It began with a phone call. And then another. And another.

“We noticed a trend,” recalled Itzel Ojeda, office manager for the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium^® team at the Mays Cancer Center. “When SABCS was being held last year, we would get calls from survivors, patients, and sometimes their spouses, who would say: ‘My wife is going through breast cancer, and I know that the SABCS is happening — is there anything for patients?’”

When the SABCS^® team began planning the 2025 symposium, they remembered those calls.

“‘Why don’t we create an event specifically for patients and survivors?’” Ojeda recalled suggesting. “It is a great opportunity for advocates and surrounding area patients to receive resources and to meet and learn from other patients who have gone through the journey.”

This was the beginning of the inaugural SABCS Salutes Patients and Survivors gathering, which will be held on Monday, December 8, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. at the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter on the River Walk, 101 Bowie St. 

Designed for breast cancer survivors at all stages of treatment and beyond, the pre-symposium event will empower survivors to forge connections and hear from speakers, including Cancer Fashionista founder Melissa Berry and Harvard University professor Ann H. Partridge, MD, MPH.

Berry, a triple-negative breast cancer survivor, has built a national audience through writing and speaking about beauty, lifestyle, and self-care products for cancer patients and survivors.

Dr. Partridge serves as director of the Adult Survivorship Program and is co-founder and director of the Program for Young Adults with Breast Cancer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, among many other positions in her career as an educator and medical oncologist.

Ojeda said Berry and Dr. Partridge represent the dual goals of SABCS Salutes Patients and Survivors — to present trustworthy, scientific, and cutting-edge information about the treatment of breast cancer, while also elevating and celebrating survivors.

“SABCS is scientific-focused and brings in doctors from all over the world, but this specific event is more for the local community of patients and survivors,” Ojeda said. “SABCS Salutes Patients and Survivors is a space under the umbrella of SABCS for people to gather and share their experience of breast cancer with others who went through it.”

Registration for SABCS Salutes Patients and Survivors is complimentary for patient advocates attending SABCS and $20 for local patient attendees. Register today to join in on the inaugural SABCS Salutes Patients and Survivors event.