SEATTLE, May 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Seattle breast-cancer surgeon and epidemiologist Benjamin O. Anderson, M.D., chairman and director of the Breast Health Global Initiative at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has been invited to join the U.S. delegation to the 58th World Health Assembly May 15- 17 in Geneva, Switzerland.
Anderson, a joint associate member of Fred Hutchinson’s Public Health Sciences Division, an affiliate investigator in the center’s Clinical Research Division and a professor of surgical oncology at the University of Washington School of Medicine, will be one of two private-sector advisers invited to join this esteemed group. The other private-sector adviser is John C. Nelson, M.D., president of the American Medical Association.
As a member of the delegation, Anderson will support the adoption of a Cancer Prevention and Control Resolution to be introduced at the assembly. If adopted, the resolution would be an important first step for the placement of greater emphasis on the importance of national cancer-control programs to include strategies for prevention, early detection and treatment, and improvement of quality of life for people affected by cancer. Such programs aim to bridge the gap between knowledge and practice and make the most effective use of available resources -- human, technical and financial.
“It is an honor and a privilege to be part of the U.S. delegation and to participate in this very important global-health congress,” Anderson said.
The delegation will be led by the Hon. Michael O. Leavitt, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and will include U.S. Ambassador Kevin E. Moley; Julie Gerberding, M.D., director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and principal representatives for the U.S. Office of Global Health Affairs and the U.S. Agency for International Development, among other federal representatives.
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, home of three Nobel laureates, is an independent, nonprofit research institution dedicated to the development and advancement of biomedical research to eliminate cancer and other potentially fatal diseases. Fred Hutchinson receives more funding from the National Institutes of Health than any other independent U.S. research center. Recognized internationally for its pioneering work in bone-marrow transplantation, the center’s four scientific divisions collaborate to form a unique environment for conducting basic and applied science. Fred Hutchinson, in collaboration with its clinical and research partners, the University of Washington and Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in the Pacific Northwest and is one of 40 nationwide. For more information, visit the center’s Web site at http://www.fhcrc.org/ .
Advancing Knowledge, Saving Lives CONTACT: Kristen Woodward (206) 667-5095 kwoodwar@fhcrc.org
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
CONTACT: Kristen Woodward of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center,+1-206-667-5095 or kwoodwar@fhcrc.org
Web site: http://www.fhcrc.org/