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INTERNATIONAL CANCER INFORMATION SERVICE GROUP (ICISG)

General Meeting of the Members

Thursday November 18, 2004, 4:00-5:00 PM
Clanwilliam Suite, Burlington Hotel
Dublin, Ireland
UICC Conference 2004
www.icisg.org

The International Cancer Information Service Group (ICISG) met at the 4th UICC Global Conference for cancer organizations in Dublin, Ireland on November 18, 2004. The General Meeting of the Members was called to order by Catherine Dickens, outgoing president. In attendance were 23 participants.

Board members (9)
Catherine Dickens (chair) ; Macmillan Cancer Relief, United Kingdom
Doreen Akkerman; Cancer Council of Victoria, Australia
Mary Anne Bright (recorder); National Cancer Institute, United States
Cora Honing ; Dutch Cancer Society, Netherlands
Philippe Mourouga; Ligue nationale contre le cancer, France
Marion Morra ; Morra Communications, United States
Monika Preszly ; German Cancer Research Centre, Germany
Chris Thomsen ; National Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, United States
Anne Vézina ; Canadian Cancer Society, Canada

Participants from member organizations (11)
Ingrid Aubry ; Ligue nationale contre le cancer, France
Giovanna Pignalosa ; Cancer Council Victoria, Australia
Barbara Kirke ; Cancer Council South Australia, Australia
Joan Kelly ; Irish Cancer Society, Ireland
Emer O’Kane ; Irish Cancer Society, Ireland
Abby Langtry ; Action Breast Cancer, Irish Cancer Society, Ireland
Nava Inbar; Israel Cancer Association, Israel
Dr. Kofoworola Orija ; The Bloom Cancer Care and Support Centre, Nigeria
Dr. Yung-Ho Jo ; National Cancer Centre, South Korea
Silvia Den ; Swiss Cancer League Krebstelefon, Switzerland
Eva Berenji ; Ecumenical Humanitarian Organization “Rakinfo”, Serbia

Guests (3)
Melissa Luwia; Indonesian Cancer Foundation, Indonesia
Lindsay Bagwell; Ulster Cancer Foundation, Northern Ireland
Diwaker Rajkarnikar ; Nepal Cancer Relief Centre, Nepal

MEETING OF THE MEMBERS

1.0 Welcome to members
Catherine Dickens welcomed everyone and invited members and guests to introduce themselves. Catherine reminded participants that ICISG was established in 1996 to help cancer information programs dedicated to high-quality service delivery throughout the world by sharing our experience, tools, expertise and ideas. She noted that ICISG now includes 42 member organizations from 28 countries. ICISG pins (generously donated by the NCI, United States) were distributed to all attendees.

2.0 President’s report 2001-04
Catherine presented the mission and goals of the organization. She introduced the members of the Board of Directors and thanked them for their contribution during the 2001-04 period. She summarized accomplishments as follows:

3.0 Election of Board of Directors
Further to the nominations posted on the ICISG website and the members’ listserv on October 30, 2004, Catherine introduced Philippe Mourouga, Ligue nationale contre le cancer, France, as nominated for the Board of Directors. By majority vote, the following new officers were elected by the members for the ICISG Board of Directors 2004-07:

President: Anne Vézina
Directors: Doreen Akkerman
Mary Anne Bright
Catherine Dickens
Cora Honing
Philippe Mourouga
Marion Morra
Monika Preszly
Chris Thomsen

4.0 Incoming President’s objectives for 2004-07
Anne Vézina thanked Catherine Dickens for her leadership as president of ICISG. She emphasized that Catherine played a key role in establishing ICISG through governance principles, a formal relationship with ICISG and a website. She noted that the nature of the ICISG board of directors is “hands on” and expressed her appreciation to the newly elected board members for their commitment to further the goals of ICISG.

Anne presented the objectives for 2004-07 as follows:

After highlighting ICISG goals, Anne explained how ICISG is in the process of developing new tools (such as How to Manual) and can provide assistance to UICC members to help set up or enhance their cancer information service. She noted that in the last year, ICISG members helped organizations in Singapore, South Korea, France and Serbia.

Marion Morra gave a brief overview of the purpose and content for the How to Manual. This web-based tool, which will consolidate resources, tools and best practice tips, will be launched at the UICC 2006.

5.0 ICISG upcoming initiatives

Training Course
Doreen A. informed everyone of the APCASOT course that she will be hosting May 9-13, 2005 at the Cancer Council of Victoria in Australia. The noted that participants from China and India are already registered. Scholarships may be available from UICC (For more information on the course, visit http://www.icisg.org/new_courses.htm ).

Membership
Anne invited the guests in attendance to join ICISG and encouraged members to recruit other cancer organizations to ICISG. She clarified that several individuals from the same organizations can be members (and join the listserv) while only one member representing the organization can have the right to vote at ICISG meetings of the members. (http://www.icisg.org/become.htm ).

New members and “buddy” system
Anne confirmed that the ICISG secretariat will follow up by email with individuals who have expressed interest in being paired up (the “buddy” service) with another ICISG member organization.

Members listserv
Anne encouraged attendees from member organizations to subscribe to the ICISG members’ listserv. The listserv is an easily accessible electronic forum for informal exchange between members. Written instructions on how to subscribe were distributed, and can also be obtained by from imiller@cancer.ca.

6. 0 UICC 2006
Anne invited all present to attend the next UICC conference in 2006. She noted that in addition to the planning committee, ICISG board members will provide assistance for faculty, speakers, abstract reviews and workshops. She indicated that abstracts for plenary and symposium presentations will be due in September 2005. Call for abstracts for oral and poster presentations will follow.

7.0 Other business
A participant asked if ICISG planned to become a CIS accreditation body. Catherine D. explained that ICISG has developed minimum standards to guide organizations in establishing a high-quality service (http://www.icisg.org/become_standards.htm). Given its limited resources, the ICISG is not planning to assume an accreditation role at this time.

8.0 Next meeting and adjournment
Anne noted that the Board of Directors conducts its business through conference calls and one in-person meeting per year. She confirmed that the next ICISG Meeting of the Members will be held at the 5th UICC Global Conference in Washington DC in July 8-12, 2006.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 PM.