It’s that time of year! If your membership is set to expire on December 31st, please make sure to renew so that we may continue to serve you in 2020.

IGCS, being a member driven organization, relies on the members to support us in many ways – including renewing your membership. This past year, we’ve accomplished a lot thanks to your support and the contributions of our members. I hope you will renew your membership so you can continue receiving member benefits like these. Here are just a few examples of what we’ve accomplished in 2019:

• Increased our membership by over 250 percent. In 2016, we had about 900 members and now we serve over 3200 gynecologic oncology specialists from 115 countries.
• Launched a new online social community (Social Link) for members to communicate, share information and learn from each other.
• Conducted our first live-streaming educational webinar (for free) with nearly 200 attendees from 54 countries.
• Hosted monthly Project ECHO virtual tumor board video conferences in 17 different sites around the world with over 120 faculty contributors discussing more than 300 cases.
• Formed an Early Career Research & Publications Network to provide early career members with a supportive network of peers and mentors to discuss publishing and writing as critical components to career development.
• Expanded the Gynecologic Oncology Global Curriculum & Mentorship Program to 12 training sites and recently celebrated 3 fellows passing their final examination.
• Funded 14 young doctors from low-resource countries to attend the IGCS Annual Global Meeting in Brazil.
• Re-instated the Visiting Scholars & Mentorship Program, funding travel and accommodations for 3 young doctors from mid to low-resource countries to visit an established center to learn specific skills not available at their institution.
• Assembled a global network of advocacy and outreach groups to empower women and communities.
• Cultivated partnerships with regional and international groups to work towards our mission to improve the care of women worldwide.

In 2020, we hope to accomplish even more.

We plan to bring our members an enhanced online education experience, including a palliative care certificate program and dedicated resources for pathology and radiation oncology.

2020 is an election year for new Officers and Council Members, so make sure to renew your membership so you can vote in the upcoming election – or apply for a position on the council.

Please sign in to your member account and submit your membership dues for 2020 or pay in advance up to three years. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact the IGCS Membership Manager, Cathy Fearing at cathy.fearing@igcsdev.com.

As always, we thank you for your continued dedication. We look forward to serving you for another year!

Mary Eiken, MS
IGCS CEO

IGCS welcomes three societies bringing a total of 127 new members to the Strategic Alliance Partnership Program:

• Caribbean Gynecologic Cancer Society (CGCS)
• Malaysian Gynaecological Cancer Society (MGCS)
• Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplasicas-Peru (INEN)

The Caribbean
The Caribbean Gynecologic Cancer Society (CGCS) has joined the IGCS Strategic Alliance Partner bringing 43 Caribbean members to our international community. Dr. Raleigh Butler, the Program Director of the Gynecologic Oncology Fellowship at the University of the West Indies Bahamas led the charge in securing this partnership. CGCS was founded in 2015 and is made up of physicians specializing in gynecologic oncology from the University of the West Indies (UWI) campuses of Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados and Bahamas.
With different cultures, governments, political histories and populations, the standards of medical facilities can vary from island to island. Recent research revealed that the Bahamas has the highest occurrence of BRCA-positivity in the world. Cervical cancer incidence is 22.1 per 100,000 in the UWI campus countries combined.

Acknowledging that the region had a wealth of talented individuals who had trained at home and overseas, the UWI campuses initiated a collaborative approach to fighting gynecological malignancies across the region. The IGCS Global Curriculum and Mentorship Program has been implemented at the UWI campuses in Jamaica and the Bahamas.

Now through the Strategic Alliance, we look forward to working with CGCS on additional collaborative initiatives for the benefit of women’s cancer control in the Caribbean.

Malaysia
Please join us in welcoming 43 new members from the Malaysian Gynecological Cancer Society ( MGCS ) to the IGCS Strategic Alliance Partner Program. We would like to thank Dr. Vicknesh Visvalingam , Senior Consultant Gynecological Oncologist & MGCS President in securing our partnership.

Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia with a population of over 33 million. Cervical, ovarian and uterine cancers are among the top 10 most common cancers among Malaysian women. Much has been achieved in improving gynecological oncology services in Malaysia in the past 50 years. There is a structured program under the purview of the Ministry of Health Malaysia to increase the number of gynecological oncologists in order to cope with the burden of gynecological cancers in the country.
In 2001, the first gynecologic oncology training center was established in the northern region of Malaysia and today there are 12 recognized hospitals providing training. Most major Malaysian hospitals currently have one or two trained gynecologic oncologists to serve the public. With the support from the Ministry of Health Malaysia, academic Institutions and the Obstetrics and Gynecology Society of Malaysia, MGCS has been involved in various training programs, conferences, workshops, and in training and educating the public.

MGCS organizes the Biennial National Gynaecological Oncology Conference and is also involved in preparing the Malaysian Clinical Practice Guidelines on site specific gynecological cancers as well as research projects. We look forward to working with MGCS in furthering our joint goals to improve women’s cancer care in Malaysia.

Peru
Finally, Dr. Aldo López Blanco and nurse Ninoska Eugenia Macavilca Luyo were instrumental in securing a partnership with the Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplasicas-Peru, bringing 44 gynecologic oncologists into the IGCS Strategic Alliance.

With a population of 32 million, Peru is located on the west coast of South America where one-third of the total population lives in Lima, the capital city. When it comes to cancer control, Peru has unique challenges because this concentration of population in only one city contributed to structural, infrastructural and procedural barriers for the Peruvian health system. Cervical and breast cancer are a leading cause of death among women in Peru.

The National Institute of Neoplastic Diseases, better known as INEN, is a Peruvian public hospital managed by the Ministry of Health of Peru that has a national responsibility for cancer prevention, detection, treatment, education, and research. The INEN has organized satellite treatment centers and cancer prevention offices in many parts of the country in an effort to decentralize cancer control services and reduce gaps in geographic and economic access.

In the past decade alone, much work has been done to mobilize policies and actions for the prevention and control of cancer in Peru though the commitment of INEN, the National Government of Peru’s Ministries of Health and Finance and through international collaborations with the global health community. IGCS looks forward to assisting our colleagues in Peru with their tireless efforts to reduce the incidence of gynecologic cancers in the region.

We are glad to welcome our most recent partners into the IGCS global community and look forward to collaborating and developing strategies to utilize our strengths to achieve our common goals.

New Surgical Resources for IGCS Members through AAGL Partnership

We are pleased to announce a that over 1200 surgical resources are now available to IGCS members through our new partnership with the AAGL. Formerly known as the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists, AAGL has a membership extending over 110 countries with over 7,000 members across the globe. The mission of AAGL is to focus on the ultimate goal of improving patient care in gynecologic medicine, AAGL recognizes that surgical gynecologists and other clinicians require lifelong learning.

A partnership with AAGL is a natural fit, as they seek to broaden their exposure and reach more global parts of the world and we at IGCS seek to provide all our members globally with a wide spectrum of surgical content. We are confident that our partnership will continue to grow and evolve to other important areas within both organizations.

About SurgeryU
The function of SurgeryU is to deliver high-quality, high-definition surgical video to members of the AAGL and our partner societies through our live and on-demand video library.

Member Access to SurgeryU

• Visit https://www.surgeryu.com/landing  
• Within the login window, select IGCS Member from the Society drop-down menu.
• Members will be redirected to the IGCS website for authentication.
• Successful authentication will redirect Members to SugeryU with full access.

Watch this quick tutorial video to learn how to use the SurgeryU platform to search for content, create playlists, save favorites and more!

Key Statistics about SurgeryU

• Primary focus is to educate gynecologic surgeons of all levels on minimally invasive surgical techniques.
• The library consists of over 1,200 Surgical videos.
• Since 2009, SurgeryU live events have accrued over 1.5 million minutes of viewing time.
• SurgeryU has been viewed by AAGL members in over 110 countries.
• Content is peer-reviewed.
• Partner societies now have SSO access through their respective membership portals.

