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I graduated from the Psychiatric Residency Program with an excellent degree and got a Master of Medicine at Hanoi Medical University. I received the Howard Cooper Fellowship from The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) and participated in Norman Sartorius's Course on Leadership and Professional Development for young psychiatrists in 2018-2019. Since 2020, I am one of the first pioneers in developing psychosocial care services in Vietnam. Currently, I am working as a mental health consultant who screening, educating, providing consultation and treatment for cancer patients with psychological and psychiatric problems at Vietnam National Cancer Hospital. I am interested in raising awareness of the population about psycho-oncology, building comprehensive and multidisciplinary health care for people with cancer, and integrating psychosocial care into routine cancer care in LMICs with limited resources. I am excited to join IPOS network and contribute to psycho-oncology globally. I desire to learn and collaborate with experts from all nations over the world to develop mental health care for people living with cancer, especially vulnerable populations such as children and adolescent.

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Elizabeth Wells is a PhD candidate with the University of South Australia. While working in libraries in central Victoria she noticed a pattern of regular readers struggling with their reading, then abandoning it, in response to undergoing cancer treatment. This pattern and how to address it had not been studied before, so she came to South Australia to undertake research around restoring reading for pleasure and health to people affected by cancer. Early results of the study are promising for increasing the emotional wellbeing of cancer patients and providing a positive experience for family members. Elizabeth holds a BSc in Computer Science and History & Philosophy of Science from The University of Melbourne, a Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) from LaTrobe University, a Graduate Diploma and Master of Library and Information Management from the University of South Australia. Her main area of interest is reading for wellbeing and she looks forward to collaborating with others to get reading programs into cancer centres, hospices and as part of community palliative care programs. Something fun: Elizabeth is a dragon boat paddler. Dragon-boating is recognised worldwide for its role in helping breast cancer survivors. 

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My research revolves around two main focus areas: on social disparities in cancer outcomes and on physical, psychological and social late effects after cancer treatment. I have been working in psycho-oncology for 25 years and heads a research group in the Danish Cancer Institute on survivorship and inequality in cancer. I also head the Danish Research Center for Equality in Cancer, based in Department of Oncology, Zealand University Hospital. Here I work with colleagues across research disciplines to identify high-risk groups of patients and develop and test clinical solutions that may ensure optimal treatment to all cancer patients – no matter who they are. I have been a member of IPOS for many years, led a 2-day workshop on research methodologies for several years at the IPOS Psychosocial Academy and received the Bernard Fox Memorial Price in 2008. I function as an associate editor for the Journal of Psychosocial Oncology Research and Practice. I have participated in many IPOS conferences – always enjoying the sense of community and opportunity to share and develop research ideas for the benefit of the patients.

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Silvana Leites is a psychologist who graduated from the University of Buenos Aires. She is a specialist in Psycho-oncology from the University of Business and Social Sciences, and she has also completed a postgraduate degree in Palliative Care and has a diploma in Bioethics. 

For 15 years she has been working with cancer patients at the Ángel H. Roffo Institute of Oncology. She holds the position of secretary of the Healthcare Ethics Committee of the same institute and Co-coordinator of the Planning and Advance Directives space. She works as a teaching collaborator of subjects of the Medicine and Psychology career at the University of Buenos Aires. She has participated in various research projects related to the specialty. She is also an active member of the Argentine Association of Psycho-oncology  (AAPSO) and the Association of Medicine and Palliative Care (AAMYCP).

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I received my PhD in Occupational Health Epidemiology in 2007, and worked as a postdoctoral researcher several years in Cancer Epidemiology and Psycho Oncology.In 2010, I was given the opportunity to combine both interests, primarily conducting and supervising quantitative and qualitative research in ‘Cancer and Work’. I was granted a 4-year fellowship from the Dutch Cancer Society in 2014, which enabled me to travel the world and establish new research collaborations within Psycho Oncology at large. Increasing the quality of life of cancer patients and survivors (both common and rare tumor types) not only has my focus in research, but also in other academic activities. I am the editor of the 4th edition of the ‘Handbook on Psychological Care in Oncology’.Further, I am an Associate Editor of the European Journal of Cancer Care and the Journal of Cancer Survivorship, a board member of Psycho Oncology, a member of the Survivorship Committee of the International Psycho Oncology Society, and a member of the assessment committee of the Dutch Cancer Society. I have supervised 11 PhD students, numerous Master students, published > 110 articles, contributed to book chapters, and received about €2.7 million funding.

