It is an honor and a privilege to serve as the President of CTOS for 2008.  CTOS has become the premier international society for clinicians and investigators who focus on sarcoma treatment and research.  CTOS was founded as an interdisciplinary society and we remain true to that ideal.  We have active and enthusiastic participation from surgical and orthopedic oncologists, medical and pediatric oncologists, diagnostic radiologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists, and basic scientists, all with a primary focus on sarcomas.  Our society is truly international, with members from Europe, Asia, and the Americas.  Our annual meeting is large enough to bring together almost all the experts in the field, but small enough to allow the intense exchange of ideas that has always been our hallmark. 

The last decade has seen an explosion in our knowledge and understanding of the sarcomas and the dawn of a new era of therapeutics.  This has been most dramatic in the treatment of GIST.  The identification of a small molecule inhibitor of a mutated tyrosine kinase inhibitor transformed a lethal disease, prolonging and saving lives.  More importantly, it nurtured the development of an entirely new field on oncology, focused on inhibition of similar receptors and signaling molecules.  CTOS has been a critical forum for the dissemination of these studies. 

CTOS members founded the Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration (SARC) and SARC remains tightly integrated with CTOS.  SARC has become the foremost venue for clinical trials in sarcomas in adults.  SARC has worked hard to insure that novel agents for sarcomas are also available to children.  All of our current trials have eligibility requirements which allow participation by patients 13 or older, when appropriate.  This year we have initiated a clinical trial of a monoclonal antibody against the IGF1R receptor.   This is a critical trial for our field and will be carried out both in Europe and the United States. 

If you share our interest in improving our understanding and treatment of sarcomas, you should join us in London in November.  If you are not a member of the society, we strongly urge you to join.

Paul A. Meyers, MD
President of CTOS