International Cancer Expert Corps Inc

Developing novel medical linear accelerators (linacs) for challenging environments in low- and middle-income countries (lmic) there are low-and middle-income countries (lmics) where there is almost no access to cancer care leading to unnecessary deaths and immeasurable suffering. What is needed is access to the appropriate expertise built from the local community and treatment with effective technology to ensure sustainable capacity and capability. Radiation therapy is an essential component of cancer care, critical for the cure and palliation of over half the patients with cancer. A ready measure for the adequacy of cancer care is access to the radiation therapy machine called the linear accelerator or linac. In addition to its primary goal of education, training and mentoring of cancer care teams in lmics, icec's secondary goal is to improve access to technology for radiation therapy treatment. The scope of the shortage of radiation therapy machines or linacs is staggering. In high-income countries, there is approximately one linac for every 125,000 persons; in some lmics, the ratio is one for every 800,000 -100,000,000. Despite the recognition of this gap decades ago, little has been accomplished. Icec heads an international collaboration to address the current need for approximately 13,000 radiation treatment machines reported by the uicc global task force for radiation therapy for cancer control, primarily in lmics where the operating environment is often challenging. The linear accelerator program stella smart technology to extend lives with linear accelerators is the creation of world-leading physicists from the european organization for nuclear research, cern (in french, conseil europen pour la recherche nuclaire), icec and the science and technology facilities council in the uk. The collaboration, headed by icec and now includes cambridge, lancaster, and oxford universities, is developing an affordable, robust and technologically advanced radiation therapy machine that will be easier to use than existing linacs, and can replace cobalt-60 (co-60) external beam rt machines in lmics. Linacs can deliver more advanced cancer treatments resulting in better treatment outcomes than co-60 rt machines and reducing reliance on co-60 rt machines will help reduce risks related to the nefarious use of the un- or poorly secured radioactive sources found in cobalt-60 rt machines.project stella has brought together world-renowned engineers, physicists, academicians, scientists, economists and representatives from more than 40 countries, non-governmental organizations, and representatives from agencies and governmental organizations, including the us department of energy's national nuclear security agency, the international atomic energy agency, ministries of health, the world health organization and leading universities and research labs. In 2023, the us department of energy's national nuclear security agency contributed $1.75m to icec to initiate a thirty month program focused on the next steps towards development of the linac prototype by partnering with the european organization for nuclear research (cern) and other uk and us institutions. Icec has leveraged learnings from its and its partners' numerous studies and analysis in the use of linac and cobalt-60 (co-60) based technology for rt for cancer treatment around the globe. These studies included research in the south east european countries (the balkan peninsula), across the region that included armenia, azerbaijan, estonia, georgia, kazakhstan, kyrgyzstan, latvia, lithuania, moldova, tajikistan, ukraine and uzbekistan through icec's art study, and in radiotherapy treatment facilities in 28 african countries that have experience treating cancer patients with linacs. In all these regions, icec has sought to understand the status of rt and assess the need for training and capacity building for effective and efficient treatment in the selected countries.these efforts added critical information to further expand upon the 2021 concept design as the project moves to the technical design report phase. Icec's research has contributed significant insight to understanding and addressing the challenges to increasing access to rt. Icec anticipates that once the radiation therapy treatment system is developed and in use, hundreds of thousands of people in lmics and other challenging environments will benefit by having access to effective and safe curative or palliative radiation treatment for their cancers. A report of activity to date is available for interested partners. The report reflects that there are opportunities, ideas, interest and support to continue to pursue this effort to develop a unique radiation therapy treatment system for challenging environments.icec board of directors and icec advisory board members contributed 2334 service hours with an estimated cash value of $233,400 supporting icec's linac program. More information can be found at www.iceccancer.org.

Icec outreach the need for expertise in global oncology is increasing, with approximately 10.4 million people dying globally from cancer annually. Icec engages in various activities that promote healthcare system strengthening, particularly through workforce capacity and capability-building strategies in low- and middle-income countries worldwide. Icec's outreach program leverages its expansive network of experts, including healthcare professionals, educators, economists and others, to raise awareness and promote substantive involvement in efforts to confront the global cancer crisis. Icec works closely with the research and scientific communities, national and international ngos, governments, regulators, academia, industry, and their regional and international partners in research, presentations at international symposia, and authoring and contributing to a number of peer-reviewed journal articles. In 2024, though the covid-19 pandemic had lessened its grip on the global healthcare community, it further exposed significant inequities within health systems worldwide. Cancer, like covid-19, disproportionately impacts people of color, the impoverished, and historically marginalized peoples in high-income countries and across all socio-economic groups in low- and middle-income countries. Icec continues to learn lessons from this experience, shifting to provide additional support and access to expertise, leveraging and increasing its telecommunications programs, and engaging with colleagues and partner organizations to increase knowledge transfer and research. Icec financially supported chartrounds, an online platform that brings together academic disease site specialists with the chartrounds member network of over 6000 physicians and medical physicists to review cases and treatement options.in 2024, icec continued its efforts with the international atomic energy agency (iaea) to help improve access to radiotherapy services and reduce the global inequities in the treatment of the disease. The practical arrangements on technical professional society partnerships in cancer care is the iaea's first multilateral partnership on radiation oncology, medical physics and diagnostic imaging that spans the americas, africa, asia, australia and oceania, europe and the middle east. The partnership supports the iaea rays of hope initiative, a means through which the agency supports countries to establish or scale up safe, secure and effective radiation medicine capabilities to bridge a significant shortfall in equipment and highly skilled personnel in many developing countries. Icec participated in numerous webinars and online conferences, conducted research, and continued our outreach efforts online to understand, manage and foster the organization's mission and the needs of our constituents and partners. Icec's regional workshop "making a compelling case to procure linacs and leveraging regional resources" built upon the results of the access to radiotherapy technologies (art) study conducted in 2022. The aim is to support regional country representatives in identifying the information required to gain support for the procurement of linear accelerators (linacs) to treat cancer patients with radiotherapy and serve to promote awareness of existing international, national, and regional resources that could be used to facilitate radiotherapy training.other programs included partnering with professional societies, international governmental and non-governmental agencies and organizations, universities, academic medical centers, think tanks and philanthropic foundations. Icec continued contributing its perspective to the ad hoc working group on alternatives to high-activity radioactive sources, chaired by the governments of france, the united states and germany, sharing information, ideas, views, and experiences on the use of alternatives to technologies that use highly radioactive sources in medical applications. Icec also presented at the world institute for nuclear security meeting, "strengthening the coordination of international stakeholders involved in the adoption of alternative technologies." icec board of directors and icec advisory board members contributed 1012 service hours with an estimated cash value of $101,200 supporting icec's outreach programs. More information on these efforts can be found at www.iceccancer.org.