The Global Fight Against Cancer

Great Lakes Division Hosts World Oncology Camp

Sponsored by the Great Lakes Division and YMCA Toledo Chapter, forty children from fourteen countries attended World Oncology Camp in Jackson, Michigan from June 16-28. Held triennially since 1993, the event is the world’s only international summer camp for cancer survivors. This year, children and medical chaperones from Belarus, Chile, Costa Rica, Egypt, Ghana, India, Israel, Jordan, Mexico, North Cyprus, Northern Ireland, South Korea, Spain, and the United States engaged in team sports, swimming, sailing, archery, riflery, horseback riding, rock wall and rope climbing, arts and crafts, and cultural exchanges. World Oncology Camp affords pediatric cancer survivors a unique opportunity for self-discovery; sharing the challenges, joys, and camaraderie of the summer camp experience. During the second week of their visits, international campers and their chaperones spent a week in the homes of Society volunteers and their families, sharing their respective cultures and battles with cancer. Medical professionals from participating countries visited the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center and C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, consulting with some of the nation’s leading pediatric hematology/oncology clinicians and researchers. Participants also exchanged information with representatives from the Palliative Care Service at Sparrow Health System, Gilda’s Club Worldwide, and the National Marrow Donor Program, further enhancing cancer control capacity in their respective home countries.

Japanese Delegation Tours High Plains Division

The High Plains Division hosted representatives from three Japanese cancer patient organizations at the American Cancer Society National Cancer Information Center (NCIC) and High Plains Division offices in Austin, Texas. This delegation included journalist and Society advisor Ken Hanioka, editor-in-chief of Nikkei Medical magazine. NCIC staff provided an overview of initiatives relevant to Japan cancer advocacy efforts, including promoting clinical trial information and community service referrals. Ann Marie Newman and other Division staff discussed the NCIC introduction of programs and services, demonstrating a crucial link between national and local activities. The Japanese delegation also toured facilities, including a regional patient services center housing wigs and prostheses.

International Staff Attend Conference of Africa Medical Physicists

American Cancer Society staff participated in the June 4-15 “Regional Training Course for Africa on Quality Assurance of Physical and Technical Aspects in Radiotherapy” held at Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, Illinois. In partnership with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Program for Action in Cancer Therapy (IAEA PACT), Society staff conducted a seminar on the role of civil society in global cancer control. Eighteen medical physicists from 16 African countries attended presentations by the Society, Argonne National Laboratory, National Cancer Institute, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization. Medical physicists play crucial roles in cancer prevention, early detection, treatment, and palliation by safeguarding the environment from contamination with radioactive isotopes, calibrating medical equipment, and implementing nuclear medicine and radiotherapy regimens to treat cancer and prevent suffering due to cancer. There are about 500 qualified medical physicists on the African continent - far short of the number required to meet the current burden. Concerted efforts at recruitment and training of nuclear medicine specialists are necessary for African countries to address the increasing burden posed by cancer over the next two decades. Countries in attendance include Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe.

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Florida Division Hosts Spanish language ACSU in Miami

The Florida Division hosted Miami's first Spanish language American Cancer Society University (ACSU), inviting cancer control leaders from throughout Latin America. Incoming Florida Board President Dr. Mario Mendez and board members Ms. Lilliam Machado and Ms. Janie Rodriguez were among the talented team who led the training. Division staff members on the training team included Vice President for Finance and Accounting Tanya Pavlik; Community Services Representative Jose Pinera; Community Services Representative Diane Maldonado; Area Patient Services Representative Cheri Brauer; Area Executive Director, Miami-Dade, Berta Rios; and Regional Field Operations Director Arleen Uria-Speed. The program included visits to the University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Jackson Memorial Medical Center, where scholars learned more about the Florida Division's outreach efforts and the Society’s collaboration with these institutions. Scholars were also interviewed on Society President-Elect Dr. Elmer Huerta’s daily talk radio program, El Consultorio Comunitario, to discuss the impact of cancer on their respective countries. This ACSU was also attended by representatives from Bristol Myers Squibb, which is generously underwriting seed grant support to ACSU scholars that will enhance innovative cancer control interventions in Latin America. Florida Division Chief Executive Officer Don Webster and Chief Operating Officer Ralph DeVitto attended the ACSU and provided opening and closing remarks, respectively.

Divisions Sponsor Asian-focused ACSU in Oakland

The California, Great West, and High Plains Divisions sponsored a successful ACSU in Oakland, California, on May 20-25, 2007. Twenty-one scholars from nine countries, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam, took part in the week-long training to learn about NGO management topics such as advocacy, collaboration, fundraising and grants management, governance, media relations, needs assessment and program planning, patient advocacy, prevention and detection, tobacco control, and volunteerism. Scholars visited the University of California, San Francisco campus to hear Dr. Stanton Glantz give a tobacco control presentation. They also attended a luncheon at the California Division headquarters, hosted by David Veneziano, the Division’s chief executive officer, who also arranged for them to meet with area researchers. The week concluded with an inspirational speech given by cancer survivor Chris Pablo, who recounted his battle against leukemia.