Southeast Asian Breast Cancer Symposium 2022

Themed “Breast Cancer in a Post-COVID World: Lessons Learned and Pathways Forward,” SEABCS 2023 will be a 2-day hybrid forum running from August 25 to 26 at the Indochine Palace in Hue City, Vietnam.

Participants can either attend in person or engage virtually via Zoom. Each session at this year’s SEABCS will be a conversation open to all.

Register for free at: https://www.seabcs2023.com/en

Over 2,000 participants from 24 countries! What incredible support from different groups and sectors, coming together to design a .

Our most sincere gratitude goes out to everyone who participated in the 6th Southeast Asian Breast Cancer Symposium.

We at the ICanServe Foundation are truly honored to have been this year’s host for the Philippines, and grateful to Global Focus on Cancer for this incredible opportunity. 🇵🇭

We look forward to seeing you all again next year in Vietnam! 🇻🇳

What an inspiring conference it has been!

Here are the highlights of the 3rd day of the Southeast Asian Breast Cancer Symposium

Again, we are grateful for everyone's participation—patients, doctors, healthcare workers, support groups, advocates, and to all those who attended from all over the region.

We will see you all again next year in Vietnam! 🤍

🎀 ICanServe Foundation, Inc.

Please stand by for Room 3, Managing Unwelcome Effects of Cancer Treatment.

It was an exciting and productive day 1 for the 6th Southeast Asian Breast Cancer Symposium! We are grateful to everyone who was part of our wonderful opening. 🤍

We hope to see you all again tomorrow for Day 2. The conference opens at 1pm (GMT+8).

What an interesting session!

Thank you to our dear guests Budiastuti Wening, Peachy Sy, and Former Mayor Dante Torres for the insightful afternoon.

We still have one more session for today. Join us in Room 1 of the event virtual site and listen in on recent treatment discoveries. 🙂

HAPPENING NOW: The 6th Southeast Asian Breast Cancer Symposium

Don't forget to enter the virtual site and use your sign in credentials sent to your email so you can attend the event: https://events.streamlinedcampaigns.com/sign-in

Thank you so much and we're looking forward to seeing you all!

In case you missed it, here's the schedule for the 6th Southeast Asian Breast Cancer Symposium happening tomorrow until Sunday.

You can still register for free. Click this link to sign up: https://seabcsphilippines.ph/

In the breast cancer community, no one gets left behind.

The strength of our bond powers us through everything. Join us as we continue to grow our community.

See you all later at the opening of the 6th Southeast Asian Breast Cancer Symposium!

The virtual site for the 6th Southeast Asian Breast Cancer Symposium 2022 is NOW OPEN!

You may now visit our partners' booths in the Exhibition Hall and explore what's in store for you prior to the formal opening of .

Opening Ceremony starts today at 1PM, GMT+8.

Tomorrow is the day!

We’re so excited to finally open the sessions in a few hours. Registration is still open so if anyone wants to join, you may still do so by clicking this link: https://seabcsphilippines.ph/

See you all tomorrow!

We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge our partners and sponsors who have helped us bring to life the 6th Southeast Asian Breast Cancer Symposium. The Breast Cancer Community is truly grateful for the support of these organizations.

Thank you to our dear organizational partners and our sponsors for the outpouring of love and support. You help us build a .

You have 2 days left to register!

Don’t forget to click this link and register, so you can have access to the sessions on September 23 to 25: https://seabcsphilippines.ph/

Together in healing. Together in life.

Every sister, brother, mother, father, friend, and all supporters and advocates of the cancer community are welcome to join the 6th Southeast Asian Breast Cancer Symposium on September 23 to 25.

Register for FREE through this link: https://seabcsphilippines.ph/

Philippines-based ICANSERVE Foundation, Inc. launches its online Manual for breast cancer patients on the last day of the 6th Southeast Asia Breast Cancer Symposium (SEABCS), to be held virtually from September 23-25, 2022.

ICANSERVE’s comprehensive and engaging Manual is designed to guide breast cancer patients, survivors, and their caregivers throughout every step of their journey, from understanding their diagnosis to living beyond cancer. Written entirely by breast cancer survivors, the Breast Cancer Patient’s Manual delivers vital information in a conversational manner to help patients feel less overwhelmed and intimidated.

