RFP Scholarship recipient Dr. Robabeh Ghodsi Ghasem Abadi of Iran was funded to travel to Lyon, France for a post-doctoral research position at the International Agency for Cancer Research (IARC) under the mentorship of Dr Isabel Soerjomataram and Dr. Ophira Ginsburg. Dr. Ghodsi functioned as an integral part of the team working on the Lancet Commission on women and cancer, and our organization is proud to have supported her education and research for this project. Women, power, and cancer: a Lancet Commission was published in The Lancet in 2023.. Below is Dr Ghodsi’s blog.
“My first interview with Dr. Soerjomataram and Dr. Ginsburg was astonishing, both of them
looked motivating. I am very pleased to Join CSU at IARC despite of all the difficulties to
arrive in Lyon, thanks to my family and friends who supported me to be able to arrive in
Lyon. At my start date, I faced with warm welcome of CSU angel, Katiuska, and all my
colleagues at IARC.
At the first date, after doing some administrative tasks, two of my colleagues introduced a
part of huge data bank of IARC to me, to be honest it was confusing for me to deal with such
a bulk of data. I am sure that organizing such a dataset needs so much attention and
proficiency. I kindly appreciate Aude for all her patience and helping me to adapt to dataset
and STATA programing, I have learned a lot with her.
Collaborating in Cancer Commission is a very good chance for me to work in the field of
cancer epidemiology especially in cancer survival. Every time that I have a meeting with Dr.
Soerjomatarama, a window of cancer epidemiology opens to me. The team working and
supportiveness of the CSU scientists, postdocs and students are admirable. Luckily, I had the
chance of visiting and meeting Dr. Ginsburg in person, the way she is managing Cancer
Commission and discussing results are exceptional, she is also an angel without wings.
My special thanks to the Women Global Cancer Initiative for their support and providing me
the situation in which I am able to learn and research at IARC.
2021 Last year was particularly difficult for our organization, as it has been for all global
health programs. Despite our inability to travel due to Covid restrictions,
thewomen.org has much to be proud of as we continue to work with our
international partners, thanks to the support of all our generous donors.
We are proud to have partnered with the Lancet Commission and support the
series on Women and Cancer that will be published in 2024. Last year, we
awarded a scholarship to an exceptional junior scientist, Dr. Robabeh Ghodsi
Ghasem Awadi from Iran. Dr. Ghodsi will be traveling to Lyons, France this month
to conduct her research for six months with the International Agency for Cancer
Our first scholarship recipient, Dr. Deazee Saywon has entered his second year of
fellowship training in the gynecologic oncology program at the Uganda Cancer
Institute. His academic efforts have resulted in a publication of a manuscript in
the highly respected, peer reviewed journal, Gynecologic Oncology. We are delighted
to continue to mentor and support Dr Saywon’s education and training in the field
of gyn oncology/
We continue to work with our Liberian partners in supporting the pathology
laboratory that we implemented in 2019. The lab continues to grow and has
processed over 1500 specimens to date.