The National Lung Cancer Partnership will be holding their annual summit for lung cancer advocacy this fall, and the deadline for applications is fast approaching.
As a veteran of a previous summit, I will not be going to the upcoming event (it is only open to those who have not previously attended), but I encourage all who are interested to apply.
The event last spring was incredibly worthwhile. Over a period of three days, NLCP staffers and experienced advocates guided us through a series of workshops; kind of the nuts and bolts of lung cancer advocacy. Topics covered included Lung Cancer 101, Consumer Advocacy, Legislative Advocacy (I learned a lot in this workshop), Community Awareness, Media and Messaging. One fascinating workshop was devoted to addressing the stigma associated with lung cancer, and drew parallels to the AIDs movement.
In addition to the workshops, we paid a visit to the Cancer Center at the University of Colorado. Top lung cancer researchers made presentations and then advocates were given a brief tour of the facilities, including a laboratory (cool!).
On the final day of the summit, we broke up into smaller groups and came up with individual action plans. We even wrote a letter to ourselves, detailing what we hoped to achieve in the coming year. As promised, they were mailed to us one year later; I opened mine several weeks ago.
In regard to this year’s summit:
National Lung Cancer Partnership’s 2012 Lung Cancer Advocacy Summit
Application Deadline: June 18
Nashville, TN
Learn how to work with the National Lung Cancer Partnership to become an effective lung cancer advocate at this three-day event, held from September 13 – 16, 2012 in Nashville, TN. Interactive training sessions and networking opportunities will help patients, survivors, family and friends develop their advocacy goals and build a plan for making them a reality.
Applications are due on June 18, 2012. Apply now!
In addition, I recently received notice that the Lung Cancer Research Program, part of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs overseen by the Department of Defense, has received funding for the fiscal year of 2012. CDMRP is currently recruiting peer reviewers.
I have served as a peer reviewer on two different occasions. It requires a big time commitment over a period of several weeks and can be a bit of a stretch for those of us without a background in science. And yet I feel privileged to have been given this opportunity; the experience is both incredibly rewarding and empowering. The next review process is tentatively scheduled for early November of this year and is open to those living with lung cancer. Again, I encourage anyone who is looking for a way to become more involved with advocacy to consider this intellectually stimulating, challenging, and meaningful program. For more information check out the CDMRP website.
life and breath: outliving lung cancer 