A source of information and encouragement, the Manual combines information gleaned from studies and established sources, such as the American Cancer Society, the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins University, Philippine Cancer Society, and more, as well as individual experiences and anecdotes from breast cancer survivors. It covers a wide range of topics, from the medical (understanding treatment options, managing side effects), to the personal (how to tell your family and friends), to the practical (financing cancer treatment). “We made sure to tell real stories, in a language and manner that every survivor or advocate can relate to,” says the Manual’s editor Alya B. Honasan. “For every member of the editorial team, it was all about reaching out to sisters who needed help.”

ICANSERVE goes back to its roots with this project. Founded in 1999 by four breast cancer survivors—Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala, Crisann Celdran, Becky Fuentes, and Bet Lazatin—its first project was a printed guidebook that was distributed for free in the days when information on breast cancer was much harder to come by. The foundation has since evolved into one of the Philippines’ most active cancer patient advocacy groups, taking part in policy-making and institutionalizing breast cancer control programs.

The Manual will be available for free as a downloadable book after the launch. The SEABCS, hosted for the first time in the Philippines by ICANSERVE and Global Focus on Cancer, was previously held in Vietnam (2016), Myanmar (2017), Malaysia (2018), Thailand (2019), and Indonesia (2021- virtual conference).

Join the conversation. Registration is free. Register for the virtual conference at https://seabcsphilippines.ph/

3 more days before D day!

Have you registered already? If not, there’s still time! Register for FREE through this link: https://seabcsphilippines.ph/

Doctors are our partners. We rely on them for guidance and clarity when all seems to be bleak and blurry. But beyond that, we also find in them a friend and a listening ear.

Their composure and strength, even in the most complicated scenarios, give us the confidence to conquer the battle.

This coming September 23–25, we have invited doctors and medical experts to help us better understand where we are in our cancer journey, and how we can face the future with courage and an open mind and heart.

Register for FREE through this link: https://seabcsphilippines.ph/

Southeast Asian patient advocates seek to learn from PH ad guru

Patient advocates joining the 6th Southeast Asia Breast Cancer Symposium (SEABCS) to be held online from September 23-25, 2022 are in for a treat.

Filipino advertising guru Marlon Rivera will talk about “Unleashing the Power of Social Media in Your Advocacy” in a session to be moderated by broadcast journalist-turned-entrepreneur Ces Drilon.

Rivera has been working in advertising since 1988. A copywriter by profession, he was chief creative officer and president of Publicis Manila, a French company that has a subsidiary in Manila. He teaches VIsual Communication at the University of the Philippines. He is also a fashion designer, make-up artist, production designer and director.

Rivera will speak on the second day of SEABCS, hosted for the first time in the Philippines by ICANSERVE Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates early breast cancer detection and access to timely and correct treatment. Global Focus on Cancer is co-host of the event, previously held in Vietnam (2016), Myanmar (2017), Malaysia (2018), Thailand (2019), and Indonesia (2021- virtual conference).

With the support of the American Society of Clinical Oncology or ASCO and the Union for International Cancer Control, the SEABCS is open to all with topics that appeal to various stakeholders—doctors, caregivers, patient advocates, and cancer survivors at any point in their journey.

Join the conversation. Registration is free. Register for the virtual conference at https://seabcsphilippines.ph/

Invite your friends to join us this September 23 to 25 for a meaningful conversation on innovation, healing, and community power—all geared towards a

Register for FREE through this link: https://seabcsphilippines.ph/

5 days to go before the 6th Southeast Asian Breast Cancer Symposium presented by the ICanServe Foundation, Inc..

You can still register for FREE through this link: https://seabcsphilippines.ph/

Founder of UK start-up Boost Innovations to speak at 6th SEABCS

When Sam Jackman’s mother had a mastectomy as part of breast cancer treatment, she found that the traditional silicone gel prosthesis was hot, sweaty, uncomfortable, and unsuitable for an active lifestyle. After many years of searching online for an alternative, Sam mentioned her frustration to her colleague Rosie Brave. They soon realized that many other women felt the same way and the idea for Boost was formed.