New features incorporated in SurgeryU, developed with trainee education in mind:

• An upgraded search engine to allow for finding videos faster and easier. Videos can now be searched by author, keywords, or type of content.
• Mobile friendly.
• Full length, narrated videos that appeal to learners of all levels.
• Ability to share links which allows the user to send and share specific videos with other surgeons.
• Ability to create playlists and save favorites.

Acknowledgements and Future Plans
Under the direction of our education leadership Drs. Ritu Salani, Ane Gerda Eriksson and Vance Broach, we are reviewing and creating special channels of content that they feel will be of great interest to our members. They are also creating new content for the SurgeryU platform that will be shared with both our membership and the AAGL when appropriate. This will allow us to utilize the innovative and specialized technology that the SurgeryU platform provides. For now, please take the time to become familiar with the platform and we will alert you when new education is launched.

We are extremely grateful for the leadership of Drs. Gary Frishman AAGL Immediate Past President, Jubilee Brown AAGL Vice President and IGCS Volunteer Leader and the entire AAGL Executive Board. Dr. Suketu Mansuria who is the AAGL Surgical Video Editor has been instrumental in delivering these valuable resources to you our members.

We hope that you find value in SurgeryU and become acquainted with the new educational content that is now available to you through your IGCS Membership. If you have any questions or comments, please contact Mandy Hansen at mandy.hansen@igcsdev.com.

Enjoy!

Roberto Angioli, MD
IGCS President

Mary Eiken, MS
IGCS CEO

As the largest organization dedicated to the global interests of the gynecologic oncology community, IGCS advocates for our members and the specialty in many ways. We advocate for the improvement and standardization of training through our Global Curriculum Program and opportunities in our mentorship programs. We are advocating for our members’ education with increased learning opportunities. The decision to move to an annual meeting allows us to bring the meeting to new regions of the globe and provides IGCS members the opportunity come together on a more regular basis to network and learn with their international colleagues.

We believe parallel and equally important to these advocacy activities is the opportunity to work with patient survivors, caregivers and others interested in making a difference for women diagnosed with gynecologic malignancies. There is a wealth of excellent gynecologic oncology patient education from a variety of resources and organizations. Many non-profit healthcare associations have a component of patient advocacy in their organizations with a primary focus on patient education.  Also, many organizations are started by patients who have a mission to drive awareness, raise funding and be a resource for survivors and their caregivers. Over time, we hope to enhance our website with information and links to many of these outstanding resources.

The IGCS Council recently discussed and approved the concept of IGCS centering its advocacy efforts around the theme “empowerment”. Empowering women, caregivers and others interested in making a difference with tools and resources to increase their level of autonomy and enable them to represent the specific needs within their region. This may include screening and vaccination, funding and support for clinical trials, research, and access to better care.

We can best begin to achieve our goals through our annual meeting efforts as we move from region to region. As we plan these meetings, we will network with local physician thought leaders for information, regional strategic alliance partners and other similar organizations. We will become familiar with the region and their current advocacy efforts and needs. We would welcome the opportunity to cultivate and build relationships with the women from these regions and learn about their obstacles while sharing our patient advocacy goals and resources to empower them to begin to make changes in the region. By the time the Global Meeting occurs, we will have established a strong network of survivors, caregivers and others who would attend the “Empowering Women” course themed around any key challenges and concepts learned during the cultivating phase and conduct the training needed to allow for them to become effective advocates.

IGCS Council recognizes the importance of these activities and the need for a qualified individual who will work with the IGCS team to initiate our patient advocacy efforts. We are seeking someone who has existing relationships in many parts of the globe, understands the patient perspective from region to region, and has the ability to develop advocacy training programs based off the information learned. Over time, they would also seek and write proposals for grants.

Where better to start the search than with you, our members who have relationships with patients and patient-centered organizations in and around gynecologic oncology. Please feel free to contact our Chief Executive Officer at mary.eiken@igcsdev.com. She would welcome the opportunity for you to share your thoughts, suggestions and provide any information you might have in our search for the ideal person to achieve our goal of empowering women.

Sincerely,

Michael Quinn, AM, MGO
2016-2018 IGCS President

Mary Eiken, MS
IGCS CEO