Press Release Regarding Upcoming International Fellowship Signing Ceremony, Due to Take Place September 21st, 2012

Tag Archives: cancer patients

Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center to partner with Egypt Cancer Network and Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt

Creating Egypt-based fellowship training program for physicians from Egypt, the Middle East and North Africa Region

BOSTON – Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center is announcing a partnership with the Egypt Cancer Network and Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt in an effort to improve childhood cancer survival rates and outcomes within Egypt, the Middle East and North Africa. The organizations are collaborating to create an Egypt-based fellowship training program in pediatric oncology for physicians in those regions.

“Since beginning a twinning program between the Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center and the Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt in 2006, we have seen significant improvement in the outcome of pediatric cancer patients in Egypt,” said Mark Kieran, MD, PhD, director of medical neuro-oncology at Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center and member of the medical advisory board for the Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357’s pediatric oncology fellowship program. “However, there is still a shortage of expertise and resources needed to treat children with cancer in this region.”

“The fellowship is designed to improve the childhood cancer survival rates and outcomes within Egypt, the Middle East and North Africa,” said Kieran. “This collaboration will allow the exchange of information, knowledge and experience for both doctors from the region and from the United States, providing the opportunity for the improvement of treatment and care practices.”

The collaboration will provide a formal fellowship framework for pediatric oncology training and mentoring for Egyptian, African and Middle Eastern pediatricians in line with international standards and will create a pool of qualified pediatric oncologists who can ensure continued progress in improving outcomes for children with cancer in this region.

As part of the fellowship, between 2 and 6 pediatric physicians from the Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt will travel to Boston to work with specialists at Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center (DF/CHCC).  In addition, DF/CHCC physicians will rotate at the Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt to train oncologists there in the latest treatments and care techniques.

About the Dana-Farber / Children’s Hospital Cancer Center

Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center (DF/CHCC) combines the strengths of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a world-class cancer institute, and Boston Children’s Hospital, an internationally known pediatric hospital. For over 60 years, these two Harvard Medical School affiliates have provided comprehensive care for children and adolescents with cancer. Committed to conducting research to better understand and treat childhood cancers, DF/CHCC is the Pediatric Oncology Experimental Therapeutics Investigator Consortium’s (POETIC) only Phase I Clinical Trial site in New England, and is home to one of the world’s most sophisticated and accomplished Pediatric Stem Cell Transplantation centers. DF/CHCC also offers comprehensive transitional and long-term survivorship programs to childhood cancer survivors of all ages.

 

As Ramadan draws to a close, ECN wanted to highlight the numerous accomplishments that we have accumulated over the past year. These include our sponsorship of an emergency supply of leukemia medication, the architectural design and expansion of CCHE 57357, feasibility studies for new endeavors, Egyptian medical researchers in seeking higher education opportunities to build CCHE’s staff capacity and the approval of our international fellowship program, among other successes.

ECN has dedicated itself to contributing $10 million to the highly-anticipated expansion of Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357 (CCHE), which will ultimately cost upwards of $80 million. Other projects that are in receipt of our support are the construction of new outpatient clinics, a hospice care edifice and guest houses at the Egyptian National Cancer Institute (NCI). In the spirit of the new era that Egypt is now in, and in recognition of the need for all Egyptians to have opportunities and accessibility to services and high-quality care, this goal is certainly attainable. Thus far, during the first three weeks of Ramadan, we have raised over $1.6 million in donations. With $170,000 in donations, ECN could support the extended education and training of 8-10 Egyptian researchers at prestigious institutions in the United States and elsewhere. Naming opportunities can allow you to have various equipment, rooms and buildings at CCHE and NCI be named after you or a loved one. Naming opportunities range in price from $2,000 for an electrical room to $300,000 to sponsor the building entrance. For more information on naming opportunities and to view the list of naming opportunities, please click here.

In just one year we have accomplished so much, but there is always more work to be done in the realm of cancer treatment. Please consider donating to our organization so that we can continue to support endeavors that change the lives of cancer patients in Egypt and beyond. To learn more about the impact of your gifts thus far, please visit our accomplishments page, which we update on a regular basis to keep our donors informed of the progress of our major projects. To learn more about the impact of your future gifts, please visit our projects page.

