IPOS IQ News


  • 9 May 2018 4:08 PM | IPOS admin (Administrator)

    29.10.2018 - 02.11.2018 Hong Kong, China

    Welcome Letter from the Chairs

    Dear Friends and Colleagues,

    We are delighted to welcome you to Hong Kong and the 20th International Psycho-Oncology Society World Congress of Psycho-Oncology. The School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong is partnering with the Hong Kong Cancer Fund to host this World Congress which will be a very special meeting for a number of reasons. The second IPOS World Congress was held in Kobe, Japan 24 years ago in 1994, and this is the first time since that the IPOS World Congress returns to Asia. A lot has changed over the last quarter century and Asia is now one of the leading economic and tourist destinations in the world. IPOS will be 26 years old, so the 20th World Congress is something to celebrate. This meeting is also especially significant because 2018 will see the 90th birthday of Professor Jimmie Holland, the founder of IPOS and “Mother” of psycho-oncology. We hope you will join us in Hong Kong to celebrate these important milestones and anniversaries.

    Hong Kong is one of the most exciting cities in the world, and the 20th World Congress will showcase the best cutting edge work in psycho-oncology. With a conference theme of “Optimizing psychosocial supportive services in cancer care” and psychosocial academy workshops addressing timely issues in research and practice, the upcoming World Congress represents a huge opportunity for practitioners and researchers in the region to share their experiences, work and research with psycho-oncology practitioners from across the globe. In addition to this great learning and networking opportunity, we are focused on the ultimate purpose of this work: to improve the lives of people facing cancer around the world.

    So please come to Hong Kong for what we promise will be an unforgettable experience. We encourage you to bring your families who will also have a wonderful time enjoying the city. We look forward to seeing you all in October, 2018!

    Wandy Lam & Sally Lo

    Link: http://www.ipos2018.com/index.html

  • 9 May 2018 4:07 PM | IPOS admin (Administrator)

    This is an excerpt from: Wiener L. In Memoriam: Andrea Farkas Patenaude, PhD. Psycho‐Oncology. 2018;27(4):1357–1358.

    Dr. Andrea Farkas Patenaude, a visionary and internationally renowned clinician and thoughtful clinical researcher had a significant impact on the field of psycho-oncology. Dr. Patenaude’s early career focused on children with cancer undergoing bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Her excellent clinical skills and leadership abilities were well known and she was the Director of the Jimmie Fund Clinic of the DFCI Pediatric Psychology Program from 2000-2011, providing psychosocial services to children with cancer, their parents, siblings and survivors of pediatric cancer. From 2011 until her retirement, Dr. Patenaude was the Director of Psychology Research and Clinical Service, in the Center for Cancer Genetics and Prevention where she developed a unique hereditary cancer psychosocial clinic to support and treat members of these high-risk families.

    She published two groundbreaking books, “Genetic Testing for Cancer: Psychological Approaches to Helping Patients and Families,” in 2005, and "Prophylactic Mastectomy: Insights from Women Who Chose to Reduce Their Risk," in 2012. Throughout her career, Dr. Patenaude lectured on every continent except Antarctica, authored over 70 peer-reviewed articles and numerous book chapters, and edited two editions of the Quick Reference for Pediatric Oncology Clinicians: The Psychiatric and Psychological Dimensions of Cancer Symptom Management. Amongst many other leadership roles, Dr. Patenaude co-chaired the Pediatrics Special Interest Group for the International Psychosocial Oncology Society (IPOS) and was a member of the Scientific Committee of the International Society for Pediatric Oncology (SIOP). She coordinated collaborative efforts between IPOS and SIOP to shine a light on human rights abuses involving the treatment of cancer in children globally, and particularly in Africa. While promoting psychosocial research, Dr. Patenaude was a clinician at heart. She supported PROs but emphasized the importance of the clinical interview. Her leadership and original contributions to the field of psychosocial oncology was complemented by her tremendous warmth, quiet manner, and ability to address pertinent questions, that went right to the heart of the issue, and that others found uncomfortable to explore.

