“The Spectrum of Cancer Care for Primary Providers,” is the topic of the 14th Annual Simmons Cancer Institute Symposium, which will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, September 3 at Memorial Center for Learning and Innovation, 228 W. Miller Street, Springfield.

The conference for physicians and health care professionals interested in the care of cancer patients is sponsored by Simmons Cancer Institute at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and Memorial Medical Center.

Sessions begin at 9 a.m. with “Integrating Primary Care in Cancer Survivorship.” The remaining morning sessions are “Use of CT in Screening for Lung Nodules” (10 a.m.); “Breast MRI: Modern Real Imaging – Who Needs It?” and “Recognizing Skin Cancer: Clinical Clues” (11:45 a.m.).

Afternoon sessions begin at 1:15 p.m. with the panel “Any Age, Any Stage: Palliative Care across the Health Care Spectrum,” (1:15 p.m.). Discussion participants will include Masaya Higuchi, MD, director of geriatric medicine and assistant professor, Family and Community Medicine at SIU School of Medicine; Kelli Fisher, FNP-BC, CHPN, palliative care coordinator at Memorial Medical Center; and Orlinda Speckhart, LCSW, director of the geriatric and palliative medicine programs, Family and Community Medicine at SIU School of Medicine.

A second afternoon session, “Ethical Issues in Caring for the Seriously Ill,” (2 p.m.) will be presented by Kelly Armstrong, PhD, director of the clinical ethics and public policy program and assistant professor and clinical ethicist in internal medicine at Memorial Medical Center.

The course co-directors are Aziz Khan, MD, executive director of Simmons Cancer Institute at SIU, chief of hematology-oncology and professor at SIU School of Medicine; and Rexanne Lagare Caga-anan, MD, SIU assistant professor of internal medicine.

The mission of Simmons Cancer Institute at SIU is to serve the people of central and southern Illinois by addressing their present and future cancer needs through education, research, patient care and community service.