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Her Highness Princess Haifa Al Faisal, President of the Zahra Breast Cancer Association, has highlighted the importance of raising awareness among Saudi women to check the spread of breast cancer, pointing out that Zahra Breast Cancer Association stands in support of research and actively participates in it.

During the opening ceremony (Wednesday, November 07, 2018) of the first international symposium on “Advances in Breast Cancer Research: Towards Precision Therapy" organized by King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (KFSH&RC) in Riyadh, Her Highness Princess Haifa Al Faisal stated that the symposium that is being attended by researchers and breast cancer specialist doctors marks a qualitative addition to the latest knowledge and advancements to counter the disease.

For his part, His Excellency Dr. Majid Alfayyadh, Chief Executive Officer of the general organization of KFSH&RC-Riyadh stated that KFSH&RC-Riyadh treats more than 500 new cases of breast cancer every year. He pointed out that the hospital was committed to continue to hold symposiums and keep abreast with the advancements in this field. According to H.E. Dr. Alfayyadh, the hospital will continue to apply latest diagnostic and therapeutic concepts, the most prominent of which is the concept of "precision medicine." He pointed out that the establishment of the state-of-the-art King Abdullah Centre for Oncology and Liver Diseases reflects the efforts and contributions of general organization in offering human resources and technical capabilities to provide specialized medical care in accordance with the most advanced methods of treatment and diagnosis for different types of cancers, especially breast cancer, which is one of the most common cancers.

H.E. Dr. Alfayyadh accompanied by HRH Princess Haifa Al Faisal and a number of participants of the symposium took a round of the accompanying exhibition, which displayed 26 breast cancer–related research and scientific posters that were prepared by specialists from various scientific institutions and universities from across the kingdom and from outside.

For his part, Dr. Abdelilah Aboussekhra, Head of the Molecular Oncology Department and Chairman of the Organizing Committee at KFSH&RC-Riyadh, said that the two-day symposium is being held in cooperation with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology and Zahra Breast Cancer Association. The event hosted 7 international speakers from the United States, France, Britain, Hungary and 24 local speakers. A total of 31 research papers on different aspects of breast cancer including disease epidemiology, small cancer environment, cancer stem cells, immunotherapy, and nanotechnology treatments are being presented and discussed in the symposium. The symposium also discusses breast cancer genome and chemotherapy to highlight the latest discoveries in basic and clinical research on breast cancer and their applicability to the precision treatment. The symposium also aims to promote ways and means of clinical research cooperation among doctors and scientists to introduce new ways to develop breast cancer diagnosis and treatment in near future, besides raising awareness among Saudi women about the risks of breast cancer and the need for curbing its spread and how to deal with it in an effective manner.