The last day of the 15th Asian Congress of the International Society of Pediatric Oncology (SIOP) at YSMU was full of meetings, discussions, experience exchanges.
More than 150 speakers, about 500 participants from 60 countries of the world – the United States, China, Japan, Russia, India, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Great Britain, Greece, Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, Lithuania, Russia, Belarus, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria etc. – presented their experience, achievements and programs in the field of pediatric oncology.
Venkatraman Radhakrishnan, the Co-Chairman of SIOP Asia 2023 Scientific Committee, Professor and Head of the Department of Medical and Pediatric Oncology at the Cancer Institute (WIA) Adyar, Chennai, India; noticed: “It was an amazing experience, open-minded, beautifully organized wonderful presentations, great learning opportunity. I think this was one of the best congresses I attended. Armenia is so beautiful, people are so wonderful with great hospitality. The organization of the Congress was at very high standards. Armenia has a very good legacy in medicine. Armenian doctors are renowned worldwide for the research and for the clinical care. So, I’m really happy to be involved with them”.
Hiroki Hori, Continental President of SIOP Asia and Professor at Graduate School of Medicine, Mie University in Tsu, Japan, emphasized: “Through the 3 days of the Congress we had good opportunities to discuss how the collaboration should be conducted for the advancement of pediatric oncology practices in low- and middle-income countries in Asia. Currently, the SIOP encourages such countries to cooperate in clinical trials which can improve the infrastructure of pediatric oncology. Hopefully, this Congress could be a turning point to advance pediatric oncology here, in Armenia, and neighboring countries, and more, other Asian countries. I hope that Armenia could be the leader of this region and make the situation better under the collaboration with international colleagues”.
According to Lawrence Faulkner, YSMU Honorary Doctor, pediatric hematologist-oncologist, bone marrow transplant specialist, things are done mostly by people. “So, finding the right people is the critical step. And I think Gevorg Tamamyan and other specialists in Yerevan are the right people. This also happens at a time in which there is a lot of sort of “appetite” for collaboration in Asia, because things are improving in many countries, and so that especially in pediatric oncology. Pediatric oncology, at least in developed countries, is the first cause of death of children after accidents”.
Kimikazu Matsumoto, specialist at Children’s Cancer Center, National Center for Child Health and Development, Japan; got a very good impression from the congress. “I am in Armenia for the first time. Most of all I like people who are very kind”, he smiled.
Jacek Toporski, Senior Consultant at the Center of Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Theraphy (CAST) told: “I know the Armenian medical community since I have been here in 2017 when we have been talking about the transplantation. Now, let’s say 6 years later, you are doing transplantation, you changed the structure, you changed the way you organize pediatric oncology, you try to put everything in one roof which is great. And I think you get more and more experience every year. Such congresses are really the sign that you are recognized worldwide, and the people appreciate what you are doing. That’s why you got SIOP ASIA”.
On May 21, the 15th SIOP ASIA Congress concluded the 4-day work at the Medical University.