Advocacy in Action: Leveraging the Power of Patient Voices to Impact Ovarian Cancer Outcomes in Canada

Current Oncology

Alison Ross¹  Alicia Tone¹  Talin Boghosian¹  Cailey Crawford¹  Elisabeth Baugh² 

[1] Ovarian Cancer Canada, 145 Front St E 205, Toronto, ON M5A 1E3, Canada;School of Continuing Studies, University of Toronto, 158 St George St, Toronto, ON M5S 2V8, Canada;

关键词: ovarian cancer;    patient advocacy;    research funding;    awareness campaign;    OvCAN;    patient partners in research;   

DOI  :  10.3390/curroncol29020106

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Prior to 1997, ovarian cancer (OC) was a ‘poor target’ for patient advocacy. At that time, there were only three OC researchers in Canada, little information available for women diagnosed, and no community of survivors existed. The Corinne Boyer Fund to advance OC was founded in 1997 (later renamed the National Ovarian Cancer Association (NOCA) and subsequently Ovarian Cancer Canada (OCC)), and a Blueprint for Action was established. NOCA developed training programs for public education, partnered with clinicians and scientists, established a Tissue Banking Network across Canada In 2015, the Ladyballs awareness campaign was launched nationally, giving the community a presence and voice. Strategic planning by the organization put advocacy for research funding as a top priority and, working with patients and researchers across the country, petitioned the government for C$10 million in research funding. In 2019, OCC received the funding. In 2020, the OvCAN project was launched with the aim to improve the outcomes of women diagnosed with OC. In the first three years of OvCAN, a pan-Canadian team of 25 Patient Partners was established, and 41 projects to date on research models, pre-clinical and clinical trials covering a wide spectrum of OC types have been funded.

【 授权许可】

Unknown