania Morganti

10:30 – 10:45 am
Q&A
Stuart Schnitt, Stefania Morganti

Special Lecture
Time: 11:00 – 11:40 amSpeaker(s): Sydney Smith & Julie BosworthTopic: What’s New in Supportive Care: Management of Gastrointestinal Side Effects

Time
Session Title
Speaker(s)

11:00 – 11:20 am
Essentials of Germline Genetics
Judy Garber

11:20 – 11:40 am
Q&A
Julie Bosworth, Sydney Smith, Judy Garber

Schwartz Rounds: A Complex Case
Speaker: Ann PartridgeTime: 11:50 am – 12:20 pmQ&A: 12:20 – 12:30 pm

Tumor Board: Early Breast Cancer

Time
Speaker(s)

12:40 – 1:40 pm
Harold Burstein, Faina Nakhlis, Julia Wong, Brittany Bychkovsky, Adrienne Waks, Filipa Lynce, Elizabeth Mittendorf

Session III: HER2 Positive Breast Cancer

Time
Session Title
Speaker(s)

1:50 – 2:10 pm
New Approaches in Early Stage HER2 Positive Breast Cancer
Adrienne Waks

2:10 – 2:30 pm
The Progress Continues: Late Stage HER2 Positive Breast Cancer
Sarah Sammons

2:30 – 2:50 pm
Can We Cure Metastatic Breast Cancer?
Nancy Lin

2:50 – 3:05 pm
Q&A
Sara Tolaney, Sarah Sammons, Nancy Lin, Adrienne Waks

Special Lecture
Time: 3:20 – 4:35 pmSpeaker(s): Erica Warner, Filipa Lynce, Antonio Giordano, Jennifer Ligibel

Time
Session Title
Speaker(s)

3:20 – 3:45 pm
Racial Differences in Breast Cancer Survival Between Black and White Women According to Tumor Subtype
Erica Warner

3:45 – 4:10 pm
Inflammatory Breast Cancer
Filipa Lynce

4:10 – 4:35 pm
Early Drug Discovery in Breast Cancer
Antonio Giordano

4:35 – 5:00 pm
Lifestyle/Diet/Exercise in Breast Cancer Patients
Jennifer Ligibel

Reception
Time: 5:00 – 6:00 pm

Day 2 – Friday, July 18, 2025
Theme: Surgical Interventions and Advanced Breast Cancer Treatment

Session IV: Surgery

Time
Session Title
Speaker(s)

8:00 – 8:20 am
Oncoplastic Reconstruction: Common Indications and Outcomes
Indranil Sinha

8:20 – 8:40 am
The Axilla After Neoadjuvant Therapy: How Much Is Too Much?
Elizabeth Mittendorf

8:40 – 9:00 am
Implications of the SOUND Trial
Olga Kantor

9:00 – 9:20 am
Cryoblation Instead of Surgery
Francys Verdial

9:20 – 9:35 am
Q&A
Barbara Smith, Indranil Sinha, Olga Kantor, Francys Verdial, Elizabeth Mittendorf

Schlager Lecture: Immunotherapy in Early Breast Cancer: Today and Tomorrow
Speaker: Marleen KokTime: 9:35 – 10:20 am

Session V: Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC)

Time
Session Title
Speaker(s)

10:35 – 10:55 am
Small TNBCs: How Small Is Small Enough?
Steven Isakoff

10:55 – 11:15 am
Antibody Drug Conjugates in TNBC and Refractory ER Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer
Ana Garrido-Castro

11:15 – 11:35 am
Immunotherapy in TNBC
Guilherme Nader Marta

11:35 – 11:55 am
Managing Endocrine Side Effects of Immunotherapy
Elad Sharon

11:55 am – 12:10 pm
Q&A
Steven Isakoff, Ana Garrido-Castro, Guilherme Nader Marta, Elad Sharon

Tumor Board: Advanced Breast Cancer

Time
Speaker(s)

12:20 – 1:30 pm
Rachel Freedman, Barbara Smith, Sarah Sammons, Erica Mayer, Laura Spring, Leticia Varella, Guilherme Nader Marta, Daniel Abravanel

Session VI: ER Positive Breast Cancer

Time
Session Title
Speaker(s)

1:40 – 2:00 pm
New Approaches in Early ER Positive Breast Cancer
Erica Mayer

2:00 – 2:20 pm
PI3K Inhibitors in Metastatic Breast Cancer: Choosing the Right Target
Dejan Juric

2:20 – 2:40 pm
Advanced ER Positive Breast Cancer: A Surfeit of Choices
Seth Wander

2:40 – 3:00 pm
Emerging Antibody Drug Conjugates in ER Positive Breast Cancer
Paolo Tarantino

3:00 – 3:15 pm
Q&A
Erica Mayer, Seth Wander, Paolo Tarantino, Dejan Juric

CDK4/6: Which One? For Whom? – Debate
Speakers: Shana Berwick, Laura SpringTime: 3:15 – 3:30 pm

ASCO Highlights
Speaker: Harold BursteinTime: 3:30 – 4:25 pm

Closing Remarks
Speaker: Harold BursteinTime: 4:25 – 4:45 pm