We are pleased to announce The Max Foundation CEO and co-founder, Pat Garcia-Gonzalez, has been nominated as one of three finalists for the Outstanding Contribution to Cancer Control Award, by UICC. We are honored to see The Max Foundation’s efforts recognized by the UICC.
Pat Garcia-Gonzalez shared her gratitude, saying, “This nomination means the world to me and to all whose voices we represent. At The Max Foundation we believe that all people should be able to access the treatment they need, geography should not be destiny, and everyone should be able to strive for health with dignity and hope.
In the past 20 years we have demonstrated that it is possible to safely treat many cancers in low- and middle-income countries. Now we can prevent unnecessary suffering and premature death and because we can, we must.”
Pat is nominated in the civil society category, alongside Paul Farmer, Co-Founder and Chief Strategist, Partners in Health, and Maira Caleffi, breast surgeon and founder of FEMAMA. UICC has also nominated President Joe Biden, Minister Greg Hunt, and President Paul Kagame in the policy-makers category.
The panel of judges for UICC’s Outstanding Contribution to Cancer Control Awards includes: the members of the Board of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC); the Editors in Chief of the three following scientific journals: Lancet Oncology, International Journal of Cancer, Journal of Global Oncology; and the CEO of the American Society for Clinical Pathology.
The Awards Ceremony will take place October 26th at the 2021 World Cancer Leaders’ Summit in Boston.
The Max Foundation is a leading global health nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating health equity. For 28 years, Max has pioneered practical, scalable, high-quality solutions to bring life-extending treatments and patient-centered health care to more than 100,000 people living with cancer and critical illness in low- and middle-income countries. Max believes in a world where all people can access high-impact medicines, where geography is not destiny, and where everyone can strive for health with dignity and with hope.
Today, Spot On CML is active in 19 countries and, on June 29th, 17 patients were chosen by the treating physicians at Philippine General Hospital to take part in the program. While CML testing is available in the Philippines, it’s prohibitively expensive – placing critical diagnostic information out of reach for many patients.
February 21, 2018 · The Max Foundation and Dr. Jerry Radich of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center are partnering to help tackle the problem of access to accurate tests for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) diagnostics in low- and middle-income countries through Spot On CML. Spot On CML is a low-cost, paper-based diagnostic testing method for CML, developed by Dr. Radich’s lab at Fred Hutch. Through a Spot On CML test, a physician spots a patient’s blood onto a paper test card and sends it to Dr. Radich’s lab for processing, where they perform accurate diagnostic testing on the samples even after weeks of transport. Once patients are diagnosed, The Max Foundation connects them with available treatments free of charge.
The Max Foundation is pleased to announce the hiring of Wilma Comenat as Vice President of Development of The Max Foundation. Wilma has more than 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector leading development teams and driving major donor fundraising initiatives. Her previous roles include the Associate Executive Director of JDRF Greater Northwest, Regional Director of Lupus Foundation of America, Inc.’s Pacific Northwest region, and Deputy Executive Director of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
