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Circulating Tumor Cell Count Is a Prognostic Factor in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Patients Receiving First-Line Chemotherapy Plus Bevacizumab: A Spanish Cooperative Group for the Treatment of Digestive Tumors Study.

Doctor Eugenio Santos is the director of the Centro de Investigación del Cáncer- Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular del Cáncer (CIC-IBMCC), a translational cancer research center jointly sponsored by the University of Salamanca (USAL) and the Spanish Research Council (CSIC). He holds an academic position at the University of Salamanca as Professor of the Department of Microbiology and Genetics. In the last few years he has also been working from Salamanca on the national coordination of the Cooperative Cancer Research Network (Red Temática de Investigación Cooperativa en Cáncer, RTICC) sponsored by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III.

As acting president of ASEICA for the next two years he explains what his duties and aims are and how he plans to acchieve these goals.

First of all, how does one become the president of ASEICA and what is your role as such?

Every four years there is an election process whereby all ASEICA members vote and select the president-elect and four other members of the Governing Board (Junta Directiva) of our society. My role as acting president will be to work closely together with the team members in our "Junta Directiva" to ensure achieving the scientific goals of ASEICA.

What are the goals of ASEICA?

Our goals are centered on supporting the scientific activities of all cancer professionals and institutions working in Spain on basic, clinical, epidemiological or translational aspects of research, as well as fostering active collaborations and interactions among them. For that purpose, we are expected to actively organize or promote a number of academic and research activities. These include periodic presidential scientific meetings, like the next XIII ASEICA Congress, or other channels of communication to reach all ASEICA members.

We further aim to strengthen connections between ASEICA and other national and international specialist oncology societies. We also communicate with scientific authorities and relevant figures at governmental level and with representatives from the pharmaceutical industry. Finally, we also have an obligation to effectively transmit to the society at large truthful information about the advances and relevance of cancer research, using available mass media channels such as this web page.

Which are the existing links of ASEICA to other cancer societies?

ASEICA is an integral part of FESEO, the Federation of Spanish Cancer Societies that includes a number of cancer-related societies such as SEOM, SEOR, SEOQ and SEHOP.

In addition, many ASEICA members are currently active participants of groups belonging to RTICC, the Spanish Cooperative Cancer Research Network sponsored by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III.

Maximizing the functional connections among all these institutions is an essential task to which ASEICA should contribute for the good of Spanish cancer research.

As ASEICA´s president, what are the most important issues you want to address?

I am especially interested in ASEICA´s contribution in the number and quality of productive, real and collaborative projects between basic and clinical cancer researchers in Spain. Higher quantity and quality of cancer translational research projects is greatly needed in our country in order to improve the competitiveness of Spanish research when applying to European and other international granting agencies in biomedicine.

ASEICA can also make a significant contribution in helping to develop new and independent cancer research careers among young scientists. Particularly in this uncertain times, this is needed in both, the academic and hospital environments.

What would you like ASEICA to be? Which are your future perspectives?

I would like for ASEICA to be the natural scientific society to gather all Spanish scientists producing high quality research in any cancer-related field in our country.

I would also like ASEICA to be the place where the young Spanish cancer researchers feel most at home. In line with my answer to the previous question, increasing the ranks of ASEICA with the membership of many new, young researchers would be a clear indication of progress in the right direction.

Last question: Why and to whom would you recommend an ASEICA membership?

I especially recommend an ASEICA membership to any young researcher, for the reasons already mentioned above.

Also, to all clinician-scientists who want to extend the reach and quality of their cancer research in order to improve their scientific connections and their competitiveness at the national and international levels.

Thank you very much for your time! All the best for ASEICA