LÖSEV, Foundation for Children with Leukemia, currently a national leader among nonprofit nongovernmental organizations in Turkey, has been providing a wide range of services including medical diagnosis and treatment, financial assistance, psychosocial support, education programs, and bursaries to thousands of children with leukemia and their families, treating the child as a whole and providing an integrative approach for the past 24 years. As a result, the treatment success has increased tremendously.
The Inaugural LÖSANTE LÖSE Symposium was held on June 3-4, as part of the celebrations for the 21st International Month for Children with Leukemia. It took place at LÖSANTE Hospital as a two-day event; tailored toward health professionals on the first day and towards the community on the second day. Aspects of adult and childhood cancers, cancer and nutrition, and obesity were covered by international guest speakers from the U.S., Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. The symposium aimed to be a starting point for international collaboration, scientific activities, and the transfer of experience among participants.
Anees Chagpar, MD, MBA, MPH, professor of surgery (oncology), an affiliated faculty member at YIGH, assistant director for the START@Yale Program, and co-leader of the Yale Global Surgery Faculty Network was a guest speaker at the event with talks on “Breast cancer prevention and screening in low resource settings” and “Establishing a Comprehensive Breast Cancer Center”. Prior to the symposium she also gave a seminar titled “Issues in Breast Surgery” to a group of breast surgeons in which the controversial topics in the discipline were discussed in detail.
Isil Yildiz Aktas, MD, MPH, assistant professor of pathology, also an affiliated faculty member at YIGH, co-chaired the symposium.
The two hope to work together on international collaborative projects.