    It is no surprise that Dr. Patenaude was the recipient of many awards including the Noemi Fisman Award for Lifetime Clinical Excellence from the International Psycho-Oncology Society in 2013, a Presidential Citation from the American Psychological Association (1999), the Rosalee G. Weiss Award from the American Psychological Foundation (1999) and the 50th Anniversary Scholars in Medicine Award from Harvard Medical School (2000). Andrea Farkas Patenaude retired from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute on August 31, 2017 after more than 40 years of service to the cancer care community. She died peacefully on January 29th, 2018 surrounded by her family. We will miss her warm presence, colorful clothes, generous spirit, and contagious smile. Her contributions to the field of Psycho-Oncology will live on for generations to come.

  • 9 May 2018 4:07 PM | IPOS admin (Administrator)

    Jimmie C Holland, MD, internationally recognized as the founder of the field of Psycho-oncology and the Founding President of the International Psycho-oncology Society (IPOS), died suddenly on December 24, 2017, at the age of 89. Dr. Holland, who was affectionately known by her first name “Jimmie”, had a profound global influence on cancer care and research; highlighting the critical importance of “whole person cancer care”, through her groundbreaking work on quality of life, screening for distress, and the psychological, social and emotional well being of cancer patients at all stages of diagnosis, treatment and survivorship.

    Over a 40 year career at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), Jimmie created and nurtured the field of Psycho-oncology, established its clinical practice, advanced its clinical research agenda, and through her pioneering efforts, launched the careers of the leaders of a national and worldwide field who mourn her passing and continue to work in what has become a shared mission to emphasize “Care” in cancer care. IPOS was the brainchild of Dr Holland’s, and with the commitment of fellow international psycho-oncology pioneers, she helped found IPOS and guided its growth into the vibrant international movement it embodies today.

    Jimmie C. Holland

    Dr. Holland was the Attending Psychiatrist and Wayne E. Chapman Chair at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Professor of Psychiatry, Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York. In 1977, Jimmie was appointed Chief of the Psychiatry Service in the Department of Neurology at MSK, by Jerome Posner, MD, then Chairman of Neurology at MSK. The Psychiatry Service at MSK was the first such clinical, research and training Service established in any cancer center in the world. In 1996, Dr. Holland was named the inaugural Chairwoman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; again the first such department created in any cancer center in the U.S. and the world. Dr. Holland founded the International Psycho-oncology Society (IPOS) in 1984 (and the American Psychosocial Oncology Society in 1986) . Over 25 years ago, Jimmie created and co-edited, the international journal Psycho-Oncology. Dr. Holland edited the first major textbooks of Psycho-oncology and recently edited the 3rd edition of the textbook “Psycho-oncology” in 2015. Jimmie co- wrote two well received books for the public: “The Human Side of Cancer”, and “Lighter as We Go: Virtues, Character Strengths, and Aging”; the latter reflecting her interests in Geriatric Oncology as she approached her 90th birthday.

    Dr. Holland has received many awards recognizing her achievements over the course of her career. There are too many to list , however her awards include: The Medal of Honor for Clinical Research from the American Cancer Society, The Clinical Research Award from the American Association of Community Cancer Centers, The American Association for Cancer Research Joseph H Burchenal Clinical Research Award, and The Marie Curie Award from the Government of France. In recent years Dr. Holland committing her attention and energies to bring Psycho-oncology to Africa through her work with the African Organization for Cancer Research & Training in Cancer ( AORTIC). Jimmie was seeing patients up until 2 days before her death. IPOS has lost its founder, its guiding light, a pioneer, a remarkable woman and a once in a generation influencer. Her death is a profound loss for all of us in international psycho- oncology. We invite you to leave comments, thoughts and remembrances of Jimmie Holland in this IPOS condolence book.

