The College of Radiology again congratulates Dr Beena Devi for being selected for the Paul Calabresi award for 2011 by the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG). SIOG is a professional oncology society based in Genolier, Switzerland championing the course of treatment of cancer in the elderly. This year its 11th annual meeting will be held on 4-5 of October in Paris, France. During this auspicious occasion a prominent world expert in the field of Geriatric Oncology will receive the Paul Calabresi Award, named after its first president: Dr Paul Calabresi.
For the first time, this prestigious award is given to Dr Beena Devi who is the Senior Consultant Clinical Oncologist and Head of Department of Radiotherapy, Oncology & Palliative Care, Hospital Umum Sarawak. This international recognition for Dr. Beena Devi is exceptional for someone outside Europe or the US to be the recipient of this award. All previous recipients have been from Europe or USA. Hence this signifies a valuable recognition towards the work that Dr Beena has done not only in providing a holistic approach to cancer care in Sarawak, but also to create an awareness in geriatric oncology in this region when she helped to organise the First Asian Congress on cancer in the Older patients in January 2011 in Kuching. The Paul Calabresi Award is the first step towards realizing this aspiration to be the first in Asia for establishing world class Geriatric Cancer Care in this region.