1999 - 2006: Growth and Prosperity

Enthusiasm for biological therapy is rekindled as monoclonal antibody treatments come of age and vaccine strategies also begin to strengthen their place in cancer treatments. The society has a resulting upsurge in membership and meeting participation, thus fostering growth and prosperity as an organization and providing an arena for invaluable information exchange amongst researchers and clinicians.

To reflect this growth in both national and international membership, the society officially becomes the International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer (iSBTc) and changes its internal structure to a committee-driven society giving leadership opportunities to many valued members.

Benchmarks:

  • Vaccines research begins to flourish with research in autologous tumor cells, autologous tumor cell lines, peptide antigens and the understanding of combinations of antigen sources with dendritic cells
  • SBT conducts its first international meeting held in 2000 in Berlin, Germany under the presidency of Michael T. Lotze, MD
  • Steven A. Rosenberg, MD, PhD returns as Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Immunotherapy in 2000
  • SBT contracts Executive Director, Inc. (EDI) to serve as its full-time management company in 2001
  • In 2001, the SBT Board votes to include subscription to the Journal of Immunotherapy as part of SBT membership
  • Under the presidency of Robert O. Dillman, MD, SBT officially changes its name to the International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer (iSBTc) at the Board of Directors meeting in November of 2002
  • The iSBTc 18th Annual Meeting, held in November of 2003 in Bethesda, Maryland, sets a record for meeting attendance with 504 individual registrants under the presidency of Michael B. Atkins, MD
  • The iSBTc Strategic Plan of 2004 confirms a committee based leadership for the society and redefines iSBTc's goals for the future
  • Ulrich Keilholz, MD, from Germany, becomes the first international iSBTc President in November 2004; iSBTc reaches membership total of 500 individuals under his presidency in 2005
  • iSBTc celebrates the 20th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Alexandria, Virginia in November of 2006 and sets another attendance record with 557 registrants