Twenty oncologists from around the world have traveled to the 2008 Annual Meeting as part of The ASCO Cancer Foundation International Development and Education Award (IDEA) program. The program is designed to improve global oncology care by providing support to young oncologists from outside the United States who wish to attend the ASCO Annual Meeting, the premier educational event in the field.

The ASCO Cancer Foundation IDEA program provides oncology professionals in countries with limited resources a monetary award to cover expenses associated with attending the Meeting, as well as complimentary Meeting registration and admission to a limited number of ticketed Meeting sessions. The award allows participants to expand their current knowledge, earn continuing medical education, and share their learning experiences at the Meeting with colleagues in their home countries, ultimately enhancing the quality of cancer care around the world. Eligible recipients also receive 3 years of complimentary ASCO membership, which includes a subscription to the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Since its inception in 2002, the program has enabled more than 100 oncologists from more than 30 different countries who practice or conduct research outside of the United States, to participate in the Meeting. Jacek Jassem, MD, PhD, 2007 to 2008 Chair of the ASCO International Affairs Committee, observed that, for awardees, “the IDEA grant is a strong stimulus to their professional careers.”

This year’s recipients are equally excited about the opportunity to learn about the most recent developments in oncology research and to share that knowledge with their patients and coworkers at home.

“My dream is to be involved in collaborative genetic epidemiology research,” said recipient Charles A. Adisa, MBBS, FWACS, FICS in an interview with ASCO Daily News, who noted that limited facilities for genetic, molecular, and translational research is one of the critical issues facing oncologists in his home country of Nigeria.

Recipients also look forward to the chance to develop professional relationships with oncologists from around the world, which will bolster their careers. “Significant differences exist in the various geographic regions of the world in terms of epidemiology and clinical presentation of cancers, in the availability of diagnostic and therapeutic modalities, and the socioeconomic background of the patients,” said recipient Navneet Singh, MD, DM, of India in an interview with ASCO Daily News. “It is extremely important for clinicians from across the world to meet on a regular basis, share their knowledge, and thus, continue to learn from each other’s experiences. The ASCO Annual Meeting provides one of the best platforms for oncologists worldwide to do this.”

“This is a time of evidence-based medicine,” said recipient Jianquan Zhu, MD, of China in an interview with ASCO Daily News. “No single oncologist can provide the patient the best care, without collaborating with others. Good clinical trials require collaboration. Different voices are stronger than one voice.”

The 2008 IDEA recipients hail from countries where resources for oncologists and patients are few. For some, oncology only recently has been recognized as a medical entity. In many developing nations, the infectious disease burden has taken priority over cancer. There also are issues of infrastructure: when medical centers are concentrated in cities, many patients who live in rural areas (where there may or may not be available transportation) are unable to seek care.

In Nigeria, said Dr. Adisa, a key issue is “limited funding and facilities for oncologic care. In a country with a population of about 150 million people, there are only five radiotherapy facilities: one facility for every 30 million people.”

In Egypt, the home country of recipient Hatem A. Azim, Jr., MBBCh, MSc, there is no nationwide cancer registry. “Only hospital-based registries are available,” he explained, “which makes us unable to define the exact magnitude of the problem in relation to other diseases. Based on hospital registries alone, we are expecting an epidemic in malignant pleural mesothelioma (secondary to asbestosis) and hepatocellular carcinoma (secondary to endemic hepatitis C, which affects 20% of the population) in the coming few years.”

During the Annual Meeting, each recipient is paired with a mentor team selected from a pool of volunteer ASCO leaders and oncology training program directors, which helps recipients to establish strong relationships with Society members. Mentors help to enhance the Meeting experience for the recipients and also provide advice about career development. Each recipient will have the opportunity to spend several days visiting his or her mentor’s institution, either prior to or immediately following the Meeting, as part of the Extended Tour Award (ETA).

The value of the mentorship component of the IDEA program has been universally praised by grant recipients since its institution at the 2004 Annual Meeting. “The program changed my life,” noted Rachel P. Riechelmann, MD, who was offered a position as a clinical research fellow by her IDEA mentor, Ian Tannock, MD, PhD, following the 2004 Meeting. “I have been working on the development and conduct of clinical trials … and in outpatient care, as well,” she explained.

The educational experience also allows recipients to share new insights and research results with their colleagues and to initiate change in and improvements to the practice and research infrastructure in their home countries. Explained Dr. Singh, a pulmonologist, “Being allowed to visit and participate in clinical activities at a prestigious cancer institution by means of the ETA will help me provide the highest standards of care for lung cancer patients in India.

To assist recipients in becoming agents of change in the oncology communities in their home countries, a workshop on information dissemination strategies will be offered on Tuesday, June 3. Alexander M. M. Eggermont, MD, PhD, Chair of the IDEA Working Group and member of the ASCO Board of Directors, will lead the collaborative discussion. Attendees will develop individual, strategic plans for sharing the knowledge learned at the ASCO Annual Meeting with their colleagues and patients at home.

