NEW ORLEANS — For two days in April, the Louisiana Cancer Research Center hosted four Ukrainian clinicians and researchers in a collaborative exchange.
The delegation met with over a dozen researchers from LCRC member institutions LSU Health New Orleans and Tulane University. Topics of discussion included global virology oncology research, molecular pathology, clinical trials, and organoid cancer models.
“They are taking care of people in Ukraine and working hard to make sure that cancer care can continue during the war,” said Joe W. Ramos, director and CEO of the center, in a press release. “They are here to observe and learn more about what we do at the LCRC and partner institutions. They want to learn about the capabilities that we have that they think might work in Ukraine.”
One member of the Ukrainian delegation, Nina Bondarenko, is from Dnipro, a city in eastern Ukraine that has been hard-hit by Russian bombing. Bondarenko is a pathologist who is responsible for cancer diagnostics at Dnipro State Medical University, where she is an associate professor of the Department of Pathological Anatomy and Pathological Physiology.
Bondarenko said staying in her country is risky, but continuing to help patients “works like therapy” for her.
“You see the eyes of your patients,” she said. “You see that you need them, and they need you as well.”
The visiting group also includes Kyiv-based Sofia Livshun, Igor Tokarchuk and Dmytro Shapochka.
“One of the things that we’re working hard on at the LCRC is to do the right kinds of work informed by communities throughout Louisiana and do this work in partnership with those communities, so that it has an impact,” said Ramos. “We are hoping this can be a model for the Ukraine researchers.”
The researchers’ LCRC visit was part of a three-week tour of U.S. cancer centers, underwritten by Audubon Bioscience, a Houston private biobank that has partnered with the nonprofit Peace and Development Foundation to advance cancer research and care in Ukraine.
Audubon Bioscience Chief Executive Officer Rostyslav Semikov expressed his gratitude to the LCRC for hosting the delegation and to U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy for his ongoing support of Ukraine. Semikov presented the LCRC with an official Certificate of Gratitude from Ukraine’s Ministry of Health, at the conclusion of their visit.