Health Advancement for Conflict Zones
The UCSJ Health Advancement is dedicated to fostering medical excellence and innovation by providing direct financial assistance to physicians and scientists from the war conflict zones, receiving advanced training in the West. Starting with a focused therapeutic area, this initiative aims to elevate healthcare standards and drive medical advancements in the post-Soviet countries and beyond.
Our Commitment
Supporting Ukrainian Physicians
Educational Observerships: Many premier U.S. cancer centers offer educational observership training to physicians from Ukraine. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, numerous U.S. academic cancer centers accepted female Ukrainian physicians for training observerships, resulting in a long-term capacity-building effort to help rebuild the cancer care system, improve the quality of cancer care, and form long-term mutually beneficial clinical and research collaborations.
Funding Observership Programs.
Travel and Living Expenses: While U.S. institutions typically waive observership fees, Ukrainian health professionals often struggle to cover travel and living expenses for the 30-90 day duration of these programs. UCSJ is working to address this need by partnering with premier cancer centers to provide funding for up to five observership participants per center on a rolling basis. These observerships are open to medical oncologists, surgeons, pathologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists, oncology program administrators, and patient advocates, with participants selected by the institutions.
Collaborating Institutions
- Mass General Brigham
- The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
- Stanford University
- The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Jefferson Health Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Brown University Legorreta Cancer Center
We intend to add several more institutions as the program is implemented.
Future Goals
Elevating Cancer Care in Ukraine. Ukraine is determined to raise the quality of its cancer care to match that of the European Union, which it hopes to join soon. Despite ongoing conflict, the Ukraine Ministry of Health has successfully implemented plans to purchase linear accelerators to upgrade from cobalt-based radiation therapy machines. According to a recent cancer capacity needs assessment, while there is a slight surplus of medical and surgical oncologists in Ukraine, there is a shortage of radiation oncologists and medical physicists. Observership programs can fill this urgent training gap, especially with the recent machine upgrades.
Professional Advancing Women’s Roles. Observerships allow Ukrainian health professionals to learn from their U.S. colleagues, forging professional networks. Since draft-eligible male health professionals are restricted from leaving Ukraine, observerships in the U.S. are mostly utilized by women. This imbalance will have a downstream corrective effect, accelerating the professional advancement of women in what has traditionally been a male-dominated field.
Expand similar programs from professionals from other post-Soviet countries to elevate the level of healthcare.
Join Us
UCSJ envisions a world where access to advanced medical training and resources is universally available, even in the most challenging circumstances. Join us in our mission to support physicians and scientists, elevate healthcare standards, and drive medical advancements. Together, we can create a healthier and more equitable future for all.
Get involved