The 2008 IDEA Prgram is generously supported through The ASCO Cancer Foundation by grants from Roche. Strongest consideration for the awards is given to candidates who also submit an abstract for the 2008 Annual Meeting. Applicants must have less than 10 years of experience in the field of oncology and must not have received 1 year or more of “formal training” in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia, or New Zealand; also, they cannot have attended more than one previous ASCO Annual Meeting. Applicants must be able to travel to the United States with no visa restrictions.

The application period for the 2009 IDEA Program will open in October, 2008. Questions can be submitted by sending an e-mail to idea@asco.org.

2008 ASCO Cancer Foundation IDEA Recipients
Of the 20 individuals selected to participate in the 2008 ASCO Cancer Foundation IDEA program, two have further distinguished themselves by having their research selected for presentation at the Annual Meeting. They are indicated in the list that follows by an asterisk, and information about the location and time of the sessions during which they will present is listed below.

Charles A. Adisa, MBBS, FWACS, FICS, Nigeria
Mahamed Hassan Al noseery, MSc, Zambia
Hatem A. Azim, Jr., MBBCh, MSc, Egypt
Ashish Vijay Bakshi, MD, DM, India
Yasemin Bolukbasi, MD, Turkey*
Mobolaji Olufemi Dada, MBBS, FMCPath, Nigeria
Balazs Dome, MD, PhD, Hungary
Dej Kumar Gautam, MS, Nepal
Sonja Genco Genadieva-Stavrik, MD, PhD, Macedonia, FYR
Sameh Azzam Hashem, MD, Jordan
Nataliya Ivanivna Kitsera, MD, PhD, Ukraine
Qiu Li, DO, PhD, China
Yan Li, MD, PhD, China
Cau Van Nguyen, MD, Vietnam
Joao Soares Nunes, MD, Brazil
Navneet Singh, MBBS, MD, DM, India
Igor Riste Stojkovski, MD, Macedonia, FYR
Ilya V. Tsimafeyeu, MD, Russia
Piotr J. Wysocki, MD, PhD, Poland*
Jianquan Zhu, MD, China

The ASCO Cancer Foundation IDEA program is intended to encourage and facilitate recipients’ participation in the international oncology community by exposing them to educational and professional opportunities not readily available to them in their home countries. The following 2008 IDEA recipients also will contribute to the Annual Meeting program through the presentation of original research at General Poster Sessions.

Yasemin Bolukbasi, MD
“Concomitant cisplatin-docetaxel chemotherapy with 3-D conformal radiotherapy followed by adjuvant cisplatin-docetaxel chemotherapy in locally advanced non-small-cell lung cancer:
toxicity and tolerability” (Abstract 7600)
General Poster Session, Lung Cancer:
Local-regional and Adjuvant Therapy
Sunday, June 1 • 2:00 PM–6:00 PM
Hall A1, South Building

Piotr J. Wysocki, MD, PhD
“Primary resistance to docetaxel-based
chemotherapy in metastatic breast cancer
patients correlates with a high frequency of BRCA1 mutations” (Abstract 1079)
General Poster Session, Breast Cancer:
Metastatic
Monday, June 2 • 2:00 PM–6:00 PM
Hall A1, South Building


IDEA Program Serves as Catalyst for Career Success
Many alumni of The ASCO Cancer Foundation IDEA program have seen tangible benefits in their career paths as a result of the award.

• Dr. Rafal Dziadziuszko, of Poland (2003 recipient), served a fellowship at the University of Colorado, where he spent his Extended Tour Award with mentor Dr. Fred Hirsch.
• Dr. Clement Adebamowo, of Nigeria (2003 recipient), is now a member of the ASCO International Affairs Committee and is the IDEA Working Group Chair-Elect.
• Dr. Priscila Hermont Barcellos Gonçalves, of Brazil (2005 recipient), was awarded the International Union Against Cancer American Cancer Society International Fellowship for Beginning Investigators in March 2006, under the supervision of her IDEA mentor Dr Francisco J. Esteva, of M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
• Dr. Layth Yahya Ibrahim, of Iraq (2005 recipient), was accepted to the ACS University and has also enrolled in the residency program in Radiation Oncology at the King Hussein Cancer Center in Amman, Jordan.
• Dr. Vahid Entezari, of Iran (2005 recipient), was awarded an International Cancer Research Technology Transfer fellowship to Harvard Orthopedic Biomechanic Laboratory.
• Dr. Mei Tien (2004 recipient) and Dr. Hong Zhang (2005 recipient), of China, have established a joint research program with their IDEA mentor Dr. Donald Trump. The Second Hospital of Zhejiang University-Roswell Park Cancer Institute Molecular Imaging Diagnostics and Therapy Research Center was inaugurated in January 2006.