UCSF at Dreamforce 2017: Precision Cancer Care and Public Health Tech

The University’s participation in the annual conference also includes a speaker on how collaboration between technology companies and health researchers can accelerate benefits for patients and the public.

Dreamforce is an annual conference put on by cloud computing company Salesforce to showcase some of the nation’s thought leaders, industry pioneers and innovators. This year’s conference, with the theme "Blaze Your Trail," is estimated to draw more than 170,000 attendees to San Francisco. UCSF participates each year to highlight the latest innovations in health care and research.

UCSF will be one of six major brands featured at the Dreamforce Expo, which will be open throughout the four-day conference that begins Nov. 6. UCSF’s interactive exhibit will showcase the work of the Center for BRCA Research at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (HDFCCC), one of only two centers for hereditary cancers in the United States. The BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are known to increase the risk of breast, ovarian, pancreatic, prostate and some other cancers.

The interactive exhibit will guide visitors through a storyline of an HDFCC patient who may be at higher risk of cancer. Visitors can choose to follow the story from three points of view – patient, care team, or researcher – in learning about hereditary cancer care, from genetic testing for the BRCA genes to counseling and personalized preventive care plans.

Co-leaders of the Center for BRCA Research, Alan Ashworth, PhD, FRS, and Pamela Munster, MD, will give a talk on Nov. 7 at the Customer Showcase Campground Theater on how UCSF is driving personalized and connected hereditary cancer care.

Ashworth, the E. Dixon Heise Distinguished Professor in Oncology and president of HDFCCC, helped discover the BRCA2 mutation in the 1990s and has helped develop the class of drugs known as PARP inhibitors that target cancer-linked biochemical pathways. Munster, professor of medicine, speaks from the perspectives of a BRCA2 carrier and an oncologist-scientist.

Also speaking at Dreamforce will be Eleni Linos, MD, DrPH, associate professor of dermatology. Her talk on Nov. 6 will be about adapting technology for public health interventions and will be live streamed. Her talk titled “Tech and Health: Connection as Cure,” will include the story of how her JAMA Internal Medicine paper led to Apple reprogramming their iPhones’ Siri personal assistant within one week to improve responses to rape, suicide and depression. Linos’s research also explores using social media to prevent skin cancer, for which she received a National Institute of Health New Innovator Award this year.

In addition, on Nov. 6, Jamie Lam, data security compliance manager, and Victor Vargas Reyes, software engineering manager and architect, will be part of a panel speaking on the safeguards and regulations specific to health care compliance.

The Dreamforce Expo will also feature the WISDOM (Women Informed to Screen Depending on Measures of Risk) Study, a five-year clinical trial that tests a new, more personalize approach to breast cancer screening. The UC Health system-wide effort, led by Laura Esserman, MD, MBA, professor of surgery at UCSF, will compare a personalized, risk-based approach to mammography with annual screening. The researchers hope that with a better understanding of who is at risk for what type of breast cancer, those at low risk may benefit from less screening.

Esserman will speak in conversation with Joshua Newman, chief medical officer at Salesforce, in a live-streamed talk about the WISDOM project.

The Concert for UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals

Among the highlights of Dreamforce every year is a star-studded concert to raise funds for UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland. This year’s concert at AT&T Park will feature Alicia Keys and Lenny Kravitz. An after party at Pier 48 will feature will.i.am and MC Hammer.

Over the past few years, the event has raised tens of millions of dollars to support UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, which are regularly ranked among the best providers in pediatric care. To donate, purchase tickets or help sponsor the event, go to www.theconcertforkids.com

This year’s Dreamforce conference is sold out, but many of the talks will be streamed live online.