The 51st SIOP Congress will take place in Lyon, France October 23-26, 2019.  We are very excited about this Congress.  For the second year in a row we received a record number of abstract submissions for the Congress, 1747 this year which is over 200 more than the record established last year in Kyoto, which has allowed us to develop an outstanding scientific program.  This Congress will include the 4th SIOP-St. Baldrick’s Foundation Seminar, on Development And Use Of Pediatric cancer Models organized by Gilles Vassal.  We will also have a Keynote Address on The Burden of Childhood Cancer Worldwide And How IARC Informs The WHO Cancer Policies, given by Dr. Elisabete Weiderpass who recently became director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (the specialized cancer agency of the World Health Association) located in Lyon.  Other highlights of the Congress will include the My Child Matters Symposium on Advancing Nutritional Education and Research in Low and Middle Income Countries, a Keynote Address the International baseline Standards For Pediatric Oncology given by Sarah Day, a Symposium on the new European POKER network on the Integration Of Intensive Care And Pediatric Oncology, and a Symposium on Promoting Healthy Body Image and Sexuality in Paediatric Cancer Patients.

The scientific sessions will include a number of outstanding abstract presentations during both the Free Paper Sessions and the Poster Viewing and Poster Discussion sessions.   The Schweisguth Prize Lecture is always a highlight of the Congress.  This year we had a record number of submissions to review, including many outstanding papers that will be published in very high impact journal.  Fittingly, the recipient of the Schweisguth Prize is from France, Dr. Amaury Leruste and will present his work: Clonally Expanded T-cells Reveal Immunogenicity of Rhabdoid Tumors.  Three late-breaking abstracts will be selected for presentation during a special one-hour session.

Last year the Scientific Committee revised the Congress schedule to promote more interaction during poster and poster discussion sessions, with very successful results.  This new format will continue this year and Day #3 (Saturday October 26) will now be a full day, ending about 5 PM.  There will be two 90-minute poster sessions on the evenings of Thursday October 24 and Friday October 25, with half of the posters presented each day.  Beer, soft drinks, and light snacks will be provided to encourage attendance and conversations.  These sessions will use poster boards, with presenters also encouraged to submit their posters electronically so that they will be available on the SIOP Congress app and also able to be posted on the SIOP website after the meeting.  There will be 6 parallel poster discussion sessions held in meeting rooms on the afternoon of Saturday October 26.  A discussant will discuss six individual posters using slides, with time for feedback between the discussant, the abstract authors, and the audience.

This year we have made the sessions more thematic, which we hope with promote even more interaction.

We hope that the SIOP 2019 Congress will be the best one yet and look forward to seeing you in Lyon!

Stephen P. Hunger, MD

Chair, Scientific Committee

Christophe Bergeron, MD

Chair, Local Organizing Committee