As Latin American members meet this week, Alianza GIST has added two representatives, one from Brazil and one from Puerto Rico. Valaria Hartt joins us from Brazil, while Eileen Rolon will represent Puerto Rico.
Valaria Hartt from Brazil
With a Master of Science at Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ), the research branch of the Brazilian Ministry of Health, Rio de Janeiro, 2013, Valaria was a member of the postgraduate program of the Institute of Scientific and Technological Communication and Information in Health (ICICT). FIOCRUZ is the main institution for training and qualification of human resources for the Unified Health System (SUS) and for science and technology in Brazil.
As a Journalist specialized in health, who studied at the Faculdade de Comunicação Casper Líbero in São Paulo, Valeria is the executive editor of ONCO & magazine, a publication that presents itself as a vehicle committed to continuing education, to disseminate best practices in oncology and encourage early detection of cancer.
Her professional skills also involve research methods and medical anthropology acquired at Universidade de São Paulo (USP, 2006). Her experience with GIST started in 2010, when her brother-in-law was diagnosed with GIST.
Eileen Rolon, from Puerto Rico
On June 8 and 9, representatives of 14 Latin American countries met to review important GIST-related topics, including clinical updates, interpretation of reports, treatment adherence, effective communication strategies with medical professionals, patents, generics and similar issues, Tissue Bank and Patient Registry programs, and the Monterrey TEC GIST Course.
Drs. Jonathan Trent (Sylvester Cancer Center GIST Team), and Anette Duensing (University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute) , Bob Chapman (ACS) and Cristina Parons Perez (CCGINTL) will lead the meetings.
Alianza GIST representatives also will share their experiences in a “Best Practices” Poster Session.