Jackman, the co-founder and director of Boost Innovations Ltd., will talk about her invention in a session entitled “Unlocking Patient Power: Homegrown Innovations and Breakthroughs” at the 6th Southeast Asia Breast Cancer Symposium (SEABCS) to be held online from September 23-25, 2022.

Boost is a Cornwall, UK-based start-up company which aims to create products with women, for women after breast cancer treatment. Inspired by Sam’s mother, Boost developed a revolutionary approach to breast form design that seeks to solve issues women have with current market breast prostheses. Sam’s background in education, cultural heritage, and project management has enabled her to bring a creative perspective for the business.

“We founded Boost because we believe that breast forms don’t have to be beige, boring or heavy. We involve people who wear our products in our design process, and welcome feedback and product design suggestions. We think that a breast shaper product should bring positivity and should help you to feel good,” explained Jackman and her co-founder in a statement on their website, https://wewearboost.com.

Be inspired by Sam and other breast cancer patient advocates at the 6th SEABCS, hosted by Philippines-based ICANSERVE Foundation, Inc. and U.S.-based Global Focus on Cancer. A gathering of the region’s cancer survivors, patient advocates, health professionals, researchers, and policy makers, SEABCS was previously held in Vietnam (2016), Myanmar (2017), Malaysia (2018), Thailand (2019), and Indonesia (2021- virtual conference).

Join the conversation. Registration is free. Register for the virtual conference at https://seabcsphilippines.ph/

There are many angels accompanying cancer survivors on our journey.

Our patient navigators have held our hands through the most challenging times in our lives—tests, diagnoses, treatments—and we are forever grateful.

Their passion and dedication to provide guidance is immeasurable. We 🫰🏻 all of you!

We hope patient navigators in the SEA region can join us this September 23 to 25! You can click this link to register for FREE: https://seabcsphilippines.ph

Early breast cancer detection goes high tech with artificial intelligence now being used to predict breast cancer risk under a study called the Mirai Project.

Learn about this mammography-based model for predicting breast cancer risk at the 6th Southeast Asia Breast Cancer Symposium to be held online from September 23-25, 2022.

Adam Yala from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) speaks on the first day of SEABCS about the Mirai Project. Yala is the lead author of the paper on Mirai, published in 2021. The work was supported by grants from Susan G Komen, Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Quanta Computing, and the MIT Jameel Clinic. It was also supported by Chang Gung Medical Foundation Grant, and by Stockholm Läns Landsting HMT Grant.

Mirai was trained on a dataset of over 200,000 exams from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and the team validated it on test sets from MGH, the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan. Mirai was significantly more accurate than prior methods in predicting cancer risk and identifying high-risk groups across all three datasets. Mirai was similarly accurate across patients of different races, age groups, and breast density categories in the MGH test set, and across different cancer subtypes in the Karolinska test set. As a risk model, Mirai predicts a patient’s breast risk for each year over the next five years.

Yala will speak in the same SEABCS track, “Advanced technologies and Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare”, together with Dr. Kingsley Ndoh, a clinical assistant professor of Global Health at the University of Washington. Ndoh is the co-founder of Hurone AI--a digital health startup that is focused on bridging the gaps of cancer care and improving outcomes through AI-enabled personalized cancer prevention and early diagnosis, patient management and navigation, and tele-oncology in underserved regions starting with Rwanda. Ndoh is a member of the Technical Working Committee of WHO's Global Breast Cancer Initiative (GBCI).

Philippines-based ICANSERVE Foundation, Inc. and U.S.-based Global Focus on Cancer host this year’s SEABCS previously held in Vietnam (2016), Myanmar (2017), Malaysia (2018), Thailand (2019), and Indonesia (2021- virtual conference). With the support of the American Society of Clinical Oncology or ASCO and the Union for International Cancer Control, the SEABCS is open to all with topics that appeal to various stakeholders—doctors, caregivers, patient advocates, and cancer survivors at any point in their journey.

Join the conversation. Registration is free. Register for the virtual conference at https://seabcsphilippines.ph/

There is a silver lining in every situation. All you have to do is shift your perspective, and you will find the good even in the darkest of times.

Join us as we bring a ray of hope to the 6th Southeast Asian Breast Cancer Symposium, happening on September 23-25, Friday to Sunday.

