International Projects
VMOF International Delegate Program
From a visionary patient-led initiative in 1996 to a globally recognized model for community-based, multidisciplinary oncology — the Ville Marie Oncology Foundation has redefined what compassionate, out-of-hospital care can look like.
Overview
The VMOF is supporting the VMOF/NCBC International Delegate Program (IDP), initiated by Dr. Keyserlingk, a VMOF Medical advisor, which now includes 52 International Delegates who are actively involved with breast cancer care in 41 Lower and Middle-Lower Income Countries (LMICs).
These International Delegates are chosen for their individual expertise and direct involvement with breast cancer care in their respective countries. Their commitment, documented via a competitive process, to face the challenges and overcome the obstacles to breast cancer care give them the credibility to justify the VMOF to provide specific International Delegates with funding for a VMOF Mini-Fellowship.
The duration of the VMOF Mini-Fellowships will depend on the available funding. The VMOF and its partners will thus seek to raise funding for successful LMIC International Delegates to cover air transportation and room & board along with access to pro-bono multi-disciplinary breast cancer training at the VM Med in Montreal.
View countries and projects funded by the VMOF and NCBC.
Training Details
These training opportunities for breast cancer caregivers from underserved countries will sometimes be done in conjunction with the National Consortium of Breast Centers (NCBC), also a non-profit educational organization regrouping over a thousand breast care members from over 500 Breast Centers across North America, the first Canadian NCBC Center being VM Med.
VMOF Mini-Fellows will participate in all breast-cancer-related meetings and activities during their stay at VM Med, including both hospital-based activities and Breast Cancer Conferences when feasible, either in Montreal or elsewhere in North America, including the NCBC 5-day comprehensive annual Breast Cancer Conference.
They will also make a formal public presentation during their Mini-Fellowship to increase public awareness of the challenges of breast cancer care in a LMIC.
Why Should I Provide Funding for the VMOF Mini-Fellowship Program?
Health care providers from underserved countries and their patients need your help NOW!
If you are in any way involved with breast cancer care, are a breast cancer patient, or just well informed and empathetic, you already know how breast cancer can affect patients and their families even in developed countries such as Canada… then multiply the devastation 10-fold in developing countries where it is now ravaging entire populations, so many of them young patients with such delayed detection that they would require palliative care that does not exist.
Your Support Can Change Lives
Attending a VMOF Mini-Fellowship will provide the educational and training tools that our deserving International Delegates from low-resource countries urgently need to help their patients win their war on breast cancer.
As our list of International Delegates waiting for the required training grows, so does the global breast cancer epidemic.
We need to train as many Delegate-soldiers as possible, and as quickly as possible, to ensure that our sisters from less fortunate countries finally also have access to dignified breast cancer care.
Help train breast cancer professionals in underserved countries.
Your donation directly supports international delegates through travel, lodging, and hands-on training at VM Med — giving them the tools to save lives in their communities.