  • 9 May 2018 4:06 PM | IPOS admin (Administrator)
    1) “I don't want to take chances.”: A qualitative exploration of surgical decision making in young breast cancer survivors.

    Andrea Patenaude’s team tries to understand why young women with unilateral breast cancer are increasingly choosing contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM), despite its limited medical benefit for most women. In the paper published on Psycho-oncology they elicit a few main themes in patients’ interviews, and describe how often women were concerned about a future breast event, despite the low risk.

    Link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/pon.4683

    2) Maternal perceptions of BRCA genetic counseling communication processes about disclosing cancer risk information to children and adult relatives.

    Andrea Patenaude and her colleagues report the validity of a novel measure aimed to assess the communication patterns in BRCA patients’ families: the Genetic Counseling Communication Process. When the assessment includes family communication to potentially at‐risk relatives, authors highlight that most but not all sessions addressed this topic. Cancer family history, child age, and maternal attitudes are important co‐factors in these patient‐provider communication exchanges.

    Link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/pon.4733

  • 9 May 2018 4:05 PM | IPOS admin (Administrator)
    1) Physical Symptom Burden and Its Association With Distress, Anxiety, and Depression in Breast Cancer Physical Symptom Burden and Its Association With Distress, Anxiety, and Depression in Breast Cancer.

    In a paper published on Psychosomatics, Holland and colleagues explore the association between physical symptoms with distress, anxiety and depression in breast cancer women. They report that physical symptoms co-occur with depression most commonly and to a lesser extent anxiety and distress in women with breast cancer. In multivariate analyses, a higher total number of problems was associated with younger age and more depressive symptoms.

    Link: http://www.psychosomaticsjournal.com/article/S0033-3182(18)30037-9/abstract

    2) Prevalence of physical problems detected by the distress thermometer and problem list in patients with breast cancer.

    Holland and colleagues investigate the relationship between breast cancer women's perceptions of physical symptoms and patient demographic and breast cancer characteristics. The paper published on Psycho-oncology reports that heavy physical symptom burden with multiple physical problems are related to overall functioning. Author suggest to pay attention to the physical symptom burden of younger, nonwhite, unmarried, and unemployed patients.

    Link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pon.4631

  • 9 May 2018 4:04 PM | IPOS admin (Administrator)

    In the last few months, the IPOS community has faced with two imponderable losses. Jimmie Holland passed away on Dec. 24 2017, Andrea Patenaude on January 29, 2018. IPOS and oncology world mourns the loss of the founder of psycho-oncology, Jimmie Holland, and of Andrea Patenaude, recognized internationally for her many contributions in this field.

    In this issue, we decided to celebrate their lives and works. In the Up do Date session, we report the last papers they worked on. They were published after their deaths, so as to remember us the enduring debt we have. Despite these papers are not their most famous works, they seem to clearly depict how they contribute to the development of psycho-oncology. We entitled these sections by using a couple of enlightening sentences of two colleagues of Jimmies Holland and Andrea, respectively Bill Breitbart and Lori Wiener. Dr. Breitbart has described how Jimmie Holland was committed in “emphasizing the care of cancer care”. Dr. Wiener highlighted the effortless attempt of Andrea Patenaude in “addressing pertinent questions”. In the Let’s Talk session, you can read the entire pieces Breitbart and Wiener wrote so as to remember and celebrate their colleagues and friends.

    Following the paths of these two giants, we hope to sustain the future of IPOS and psycho-oncology. So please have a look at the welcome letter (Stay Connected session) of the two co-chairs of the next 20th International Psycho-Oncology Society World Congress of Psycho-Oncology: Wandy Lam & Sally Lo. Finally, you may find interesting news about upcoming congresses and trends in cancer care in the last two sessions of the present newsletter.

  • 20 Dec 2017 4:03 PM | IPOS admin (Administrator)
    • Are you a current member of IPOS?
    • Do you want to see your work published for other IPOS members to see?
    • Have something to share with IPOS members?