Register for the conference for FREE here: https://seabcsphilippines.ph/

CEO of 25-year old foundation to grace 6th Southeast Asia Breast Cancer Symposium

Longevity is a major issue faced by many patient organizations, in particular those led by cancer survivors. Leaders may suffer a recurrence, a spread of cancer, or even pass away while members may not be ready to step into the leadership role.

The topic, “Future Proofing Your Organization”, will delve into this and similar issues at the 6th Southeast Asia Breast Cancer Symposium (SEABCS) to be held online from September 23-26, 2022.

Pat Garcia-Gonzalez, co-founder and chief executive officer of The Max Foundation, will share her insights on the second day of the conference.

Founded in 1997, the Max Foundation provides cancer patients in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with humanitarian access to life-saving treatment and care that is otherwise not available. It channels over 10 million doses of cancer treatment to patients each year in 72 LMICs. The organization carries out its daily work in partnership with a global network of more than 500 physicians and 200 hospitals and medical institutions, as well as several local non-government organizations and patient associations.

Philippines-based ICANSERVE Foundation, Inc. and U.S.-based Global Focus on Cancer host this year’s SEABCS previously held in Vietnam (2016), Myanmar (2017), Malaysia (2018), Thailand (2019), and Indonesia (2021- virtual conference). This is the first time that a patient advocacy group will host such a regional conference. It had been hosted by medical societies in the host countries of earlier years.

With the support of the American Society of Clinical Oncology or ASCO and the Union for International Cancer Control, the SEABCS is open to all with topics that appeal to various stakeholders—doctors, caregivers, patient advocates, and cancer survivors at any point in their journey.

Join the conversation. Registration is free. Register for the virtual conference at https://seabcsphilippines.ph/

Former Health Secretary Ubial to keynote 2nd day of SEA conference

Dr. Paulyn Ubial, former Health Secretary of the Philippines, will deliver the keynote address on the 2nd day of the Southeast Asia Breast Cancer Symposium (SEABCS) to be held online from September 23-25, 2022.

Ubial has spent her entire career in public health, starting as a volunteer rural physician in Kidapawan, Cotabato. She was later assigned to the Department of Health headquarters in Manila, where she headed the Polio Eradication Unit under the late Health Secretary Juan Flavier. From 2008 to June 2016, she was an Assistant Health Secretary until her appointment as Secretary of Health under then President Rodrigo Duterte.

"ALL for Health toward Health for ALL" was my advocacy tagline when I was Secretary of Health here in the Philippines because I believed then...and it is still relevant today that everyone should be concerned about health, not just their own but of their relatives and neighbors as well. This advocacy I would like to bring to this 6th Southeast Asia Breast Cancer Symposium on September 23-25, 2022.

All our efforts, new treatments as well as support services to help breast cancer survivors and for the general public, on how to prevent getting breast cancer, be involved in early detection and as support mechanism to patients and their families must be shared, so we do not repeat mistakes and learn from already known and established strategies and not waste time starting from step one...

This is the relevance of this yearly forum, so all countries in Southeast Asia can move forward together in the fight against a silent pandemic of breast cancer and cancers in general," says Ubial.

She is currently consultant/head of Molecular Laboratories of Philippine Red Cross, while also teaching as adjunct professor at the University of the Philippines College of Public Health.

Philippines-based ICANSERVE Foundation, Inc. and U.S.-based Global Focus on Cancer host this year’s SEABCS previously held in Vietnam (2016), Myanmar (2017), Malaysia (2018), Thailand (2019), and Indonesia (2021- virtual conference). With the support of the American Society of Clinical Oncology or ASCO and the Union for International Cancer Control, the SEABCS is open to all with topics that appeal to various stakeholders—doctors, caregivers, patient advocates, and cancer survivors at any point in their journey.

Among the topics to be discussed during the conference are using positive peer pressure in Vietnam; measuring and improving happiness among patients in Malaysia; a breast cancer control program under local governments in the Philippines; managing unwelcome effects of breast cancer treatment; courage in facing advanced breast cancer; how the food you eat can influence cancer; using social media for advocacy; advanced technologies and artificial intelligence in healthcare; stories of hope, and many others. ASCO is also presenting the latest findings from its annual meeting that are relevant for lower and middle-income countries.

Join the conversation. Registration is free. Register for the virtual conference at https://seabcsphilippines.ph/