Message from the Chair and Executive Director
Dear readers:
This month, we have important announcements which include changes in our board of directors.
1. Governance: As many of you are aware, we recently completed the election of board members and are proud to announce the following new members to the board for the term 2011 – 2013:
- Fraser Black, MD (Canada) is the Medical Director of Victoria Hospice Society and Associate Director of the International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research (INCTR) Palliative Care Access (PAX) program
- Yvonne Luxford, PhD (Australia) is the Chief Executive Officer of Palliative Care Australia.
- Lukas Radbruch, MD (Germany) is the Chair of Palliative Medicine and Director of the Department of Palliative Medicine, University Hospital Bonn, Director of the Centre of Palliative Medicine, Malteser Hospital
We welcome these extraordinary leaders in palliative care to our board and look forward to their participation as directors of our organization.
Three of our current board members were re-elected to the Board:
- Eduardo Bruera, MD (USA) is the Chair of the Department of Palliative Care and Rehabilitation Medicine in the Division of Cancer Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
- Frank Ferris, MD (USA) is the Director of International Programs at San Diego Hospice and Institute of Palliative Medicine.
- Peter Hudson, RN, PhD. (Australia) Director, Centre for Palliative Care, St Vincent’s & Collaborative Centre of The University of Melbourne.
Doctors Bruera, Ferris and Hudson have been extremely helpful in supporting IAHPC and our programs. We are very glad that they will continue working with us for the next three years.
In our next edition, we will begin to feature the profiles of our new board members including their photos and bios. You can learn more about the current board at the directors’ page in www.hospicecare.com/Organisation/#directors
2. Pallipedia: We are happy to announce that Pallipedia, our Online Dictionary, now contains 775 terms and 881 definitions. It has grown and usage indicates that it has become a useful resource for the palliative care community. To visit Pallipedia, click on http://www.pallipedia.org/
3. Workshop in Ukraine: Later this month IAHPC is co-organizing with the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) and the Ukrainian League of Palliative and Hospice Care (ULPHC) a workshop in Kiev, to improve availability of, and accessibility to, opioids in the country. We look forward to this initiative and the action plan that will result after the discussions. This workshop is funded by the Open Society Foundations. We are very grateful for their trust and support as we work on this initiative.
4. International Narcotics Control Board: The INCB has released its 2010 annual report which includes a special report titled Availability of Internationally Controlled Drugs: Ensuring Adequate Access for Medical and Scientific Purposes. We invite you to look at this publication and use it to advocate for improved availability and accessibility of opioids in your country. To read the report, click on http://www.incb.org/incb/en/annual_report.html
Until next month,
Roberto Wenk, MD
Chair, Board of Directors
Liliana De Lima, MHA
Executive Director
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