On Saturday, May 31st, AIM supporters, including many influential figures in the melanoma community, gathered for AIM at Melanoma’s 4th Annual Evening in Memory of Valerie Guild during the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference in Chicago.

The event was held at Roanoke Restaurant and started after the day’s conference meetings were over. Food, drink, and fellowship were the features of the evening. Melanoma oncologists, dermatologists, researchers, and industry partners filled the room to remember the patient advocate extraordinaire who founded AIM at Melanoma and passed away in May of 2020, Valerie Guild, and to celebrate the work of all attendees involved in melanoma research and treatment.

“My mother would have loved this party,” said Samantha Guild, Val’s daughter and current president of AIM. “She loved bringing together what she called ‘the melanoma family,’ and I’m so sorry she never got to attend this event. But we will keep celebrating her and keep gathering each year, until her goal is met—the end of melanoma.”

One highlight of the evening was two discussions on timely topics in melanoma. Speakers included Megan Marquez, a teacher and mother of three young children enrolled at Northwestern with Dr Sunandana Chandra on the NCI-cooperative group trial, “DreamSeq,” Dr. Michael Atkins (Georgetown University) who led this nationwide trial, and two laboratory researchers—Dr. Yana Najjar (University of Pittsburgh) and Dr. Craig Slingluff (University of Virginia). Their conversation centered around the importance of publicly funded trials and research. Another discussion included organization leaders Dr. Lynn Schuchter (University of Pennsylvania and past president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology), Dr. Gary Schwartz (Case Western University and director of Case Comprehensive Cancer Center) and Dr. Antoni Ribas (University of California Los Angeles and past president of the American Association of Cancer Research) who spoke about the ongoing national and local efforts to support research and therapeutic advances in Melanoma and throughout Oncology.

Over 160 people attended the event this year, all attendees of the larger ASCO conference. Physician and scientist guests ranged from fellows who are relatively new to melanoma and who came with their mentors, to luminaries in the field. It was truly a gathering of the “melanoma family.”

Thank you to all of our sponsors for this event:

Featured Sponsors

• Bristol Myers Squibb
• Castle Biosciences
• Iovance Biotherapeutics
• Pfizer
• Regeneron
• Replimune

Collaborating Sponsors

• Immunocore
• Merck

Contributing Sponsors

• Immatics
• IO Biotech
• Natera
• Obsidian