ENGAGe Blog

New patient representatives elected to ENGAGe Executive Group for the 2021–2023 term

In its meeting October 24, 2021, in Prague, the ENGAGe General Assembly of members elected new ENGAGe Executive Group members  and approved updates to the ENGAGe bylaws.

Petra Adámková (CZ), chair of Onko Unie and Cancer Patients Voice, Kim Hulscher (NL), member of Olijf, and Andrea Krull (DE) German Association of Ovarian Cancer were elected as EEG members with voting rights. Gitte Kuhne Plambek (DK) member of K.I.U. and Nicoletta Cerana (IT), president of ACTO were nominated as EEG members with non-voting rights. Icó Tóth (HU), Chair of the Mallow Flower Foundation stays on the position of ENGAGe Past-Co-Chair.

In addition, Adámková was appointed to be the new ENGAGe Co-Chair. She will lead the group with Prof. Jalid Sehouli (DE) who is newly appointed ENGAGe Chair by ESGO Council.

Adámková, Hulscher and Tóth have already very actively cooperated on diverse projects for ENGAGe.

“It is a great honor for me to have been elected Co-chair and look forward to working not only with Prof. Sehouli and my colleagues from the EEG, but with all members of our ENGAGe network. I believe, that together with (ESGO) doctors we form one team with the same motto: Information is power, but communication is the solution,” said Petra Adámková.

Professor Sehouli adds: “It is my great privilege to be part of this great team, since many years I am working with ENGAGE and I am always impressed by the high competence and personal engagement of the members. The projects are so relevant to highlight the patient´s perspective and to share information and education with the primary goal to improve the management of patients with gynaecological malignancies.”

According to the updated ENGAGe bylaws, three minor changes were approved. Firstly, establishment of a new Vice Co-Chair Position (effective from the 2022 elections). The need for this new position arose from the highly demanding nature of the Co-Chair role. New Co-Chairs require more time to familiarise themselves with ENGAGe’s structures. It was therefore proposed to add 1 year to the Co-Chair’s mandate as follows: Beginning in the 2022 elections, a new Vice Co-Chair will be elected. She will first serve as Co-Chair Elect for 1 year. She will then serve as the Co-Chair for 2 years and finally the Past Co-Chair for 1 year. Secondly a new requirement that patient advocacy groups exist for at least 1 year before joining ENGAGe. This change reflected the need for active ENGAGE members. Last but not least a requirement that ENGAGe Executive Group members be active in the EEG ‘s work and projects.  This change reflected the need for active EEG members.

The General Assembly also thanked to Prof. Murat Gultekin (TR), Esra Urkmez (USA/TR) Dance with Cancer, Birthe Lemley (DK) president of K.I.U. and Maria Papageorgiou (GR) president of K.E.F.I Greece for their years of service.