Mr Kwok-Leung Cheung is Clinical Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham and Honorary Consultant Breast Surgeon at Royal Derby Hospital. He is the UK National Representative for the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG) and member of its Surgical Task Force and Science and Educational Committee.
As the UK National Representative of the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG), I last wrote to you following our 14th Conference in October 2014. I mentioned the importance of ‘bringing the two worlds (oncology and geriatrics) together’, given our shared goals to improve the holistic care for older adults, including those with cancer.
I would like to continue to work with you as the UK specialty association in geriatrics to enhance the link between these two ‘worlds’ in the UK. I understand that Professor Margot Gosney from your group has been doing a lot of work in this area. Furthermore, it would be extremely helpful if SIOG has a stronger membership from the discipline of geriatrics so please consider joining the society, which will allow you to exchange ideas and further the mission with an international effort. Please visit www.siog.org for details.
You will be pleased to know that our next Annual Conference will be held in Prague between 12th – 14th November 2015 and I would like to invite you to attend and also to submit an abstract. The theme is ‘Geriatric Oncology & Supportive Care: A Global Approach to Advance the Science’. Again please visit the website above for details.
Alongside the above mission, I have a personal vision to optimise the care of older women with primary breast cancer, given my subspecialty interest as a breast surgeon. When I wrote last time, I mentioned the Third Symposium on Primary Breast Cancer in Older Women, hosted by the University of Nottingham under the auspices of SIOG, which was subsequently held on 6th March 2015. For the first time, we had a geriatrician (Dr Siri Rostoft from Oslo) in our faculty. Her presentation on the role of the geriatrician received excellent feedback from the audience, who were starting to realise the significant roles that the geriatrician could play in cancer management. If you are interested, full details of the programme and abstracts can be found at http://www.futuremedicine.com/toc/fon/11/4s
If you have any queries or ideas that you would like to discuss, please contact me via kl.cheung@nottingham.ac.uk. I look forward to seeing you in Prague!
British Geriatrics Society 