Dear colleagues, friends, and gynecologic oncology community,
As we approach the joyous holiday season, we extend sincere, warm greetings to each and every one of you. May this festive time be filled with love, laughter, and cherished moments spent with loved ones.
In the spirit of gratitude and camaraderie, we are pleased to bring you year-end updates and highlights from our Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) and Foundation for Women’s Cancer (FWC). We have truly harnessed “The Power of Shared Purpose: Transforming Gynecologic Cancer Care” through our SGO and FWC committee work this year.
Year-End Updates
- The SGO/FWC led the charge to tackle the chemotherapy shortage this year with a host of educational resources for providers and patients. SGO leadership chaired the congressional briefing on this critical topic in order to ensure life-saving medications for our patients.
- The SGO commitment to member education resulted in a position statement on innovations in endometrial cancer, numerous webinars on hot topics on SGO’s ConnectEd, and record-breaking attendance at the SGO Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer, SGO Winter Meeting, and SGO Allied Health Meeting.
- Through SGO’s Fly-In Day, members championed SGO’s voice to inform Congress of critical issues affecting our Society and patients, including our work to maintain line-item funding for ovarian cancer research and our efforts to secure support for endometrial cancer, while also working to ensure competitive provider reimbursement rates.
- The BRIDGES scholars achieved great success with numerous submitted proposals for clinical trials and launch of several trials in progress. Many have achieved the success of subsequent competitive grant funding and have manuscripts under development -clearly a strong return on investment. There is promise of a successful future of innovation for our specialty.
- SGO wellness initiatives continue to thrive with blogs, seminars and programming to meet the needs of our members weathering the demands of their busy practice and career, in balance with their need for personal growth and community.
- The LEAD Program was launched with outreach to historically marginalized trainees that seek an opportunity to learn from leading SGO members. These trainees seek to work on behalf of our cherished patients and enjoy the rich experience of being an SGO member.
- FWC’s Move4Her campaign reached new heights! The FWC exceeded its Move4Her fundraising goal of $555,000 for the five gyn cancers. This achievement is not just a number; it is a testament to the power of collective effort and shared vision. These funds support FWC’s research grants, patient education, and awareness campaigns. Learn more here. As you prepare your travel to San Diego for the Annual Meeting in March, come join the FWC at Tee-Off for the Cure & the Celebration of Champions at Torrey Pines on March 14. Share this awareness event, fundraising and fun with your family, friends, colleagues, patients, and advocates as a fantastic member-guest experience. There is an opportunity for pre-meeting surgical education on AI, advances in intraoperative images, and surgical innovation, too.
This is only a snapshot of some of the many successes and activities on behalf of our SGO members. In addition, this year kicked-off with some key opportunities for organizational alignment and growth. As promised, updates for you on these activities this year are below:
- The SGO/FWC organizational assessment: The organizational assessment was initiated in 2023 to ensure SGO/FWC’s organizational structure, leadership, culture, and governance practices are aligned with our members’ needs. Bloch Reed Association Advisors provided a comprehensive review with recommendations to further enhance our strong organizational structure and optimize future growth. On the top of this list, advisors shared their observations of the tremendous passion and commitment that members and staff expressed regarding our Society, Foundation, profession, and patients. Our current CEO and board are actively working to bring forward high priority opportunities on behalf of our members.
- SGO/FWC CEO search: The search committee successfully brought on-board our incredibly talented interim CEO, Tim Johnstone. Tim has hit the ground running with many successful benefits already underway in our day to day workforce. With great momentum underway, we anticipate launching a full CEO search after the holidays.
- The SGO/FWC/GOG Foundation collaboration: This strategic partnership was launched in 2022 with the ultimate goal to improve patient outcomes and accelerate cancer research. Our shared work led to a joint statement entitled “Inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (IDEA) in gynecologic cancer clinical trials,” exploring barriers to equitable clinical trial enrollment and identifying solutions to enhance representation from diverse patient groups. Bhavana Pothuri, MD, MS, and Jeff Hines, MD, developed the NRG Winter 2024 Symposium entitled “IDEA: Inclusion, diversity, equity, and access of underrepresented patients in clinical trials.” In addition, SGO/FWC/GOG Foundation collaborated on several communiques during the height of the chemotherapy drug shortage, delivering timely, pertinent information to the gynecologic oncology community to inform continued research advancements and treatment of our patients.
- The SGO Future of the Profession initiative: Stephanie V. Blank, MD, and Warner Huh, MD, reached out to numerous organizations to address the key priority areas identified at the 2023 SGO Annual Meeting. The “Houston, We Have a Problem” editorial was published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, and Drs. Blank and Huh led the American Gynecological Obstetrical Society (AGOS) session entitled, “Dallas/Chicago: Do we have a problem? – Surgical training in Obstetrics and Gynecology.” The session included five other subspecialty organizations, all who echoed similar opportunities to evaluate training and post-graduate competence. There will be a special future of the profession session at the March 2024 SGO Annual Meeting in San Diego.
In this pivotal year, we have been united and committed to our shared purpose. The transformational organizational alignment and critical investments we are making will ensure future success of the SGO/FWC as we strive to creative a positive culture of collaboration and leverage synergistic opportunities.
Foremost is our commitment to meet the needs of our members, patients, and broader gynecologic oncology community. Toward this goal, we are committed to creating a cohesive environment where everyone has the power to impact, prevent, overcome, and eliminate gynecologic cancers.
Thank you for your talent, your commitment, and your passionate engagement in our future together, and again, happiest of holidays to you and yours.
Sincerely,
Angeles Alvarez Secord, MD, MHSc
SGO President
Ginger J. Gardner, MD
Chair, FWC