The event, Oncology Leaders Forum 2006, will be held October 30-November 1, 2006 at The Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines in San Diego, CA. The topics include government; industry and analyst perspectives on market potential and what it will take to commercialize novel combination and mono therapies for oncology; and a five-year forecast of market size and potential opportunities for oncology therapeutics in US and globally.

The event Transition to Industry Career Symposium for Graduate students and Postdocs will take place on October 28, 2006 from 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. at Biogen Idec, 5200 Research Place, in San Diego, CA. Discussions concern the local life sciences industry and how to market to industry. Provides the opportunity to interact with and seek out information from local companies. For more information, contact email biotech@workforce.org.

The event Simon Ramo Distinguished Lecture: The Changing Pharmaceutical Industry will take place on October 26, 2006 at 4 p.m. at the Keck Graduate Institute, Building #517, 535 Watson Drive, in Claremont, CA. The guest speaker of this event is Dr. P. Roy Vagelos, who is the retired chairman and chief executive officer of Merck & Co., Inc. For more information, contact the Keck Graduate Institute at 909-607-7892 or events@kgi.edu. http://www.kgi.edu/x4156.xml.

The event New and Emerging Causes of Birth Defects will take place on October 27-28, 2006 at UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy at UC San Diego in San Diego, CA. This timely conference will address the environmental causes of birth defects. Key topics include: anticonvulsant medications, maternal diabetes, and isotretinoin and Vitamin A. Presenters hail from eight of the world’s premier medical institutions representing both the U.S. and Australia. For more information, contact UCSD at (800)711-5030.

The interactive audio conference Is Clinical Trial Noncompliance Allowed to Happen? will take place on October 27, 2006 from 1 – 2:30 p.m. This event is sponsored by publishers BioWorld Today and Medical Device Daily and is $299 per listening site. The conference will examine issues regarding compliance with the key focus on steps and programs to ensure compliance. The speaker will be Tamera Norton Smith, PhD, MT(ASCP), President and Senior Consultant at Norton Audits Inc.

Session X of the Women’s Technology Cluster Venture Catalyst Program, Angel Funding, will take place on October 27, 2006 from 8 to 10:15 a.m. at Fenwick & West LLP’s offices at 801 California Street, Mountain View, CA. The speakers will include Jaleh Daie, Band of Angels; Allan May, Life Science Angels; Susan Preston, Kauffman Foundation; Laura Roden, Angels Forum; Steve Stephansen, Sand Hill Angels; and Randy Williams, Keiretsu Forum. The registration price for the event is $27.17 (the registration price for the full series is $172.00).