In April we announced the four most recent recipients of our Arrow Jazz Pharmaceutical Conference Travel Scholarships, among them Emma Munro, from the Royal Brisbane and Womens Hospital,  & Priscilla Gates from Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

Emma & Priscilla both attended the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) Conference in Lille, France. MASCC is the foremost international and interdisciplinary conference on supportive cancer care, with 1400 multidisciplinary delegates attending from 56 countries. It covers the entire spectrum of problems experienced by patients as a result of their cancer and cancer treatment, and it is wonderful to see Australian experts such as Priscilla & Emma presenting their work on the world stage.

The conference theme was empowering people impacted by cancer and living with toxicities, something highly relevant and informative to those in clinical practice with bone marrow transplant and/or CAR-T therapy patients. The toxicities discussed included nausea, vomiting and gut management, areas which nurses are always striving to provide the best care to manage. Emma & Priscilla have both come away from the MASCC conference with renewed passion for their work, both clinically with patients and in research, and will work to share their experiences in Lille with their colleagues back here in Australia.

Emma says, “It was a privilege representing the Royal Brisbane and Womens Hospital’s BMT unit at the conference. There was an overwhelming wealth of knowledge and experience shared by brilliant people. The opportunity to attend the conference was so rewarding, making genuine connections with people from around the world.”

“As a member of the Mucositis Study Group within MASCC, it was also a pleasure to meet and exchange findings with those involved in the research I have referenced and learnt from. My colleague Dr Midori Nakagaki and I had positive and supportive feedback from our e-poster presentation on oral mucositis, which is encouraging and reinforces our motivation to always aim for better supportive care in cancer.”

Priscilla described the conference as “three days of cutting-edge research, engaging presentations and many networking activities” which provided the opportunity for her to present her two papers on the research of cognitive impairment in aggressive lymphoma patients. A conference highlight for Priscila was “the e-poster sessions which consisted of concurrent rapid-fire sessions covering 21 toxicities of cancer and its treatment.  I was able to build my knowledge and networking opportunities regarding neurological complications of cancer care and attend the annual business meeting for the neurological complications of cancer care committee which I am a member of.

She continues, “I had a wonderful time at MASCC in June. To be honest it was probably the best conference I have ever attended and will certainly attend again if the opportunity arises. Thank you my to you and Arrow Foundation for supporting me to attend.”

We are delighted to be able to support such high-caliber health care professionals to attend events such as MASCC, and we are grateful for the support of Jazz Pharmaceuticals to help make these scholarships possible.