    IPOS is looking for content contributors for its bi-monthly IQ News. IQ News is sent to all IPOS members and highlights the following:

    Let’s Talk – What’s happening around the world in Oncology
    Stay Connected – Upcoming conferences and events of interest to members
    Up to Date – Featured articles and releases
    IPOS4You – Scholarship awareness and promotion
    IPOS4All – Stories, book reviews

    Interesting in contributing? Send an email to [email protected] with the subject line “IQ News contribution interest.”

  • 20 Dec 2017 4:02 PM | IPOS admin (Administrator)

    On November 5-6 2017, the International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS) hosted the 2017 IPOS-WHO Training Academy in Kigali, Rwanda. Co-Chaired by Drs. Melissa Henry and Chioma Asuzu and Co-Sponsored by the World Health Organization, the Academy’s theme was “Cancer Prevention and Control in Africa”. Its goal was to train oncology healthcare professionals working in Africa to 1) better understand cultural, social, and psychological barriers to cancer prevention and control in Africa, and 2) address these barriers through evidenced-based programs.

    Through its fundraising efforts, IPOS was able to provide scholarships to 37 professionals across the African continent to attend the Academy. Scholars found the Academy of high quality, impactful, and essential to their practice. “It was an honour to attend this Academy. It was very insightful, very relevant and it definitely was encouraging” “I would like to thank IPOS for this wonderful opportunity. I look forward to future trainings.” Scholars and Faculty of the Academy have formed a community of practice for continued capacity building on the continent.

    Representatives of the African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer, the Rwanda Ministry of Health, and the World Health Organization, presented strong Opening Statements on the central role of psycho-oncology in improving cancer outcomes and the need to include comprehensive cancer care in National Cancer Plans. “We need to come back to our roots”, says the Ministry of Health.

    Co-Chairs Drs. Henry and Asuzu met with the Rwanda Minister of Health, the Ministry of Health Director of the Division of HIV and Non-Communicable Disease, and the Director of the National Cancer Unit. All expressed their desire to work with IPOS towards integrating psycho-oncology as part of the National Cancer Plan in Rwanda and its implementation across the country. A special thanks to our donors and supporters who have contributed to the Academy’s success, as well as to the International Scientific Committee: Drs. Melissa Henry (Co-Chair), Chioma Asuzu (Co-Chair), Jimmie Holland, Maggie Watson, Mark Lazenby, Scott Nichols, and Philip Odiyo. Our warmest appreciation to our Academy Faculty for their time and dedication: Dr. Allison Applebaum, Dr. Margaret Barton-Burke, Dr. Akindele Olupelumi Adebiyi, Dr. Elizabeth Akin-Odanye, Dr. Chioma Asuzu, Dr. Francesca Gany, Dr. Melissa Henry, Dr. David Lounsbury, Sokhna Ndiaye, Dr. Scott Nichols, Dr. Christian Ntizimira, Phillip Odyio, Dr. B. Olutoye Ogunnorin.

    We would also like to congratulate Dr. Chioma Asuzu for her new position on the AORTIC Board, as AORTIC Vice-President of East Africa.

    As expressed by Dr. Jimmie Holland in her Opening Address, “The social and psychological problems of cancer will soon take their rightful place in the curriculum for health care and a healthier Africa.”

    Thank you for your continued support as we move our agenda forward in LMIC countries.

