In Memory of Beloved Board Member Ms. Ola Ghabour

Tag Archives: national cancer institute

Ola Ghabbour 1It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved board member, Ms. Ola Ghabour, after a short and valiant battle with cancer. Ms. Ghabour led a very successful life. She was a co-founder Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357 in Cairo as well as Egypt Cancer Network in the U.S. As a tireless volunteer and visionary, she also served as the Secretary General of the Children’s Cancer Hospital Foundation 57357 (CCHF), as well as the Chairman of the Board of the Association of Friends of the National Cancer Institute (AFNCI).

Her contributions to Egypt Cancer Network 57357 have been invaluable, and her presence in all of her activities will be sorely missed.

Please support the naming opportunity program that Egypt Cancer Network 57357 shares with its partners, Association of Friends of the National Cancer Institute (AFNCI) and Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357 (CCHE). The Naming Opportunity program is specially crafted to commemorate your loved ones while simultaneously providing the framework from which CCHE and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) can continue to treat Egypt’s cancer-stricken children. It must be noted that it was from within the ranks of NCI that the notion of CCHE was first born, and it was NCI’s campus that provided the initial training to the CCHE staff.

Several years ago NCI’s administration opted to move all of NCI’s services into one of the two towers in the complex as it was recognized that one of the towers were in dire need of structural renovations. While this decision was made from the perspective of ensuring the safety of patients and staff, it simultaneously made the functioning tower crowded and congested. It was determined that at least five years would be required in order to reinforce the tower and expand on the current NCI campus.

The form in which the campus will be renovated is through the creation of a new structure designated to house 43 out-patient clinics, making space for an anticipated 1600 visitors per day. This new edifice will make room inside the main tower for chemotherapy treatment and other more complicated services and will offer consultation services as well as dispense medication and draw blood. The cost of the complex is estimated at 16 million Egyptian pounds or $2.6 million.

According to Engineer Zaid Al-Baroodi, who oversees the construction of the new complex, once funding is secured then the time needed for the complex to be operational will be cut down to just six months. An increase in funding in the immediate time frame would permit this window presented by Eng. Al-Baroodi to become a reality, and would therefore permit the speedy and efficient delivery of services to patients and restore a healthy environment for both patients and staff. Both the preliminary design and the final design were donated by Look Pavilion Firm and EHAF Consulting Engineers Firm, respectively. The construction phase is already underway.

To date AFNCI, with the help of its partners, has already accumulated a lengthy list of accomplishments pertaining to NCI including the construction of a cytogenetic lab, a pediatric oncology outpatient clinic, the first clinical pharmacy in Egypt, and the initial construction phases of CCHE. AFNCI has also held blood drives, supplied medicines, and hired security and building personnel for NCI, while also supporting radiology services at CCHE and transporting patients to other cancer treatment centers.

AFNCI has also supported CCHE in its design, construction and management, handling all of these tasks and more before involving Children’s Cancer Hospital Foundation 57357 (CCHF) and to other CCHE partners like ECN. CCHE still receives much assistance from AFNCI today, particularly in the realm of supporting special projects that distinguish CCHE from other institutions as a leading center for children’s care in Egypt, the region and beyond.

Egypt Cancer Network 57357and AFNCI, herein referred to as ECN, is a U.S. based non-profit,501(c)3 to which all donations made are tax-deductible. Its mission is to provide resources to Egyptian hospitals and non-profit organizations focused on cancer in the areas of patient care, scientific advancement and education.

For more information about naming opportunities at CCHE and NCI, please visit http://egyptcancernetwork.org/naming-opportunities/ to begin the process. A naming opportunity can be named in the legacy of a family, a loved one or a corporation and can be in the form of rooms, wings and equipment.

 

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.