IASLC announces winners of Advocacy Travel Awards

The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) announced today the recipients of the Advocacy Travel Awards. Five winners will receive funding to attend the 16th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) Sept. 6-9, 2015 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. Funding is provided by Bristol-Myers Squibb and includes conference registration, hotel accommodations, travel stipend and complimentary IASLC membership for one year.

"This year's honorable advocates are individual survivors or organization representatives who are critical in the fight against lung cancer," said Dr. Fred R. Hirsch, CEO of IASLC, Professor of Medicine and Pathology at the University of Colorado and Congress President. "These organizations and individuals play a key role in spreading awareness and raising hope, and they often have limited resources. Funding their attendance to the WCLC allows them to further educate their network and other regional advocates of the progress being made in lung cancer research."

Recipients of the Advocacy Travel Awards were selected by an international panel of advocacy experts who based their criteria on each organization's mission and how it aligned with IASLC's objective to raise awareness in the fight against lung cancer. Recipients include:

• Hildreth Grossman, lung cancer survivor and founder and president of Upstage Lung Cancer, Brookline, Mass.

• Kathleen Mewhiney, representative of The John & Amy Mewhiney Cancer Foundation, Silver Spring, Md.

• Victor Lasebikan, psychiatrist and lecturer at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria.

• Seda Kansu, cancer survivor and co-founder of Pembe Hanim, Istanbul, Turkey.

• Tetsuya Yamaoka, lung cancer survivor and patient advocate, Tokyo, Japan.

At the WCLC, Advocacy Travel Awards recipients enjoy the opportunity to meet other lung cancer advocates and advocacy organizations while sharing and learning strategies to better increase awareness. Educational sessions and abstract presentations will arm them with adequate information on how to further promote and improve efforts in lung cancer-related advocacy.

"The WCLC provides the centralized space for the top minds in the world to convene in one place to focus on current understanding and research, as well as future directions in diagnosis, treatment and coping with lung cancer," said Hildreth Grossman, lung cancer survivor and founder and president of Upstage Lung Cancer. "As a lung cancer survivor, patient advocate and professional psychologist, attending this exceptional meeting will provide me an unparalleled opportunity to benefit from the latest knowledge, forging new relationships with medical experts and other patient advocates, and forming strategic alliances with critical partners in the lung cancer domain."

Source: International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer