No. 29 July 1999   Meetings Editorial Calum Muir Memorial Fellowship Atlanta, Georgia in 1998 In 1998 the International Association of Cancer Registries (IACR) met in Atlanta, Georgia - home of the Atlanta Cancer Registry and of the Centers for Disease Control as well as of Coca Cola. The meeting was opened by Dr William H. Foege, Presidential Distinguished Professor of International Health at the Rollins School of Public Health, and long-term proponent of disease eradication and control in the developed and the developing world. Over 200 participants from 40 countries came to Atlanta, and followed with enthusiasm the programme on genetic susceptibility, cancer genetics research and its implications for prevention and control, the ethical considerations of public health and methodological issues. The rigours of the scientific programme were helped by evening activities with the Gospel Choir of the Ebenezer Baptist Church of Atlanta (where Dr Martin Luther King Jr. served) and a night of Southern country dancing, all accompanied by wonderful Southern hospitality and food. One of the special features of this Association is its national variety - an American square dance performed by twelve people each from a different country ranging through Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin and North America is a sight worth seeing. Thanks go to Jonathan Liff, Patti Long, and their colleagues from the Georgia Center for Cancer Statistics, as well as to the Program Committee, for all their hard work. We are grateful to the Centers for Disease Control and the US National Cancer Institute for their generous support. Lisbon 1999 The organisers of the 1999 IACR meeting expect 350 participants in Lisbon on 29 September-1 October. The audience will be varied, including epidemiologists, geneticists, cancer registrars and administrators of cancer registries from around the world. The programme topics are:   Screening (in relation to cancer registries)   Tobacco and young people   Quality control in cancer registries   Trends in cancer/cancer mapping   Genetic epidemiology and cancer registries and familial cancer The conference will be held at Torre do Tombo, the Portuguese Historical Archives headquarters, centrally located near the University of Lisbon. Registration forms can be downloaded from the IACR website. Thailand 2000 The IACR Executive during their meeting in Atlanta accepted the invitation from the Khon Kaen Cancer Registry, Thailand. It is hoped that the countries around Thailand, which is central to the ASEAN countries, will be encouraged to develop cancer registration by this event. If you are thinking of coming to the meeting, post-conference tours to Northern Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and other neighbouring countries will be proposed. The choice of meeting venue was difficult. Dr Qing-sheng Wang, Director of the Tianjin Cancer Registry in China, had also invited the Association and the IACR Executive took a long time to weigh all the issues. Our thanks to Dr Wang and his colleagues - perhaps next time we are in the Asian region? 2001 and 2002 The Cancer Registry of Cuba will host the 2001 meeting in Havana, and the Finnish Cancer Registry has invited the Association to Helsinki for 2002. Editorial Calum Muir Memorial Fellowship