 

 

 

“How CCHE Brought Me Back to Egypt and is Helping to End the Brain-Drain”, by Dr. Hoda M. Amer

Upon my completion of my fellowship in pediatric pathology from Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, I was faced with a serious personal and professional dilemma: was I to return to Egypt, where I was born and raised, or should I remain in the United States, my adoptive home where I had completed many years of medical training?

The decision did not come easily to me. I reflected heavily on my time spent in the United States, not only during my fellowship, but also while completing my residency in anatomic pathology from the University of Medicine and Dentistry in Newark, New Jersey, prior to my fellowship. I also ruminated over my accomplishments in Egypt, including graduating with a degree from the Kasr el Aini Medical School in Cairo.

Part of my dilemma was a lack of knowledge about what kind of opportunities existed for pediatric pathologists in Egypt. I wanted to find a way to put my hard work in the academic and medical realm to practice in a meaningful way. The majority of my friends at home did not hide their pessimism on the subject, and the chances of me returning to Egypt to give back to my country seemed slim.

Suddenly, I had a breakthrough upon hearing the suggestion of my program director, a Syrian-American doctor by the name of Dr. Samir Kahwash. He had attended a conference at particularly unique children’s cancer hospital located in downtown Cairo, Egypt known locally as “57357” or Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357 (CCHE). He spoke to me very seriously about returning to Egypt and looking into this phenomenal institution as a potential employer. I was soon being given advice by many others who had heard of the hospital and its accomplishments, all of whom believed in the potential of the combination of my academic training and CCHE as an incredible, revolutionary institution.

I am now a proud, full-time member of the CCHE staff, and under the direction of our fantastic pathology department leader, Dr. Hala Taha, we attend to over 3,000 pathology cases per year. We are the only pathology department in Egypt to provide intra-operative consultation for brain tumors and other highly technical, scientific testing procedures.

At CCHE, I was able to bring my two different backgrounds together and solve my personal dilemma. Each contributor, be them staff, advisers, patients, or donors, sustains and builds this hospital day by day. Anyone who has ever suffered the detrimental effects of cancer, either directly or indirectly, can sympathize with the difficulties associated with the disease. When dealing with cancer cases in Egypt, there are many potential additional components to the situation endured by a cancer patient, including extreme poverty and lack of access to cancer treatment and education.

CCHE is also facing a dilemma, as it needs your donations in order to survive and give the youngest of Egypt’s population with cancer a chance at life. CCHE is fully dependent on donations from the Egyptian and the global communities and can only continue to provide free care to pediatric cancer patients with your help.

Please consider donating to the sustenance of CCHE through Egypt Cancer Network (ECN), the organization responsible for raising money for CCHE and supporting cancer initiatives throughout Egypt, at the following link: www.egyptiancancernetwork.org/donate

Also recall that ECN is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization and that any donation you make will be tax-deductible within the United States.

Your donation is greatly appreciated and will to help fortify the medical infrastructure of this hospital, which in turn helps to bring intellectual capital back to Egypt from abroad, fighting the brain-drain that Egypt has witnessed over the past three decades.

With many thanks,

 

Dr. Hoda M. Amer, Fellow of the College of American Pathologists

 

Africa Unites to Cure Children with Cancer

We are honored and pleased to announce the visit of twenty-three Ambassadors of Africa to Hospital 57357 this March. It is inspiring to see all the African Nations unite for a common cause: to provide treatment to children with cancer.

The twenty-three African Ambassadors, headed by Ambassador Mona Omar met with children at Hospital 57357 along with the hospital’s Vice President, Academic Affairs, Research and Outreach and Fundraising teams. The teams presented the mission and vision of Hospital 57357, including and how it operates and provides treatment to children through donations exclusively.

Africa’s Ambassadors to Egypt Visit Hospital 57357

The distinguished guests toured the various hospital departments, sections, services and had opportunities to speak with the staff and children. The visitors were impressed by the quality of health services, the fact that children continue school studies during their hospital stay, and the overall atmosphere of the hospital, to which extent one ambassador stated, ‘… I do not feel I’m in a hospital, this place looks more like a children’s club, the natural light, the waiting areas, and the play rooms provide distraction and entertainment to the children…. It looks rather a cheerful place than a hospital in the conventional sense…”

Today Hospital 57357 is approaching a 5 anniversary landmark of dedication on the part of all to curing children with cancer. The cooperation between Hospital 57357 and the African Nations can improve health care services for young cancer patients, a priority, by leveraging the unique and leading experience and knowledge of Hospital 57357 in Africa.