A three-day conference cosponsored by the National Cancer Institute Mouse Models of Human Cancer Consortium and the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania was convened on December 1, 2004, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The purpose of the conference was to compare the histopathologic changes in murine models of exocrine pancreatic cancer to human disease and to discuss potential preclinical applications of these models. The participants of this international meeting included over 100 physicians and scientists with expertise in pancreatic cancer pathology, therapy, detection, and biology, and they were organized accordingly into working groups. The format of the meeting was a series of short presentations by individual participants followed by working group breakout sessions. The working groups presented their reports on the final day of the conference, and highlights of selected individual presentations and working group recommendations are summarized here and in an accompanying pathology consensus report. (Cancer Res 2006; 66(1): 14-7)