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NICCRS
 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Moving Day!  June 29, 2008, was a most remarkable day.  The entire UCLA Medical Center, patients and all, was moved into the brand new Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in a carefully choreographed, seamless transition that took less than 7 hours.  More than 300 patients were moved, one patient every 2 minutes.  The pediatric patients were very happy with their new hospital rooms, but they were especially delighted with the outdoor terrace and other child-friendly facilities for play and other diversions.  To see a video of the move, and feel the palpable excitement of the children, go to http://streaming.uclahealth.org/moveday.

• In a small ceremony in July, a portrait of Nejat Munisoglu, Jr. was presented to Dr. Kathleen Sakamoto by Elizabeth Munisoglu.  It is now hanging in the Conference Room of the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Wing of Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA.  A representative of the Turkish Consulate, Vice Consul Batu Kesmen, was present for the ceremony, along with Amy Albin of UCLA’s Media Relations Dept. and Burcu Biterge of Bilkent University (Ankara) an intern in Dr. Sakamoto’s leukemia laboratory under the sponsorship of the Society. 

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(Photo: Vice Consul Kesmen, Elizabeth Munisoglu, and Dr. Kathleen Sakamoto.)

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• In 2009, under the sponsorship of the Society, Dr. Nurdan Tacyildiz, Professor of Pediatric Oncology at Turkey's University of Ankara Medical School, was hosted at UCLA by the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology.  She spent 6 weeks of intense immersion as an observer, side by side with the Division's physicians as they engaged in the full panoply of their daily in-patient and out-patient clinical practice and research activities.  Upon her return to Turkey Dr. Tacyildiz reported to us that she had already instituted some changes as a consequence of her experience and observations at UCLA. 

(Photo: Dr. Tacyildiz (center) with some of the Division's 2009 Fellows.)

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• In 2010, the Turkish Pediatric Oncology Group (a national organization of pediatric oncologists in Turkey) invited the Division's Dr. Ted Moore to address their annual National Pediatric Oncology Congress in May.  Sponsored by the Society, Dr. Moore accepted the invitation and traveled to Turkey. While in Turkey he presented lectures on bone marrow and stem cell transplantation at Turkey's leading university medical schools and at the Congress, and also addressed the Congress on the methods and structure of  training pediatric hematology/oncology specialists in the U.S. 

(Photo: Dr. Moore addressing the full assembly at the Congress.)

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• In 2011 the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology physicians continued to be recognized for their outstanding clinical and basic science research. Areas of research that received special recognition included research on lung stem cells, translational research on brain tumors and tumor vaccine, and targeted therapies for acute myeloid leukemia and other pediatric tumors.

• In 2012 the Division embarked on the development of a program focused on the special needs of teens and young adults who face the daunting diagnosis of cancer.  The new Teen and Young Adult Cancer Center will be the first of its kind in the U.S.  This is in response to data that show survival rates in this population of patients can be significantly improved if the setting and approach to treatment take into account the unique physiological and psycho-social pressures that accompany transition from adolescence to adulthood.

 

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