Introduction: Proceedings of the First National Conference on Cancer in Native Americans

The first nationwide conference on the problem of cancer in Native American peoples was held in Tucson, Arizona, 26-28 October 1989. The conference was supported through private donations and was sponsored by the Native American Research and Training Center, which is part of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. The specific aims of this first nationwide Conference on Cancer in American Indians and Alaska Natives were (1) to share information, published and unpublished, about cancer in American Indians and Alaska Natives; (2) to discuss priorities for further research and program development; and (3) to determine if regional approaches to detection, treatment, prevention, and epidemiology are justified, thus necessitating periodic regional meetings of researchers and health care professionals