Global Health Symposium: Lessons from Oncology

Location: American University of Armenia (AUA) Manoogian Hall
Chairperson: Varduhi Petrosyan, MSc, PhD, Dean, School of Public Health, AUA
Reception: 16:30 – 17:00
Symposium: 17:00 – 19:00
Keynote speakers:
1. Choosing Global Health as a Profession
Irini Albanti, DrPh (cand), MPH, MA
Director of the Global Health Initiative Manager at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center and Instructor of Practice at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
2. Cooperating globally to conquer cancer
Karen Francis, MBA
Project Director, Global Academic Programs, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
3.Creating psychosocial programs globally
Jorge Fernandez, LICSW
Clinical Social Worker, Division of Pediatric Psychosocial Oncology, and member of Global Health Initiative at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center &
Brian Delaney, PsyD
Director of the Psychology Fellowship in Pediatric Psychosocial Oncology, Senior Psychologist and member of the Global Health Initiative at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Assistant Professor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School
4.Treating kids in low and middle income countries
Leslie Lehmann, MD
Clinical Director of Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant Center and Medical/Faculty Director of the Global Health Initiative at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School
5.The role of nursing in pediatric oncology in low-resource settings
Kathleen Houlahan, MSN, MHA, RN
Nurse Director and member of the Global Health Initiative at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center
Special Talk How I survived cancer
Oliver Bogler, PhD
Senior Vice President, Global Academic Affairs, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Professor of Neuro-Oncology, Director of the Brain Research Institute
Panel Discussion
Role of philanthropies: non-profits as a catalyst of change
Leslie Lehmann, MD is the Clinical Director of Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant Center and the Medical/Faculty Director of the Global Health Initiative at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorder Center, as well as Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School (Boston, MA, USA). For the past 8 years, she has been collaborating with foreign partners and nonprofit organizations such as Partners In Health in Haiti and Rwanda to design programs that effectively deliver quality pediatric oncology care in low-and middle income countries.
Kathleen (Kathy) Houlahan, MSN, MHA, RN is the Nurse Director of the Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center and member of the Global Health Initiative (Boston, MA, USA). She has worked in pediatric oncology as a staff nurse and for many years as the nurse director of the hematology, oncology and stem cell transplant programs. Kathy’s responsibilities include oversight of inpatient and outpatient clinical operations, research, as well as quality and patient safety. Kathy’s international experiences include partnering with physicians and nurses in training and educating nurses in Egypt, Iraq, Mexico, and Rwanda.
Irini Albanti, DrPH (cand), MPH, MA is the Director of the Global Health Initiative at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, as well as Instructor of Practice at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Boston, MA, USA). She has more than 12 years of experience in hospital management and global health, and has been leading projects in Central and South America, the Middle-East, Africa, the Caucasus Region, South-East Asia, and post-conflict countries such as Libya, South Sudan and Iraq. Since early 2015, she has been heading efforts to develop pediatric oncology in Armenia.
Brian Delaney, PsyD is the Director of the Psychology Fellowship in Pediatric Psychosocial Oncology, Senior Psychologist and member of the Global Health Initiative at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Assistant Professor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School (Boston, MA, USA). He has provided program support to psychosocial services in South America, the Caribbean and South-East Asia.
Jorge Fernandez, LICSW is a senior member of the Division of Pediatric Psychosocial Oncology and member of the Global Health Initiative at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center (Boston, MA, USA). He began working in pediatric oncology in 1999. His international experience in pediatric psychosocial oncology includes: clinical consultation, assessment, program development, staff support, abandonment reduction, and patient communication and education with partner sites in Asia, South America and the Caribbean.
Oliver Bogler, PhD is the Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, TX, USA), Professor at the Department of Neurosurgery and Neuro-Oncology, Director of Brain Tumor Research Center, as well as the Associate Dean of the University Of Texas Graduate School Of Biomedical Sciences.
Karen V. Francis, M.Sc., M.B.A. is Project Director, Global Academic Programs at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center (UTMDACC). She is responsible for initiating, evaluating, developing, and implementing multiple international partnerships, projects and programs. She was instrumental in the development of UTMDACC’s first international affiliation in Madrid, Spain and other Sister Institution affiliations. She evaluated, organized, managed and directed other international academic collaborative projects and programs with sister institutions and other global partners . She is responsible for a large portfolio of global academic partnerships in such countries as Brazil, Chile, India, Peru, and Turkey. She is responsible for the coordination of the annual Global Academic Programs Conference which includes attendees from some 20 countries and more than 30 international academic/research/hospital institutions.