I'm working as a clinical psychologist with cancer patients for 24 years. Our Centre of Oncology was the second medical institution in the country that recognised the need of the cancer patients for counseling and supportive psychotherapy. Between 1999-2000, I had a one year training in Psycho-Oncology with professors from Salpetriere Hospital, Paris. Later I had my PhD at the Doctoral School of Biomedical Sciences at University of Oradea with a thesis in the Psycho-Oncology field, concerning the psychological impact of breast reconstruction after mastectomy in breast cancer patients. I first heard about IPOS when a training was organised in our country in 2013. Since 2016, I attended the World Congress of Psycho-Oncology almost every year, in suits or pijamas (as in 2021 in Tokyo). I'm waiting for next congress in Milan.

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Carolyn Taylor is a photographer, a supportive cancer care advocate and a survivor of ovarian and endometrial cancers. In 2010, after winning a British Airways grant, she traveled more than 120,000 miles to 14 countries using photography and interviews to document that regardless of race, religion, nationality or economic status, cancer has no borders. Inspired by the people she met and the lack of supportive services taken for granted in high-resource settings, Carolyn founded Global Focus on Cancer in 2011 to act as an agent of simple and effective change to help reduce the global burden of cancer through evidence-based programs in support, awareness, education, advocacy and networking in low-resource settings. Carolyn serves as a content expert with the Women’s Empowerment Cancer Advocacy Network, sits on ASCO’s Gynecologic Cancer Guidelines Committee as well as a Technical Measures Panel, was a contributing author to the Lancet series ‘Health, Equity and Women’s Cancers’ and has another 12 peer reviewed publications to her credit. She is currently a member of the Lancet Commission on Women and Cancer and a frequent speaker/moderator at global cancer conferences. Since 2015, Ms. Taylor has served as the co-founder and co-chair of the SE Asia Breast Cancer Symposium.

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Prof. Inbar Levkovich, Ph.D., is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Graduate Studies, at Oranim Academic College, Israel. Received her PhD from the Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, at Haifa University, in the area of symptoms cluster breast cancer survivors. Completed her Postdoctoral at the School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University. On a research, funded by the Israel National Institute for Health Policy. She served as the head of the research unit at the Division of Family Medicine, The Ruth & Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine in the Israel Institute of Technology.

Main areas of research are Stress, coping and health, grief, Covid-19 and psycho-oncology. Participating in IPOS survivorship Special Interest Groups (SIG) group.

She published more than eighty papers in refereed journals and several chapters in edited books.

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I am a PhD student at Duke University School of Nursing. My research interest lies in improving care for Latinx immigrant families living through the loss of a child to cancer, focusing on resiliency. Originally from São Paulo, Brazil, I have wielded my lived experiences to guide my academic and clinical pursuits over the last decade. I graduated Suma Cum Laude from the University of Massachusetts Boston with a psychology degree, where I worked as a research assistant in the Gaston Institute for Latino Community Development, was in the first cohort of the Health Equity Scholars Program, and worked on the Brazilian transnational project. Having always wanted to pursue a career in nursing, I then attended Johns Hopkins University for my BSN and MSN-NP where, as a research honors student and Fuld Fellow, I completed a capstone project analyzing racial difference in religious coping and depressive symptoms by extrapolating data from an end-of-life decision-making trial. I then immersed myself in clinical practice as a Nurse Practitioner where I developed my expertise in hematology oncology and captured the practice challenges that remained in providing equitable care for immigrant populations and ignited my desire to return to academia for a doctoral degree. 

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I lost my mum and sister to Cancer. I have lost great friends to cancer and as a Counselling psychologist, I give hope to the hopeless through visitations at home and hospitals. In short, I am a social encourager.

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