Good morning. Welcome to this State-of the-Science meeting on ovarian cancer. The National Cancer Institute, over the past several years, has tried to sponsor a number of State-of the-Science meetings on major tumors.

The goal of these meetings, really, is to bring together the best experts and parties interested in the treatment of these diseases to identify emerging opportunities, to identify gaps in our research portfolio, to really think strategically about how to advance the treatment of ovarian cancer, in this case, over the next several years.

As you know, we only have a limited number of opportunities to mount large phase III trials to answer definitive questions.

It is important to be prepared with the best ideas, to have the best new treatments and the best new approaches ready for those important phase III trials, and to do the necessary work to be prepared.

The hope is that, by bringing together translational researchers, basic researchers, clinical researchers, patients and patient advocates, that we can really identify those best opportunities and make sure that we are prepared, so that we can produce major improvements in the treatment of ovarian cancer.

I would like to thank Mike Birrer, Jane Fountain and Ted Trimble for organizing us all. This isn't the coziest of set ups, but the purpose here really is to create opportunities for conversation, for collaborations that will advance the necessary research, again, so we are prepared for the most important trials as we move forward.

With that introduction, I would like to thank you all for being here, and look forward to the many important conversations that will be held today. Thank you.

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