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  • 20 Dec 2017 4:01 PM | IPOS admin (Administrator)

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    Our dear Andrea has just retired. Andrea Patenaude, a pioneer clinical and research child psychologist has just retired from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute where she held the position of Director of Psycho-Oncology Research in the Division of Pediatric Oncology, and from the Children´s Hospital in Boston. After more than 30 years of dedication to children with cancer and their families, Andrea is leaving behind an important personal and professional legacy. Andrea´s interest has gone beyond pediatrics. Survivorship, resilience and quality of life have also been her focus of study. In more recent years Andrea became interested in cancer genetics, studying the psychosocial outcomes of women and men undergoing genetic testing for p53 and BRCA1/2, as well as the experience of women undergoing prophylactic mastectomy for increased hereditary cancer risk. Part of her wisdom is embodied in her two books: Genetic Testing for Cancer-Psychological Approaches for Helping Patients and Families, (Amercian Psychological Association, 2002), and Prophylactic Mastectomy – Insights from Women Who Chose to Reduce Their Risk (Praeger, 2012). In addition, Andrea leaves behind a significant number of students, fellows and other professionals supervised by her during her years as Associate Profesor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School.

    Andea was the first person I met when I first arrived in Boston. I was lucky enough to be hired by her at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical School. I fondly recall the times when I would leave her office impressed by her extensive knowledge of seriously ill children and their families, and by her ability to combine hours of clinical work with the research projects that she so much invested in. I admired her writing skills and her ability to deal with difficult situations efficiently, as well as her capacity to balance her personal and family life with a demanding job with seriously ill kids and their families.

    Let me tell you, I have mixed feelings about you retiring Andrea! On the one hand, I respect your well-deserved time away from work which will allow you more dedication to yourself, your family and your friends. On the other hand, I am sure I will not be the only one to miss your contributions to the field.

    All your efforts to develop pediatric psychooncology, genetic counselling and specific issues around breast cancer have had an important impact on the lives not only of patients, but of many professionals as well Andrea. This is certainly something to be very proud of. But I also want to acknowledge all the time and effort you have invested in IPOS, to make pediatric psychooncology stronger and more present in our society. Making children one of our main focuses is helping spread the word about important issues when dealing with our younger ones and their distressed families. Your hours of dedication to this endeavour have helped IPOS liaison with other international pediatric oncology societies in very efficient ways. Your contribution to our IPOS Human Rights Committee is also something important to mention.

    I believe I can speak in the name of our IPOS community when I thank you for your dedication to the field and to our society. Thank you for having reached this point of your carreer having shared so much of your knowledge and expertise with us. I personally would like to see your retirement not as an ocassion for distancing yourself from psychooncology, but rather as a way to access a greater degree of freedom for creativity, communication and new developments. I have the hope that you will continue to be an active part of IPOS in the years to come. We will always be here, with open arms and many projects (!), to continue being the recipients of your generosity. Good luck in this new stage of life!

    Maria Die Trill
    President International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS)

  • 20 Dec 2017 4:00 PM | IPOS admin (Administrator)

    At the 2017 World Congress in Berlin, members of the Communications and Publications Committee met and made the decision to approach the IPOS Website Committee with the recommendation that the two committees merge, given their overlapping and complementary focus related to communications in support of IPOS leaders and members. The Website Committee, recognizing that the website is a major communications tool for IPOS, agreed and the merger resulted in the recently formed Communications Committee. Gil Goldzweig (Israel) and Mary Jane Esplen (Canada) will Co-Chair the newly merged committee. Members of the prior Website and Communications and Publication committees have been invited to serve on the new committee.

    The mandate of the Communications Committee includes: encouraging communications between IPOS and its membership, as well as the worldwide psycho-oncology community; the overseeing of content for the website, social media and the IPOS IQ News; liaising with other committee chairs where joint decisions are needed; and obtaining approvals from the Board of Directors on business matters related to IPOS communications. The Communications Committee will also aim to develop, promote and advise on publications under the IPOS Press imprimatur, promote new texts or other materials related to Psychosocial Oncology, look for opportunities to co-brand, co-market or collaborate with our partners and other peer organizations.

    Gil and Mary Jane, along with the committee members look forward to serving the IPOS community! Content for IQ News, website or our other social media outlets is always welcome!

    We wish IPOS members a Wonderful Holiday Season with time to reflect upon and appreciate the important work that you do. All the best for a Peaceful and Productive 2017!

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