Global Oncology
C-ICAL Meeting Group Photo at ASH Headquarters
July 2022
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
62ND ANNUAL SCIENTIFIC MEETING OF THE BRITISH SOCIETY FOR HAEMATOLOGY
April 2022
Dr. Leslie Kean speaks at a plenary session at the British Society of Haematology as a representative of ASH's global programs. Listen to the session by clicking here.
​
​
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF HEMATOLOGY
Children's International Consortium on Acute Leukemia (C-ICAL)
Children around the world can develop leukemia, but a patient’s chance of survival varies greatly based simply on where he or she is born. Children in the U.S. and other high-income countries who are diagnosed with acute leukemias, for example, have a five-year survival rate of 84%, with most patients being able to eventually reach “cure.” Read the full story by clicking here.
Healthy Volunteers Overseas (HVO)
​Together with Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO), a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving global health through education, ASH members can provide invaluable consultation, hands-on training, and lectures at the labs, hospitals, and clinics of our partner hematology sites in Cambodia, Peru, and Tanzania. Volunteer assignments range from 2 to 4 weeks. For more information, including the specific needs of each site, please visit the ASH-HVO webpage by clicking here.
​
​
ANGKOR HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN
Since 1999, AHC has provided high quality, compassionate care to children from every province in Cambodia – regardless of a family’s ability to pay. AHC offers comprehensive clinical services, from lifesaving specialty care to holistic support designed to treat the whole child. In Cambodia, it’s of high need and unprecedented. Between the 19 interconnected departments, we provide over 150,000 quality treatments annually – treatments that are safe, timely, effective and patient-centered, measured and monitored through organisation-wide key performance indicators. AngkorHospital.org
​
When the American Society of Hematology was looking for volunteers to travel to Cambodia in 2009, Dr Leslie Kean raised her hand.
“During my trip, I met Dr Phara (Chief of AHC's Eye Clinic). He was seeing a lot of patients with retinoblastoma (one of the major tumors of the eye) and of leukemia, which can also be found in the eye, especially with advanced disease. We talked about how we could go about treating children with cancer. At that time, every child that couldn’t be cured with surgery alone would die of their disease."
​
Leslie then recruited Dr Bruce Camitta, who became a real driving force.
“Over time, we recruited more volunteers – they join our weekly case conferences with the AHC oncology team. Our work includes mentoring staff, talking about patients and their disease course, and developing protocols. We’ve set up partnerships with our institutions here in the US – who help with funding, running diagnostic tests and giving second opinions on biopsies and imaging studies.”
​
Now the number of patients is increasing. With that, the need for more funding. Leslie explains:
“Doctors at AHC are incredibly well trained and devoted. They are ready to take care of children with cancer here in Cambodia. That is why we’re supporting AHC’s cancer appeal, to make sure the hospital has the resources it needs to treat Cambodian children with cancer.”
