EUMED CANCER - Euro-Mediterranean network for Genetic Medicine and Cancer Prevention - 114

Eumedis Project number: 114

EC Project code: 114

Contract "signature" date: 2002-07-11

Planned start date: 2002-07-12

Planned duration: 36 months

Planned end date: 2005-07-11

Actual start date: 2002-07-12

Total Budget: 1.300.000,00 ?

EC Contribution: 

1.040.000,00 €

Sector: Healthcare networks

Background: 

The objective of the project is the creation of a Euro-Mediterranean network which will be sharing scientific expertise and resources and will be aimed at improving healthcare in two priority areas: Genetic Medicine and Cancer Prevention. The European co-ordinator and partners (respectively from Italy, France and Greece) have been selected because of their expertise and/or their key position in the Mediterranean. The partners from five MED countries (Cyprus, Egypt, Lebanon, Malta, Tunisia) have participated very actively in the preparation of this application while additional partners from Algeria, Israel, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria, Turkey have expressed their willingness to be associated in the project by signing the Memorandum of Understanding although they have not been able to complete the set of documents requested by the EC. The network thus established in the most rapidly growing field of medicine should become influential and self-financing within three years and subsequently grow during the next decade into a network of Euro-Mediterranean centres of excellence in genetics.

Objectives: 

Overall Objectives
• To facilitate the development of genetic centres of excellence in MED countries and support their economic development through the most rational utilisation of their final resources allocated to Healthcare systems. The case of thalassemia is quite instructive in this context.

Specific Objectives
• Training of health professionals through specialised courses, practical workshops and practical training.
• Transformation of the specialised courses in Internet courses and establishment of a network of clinical geneticists who will help each other in making diagnoses on problematic cases using robust internet technology.
• Testing and comparison of new technology for the laboratory diagnosis of genetic diseases which represent frequent health problems in MED countries.
• Public awareness of genetics.

Description: 

The first goal of EUMED CANCER will be the training of health professional from the 12 MED countries through nine specialised courses, three practical workshops and 21 individual stages of practical training. Some of the specialised courses reproduce prototypes already experimented with success by the European School of Genetic Medicine (ESGM) for the training in Genetic Medicine and Cancer Genetics while the other training activities will respond to specific needs identified by the MED partners participating in this project.
The second goal will be the transformation of the specialised courses in Internet courses and at the same time the establishment of a Euro-Mediterranean network of clinical geneticists who will help each other in making diagnoses on problematic cases using simple and robust Internet technology. The increase in knowledge in Genetics will contribute to prevention of all genetic disorders, including cancer, in the 12 MED countries.
The third goal of the project will be the testing and comparison of new technology (in particular DNA chips) for laboratory diagnosis of genetic diseases which represent frequent health problems in Mediterranean countries (including the thalassemias and other common disorders).
Finally different activities for the public awareness of genetics in MED countries will be started in collaboration with the project Genetics in Europe Open Days (GEOD) financed by the EC in the framework of the European Week for Science and Technology (www.geod.org). To fulfil its goals in the areas of e-learning and tele-consultations, the project aims to implement the latest and most up-to-date information and communication technologies available for use in the geographic area – with respect to their pricing, required level of external support and sustainability. Based of the analysis of the individual partners’ position in IT, a solution will be chosen that suits the needs of the applications (video streaming and web presentations for the teaching courses and teleconferencing for the consultations) and corresponds to the partners’ level of IT deployment. Alliances with other EUMEDIS projects, both in the healthcare sector (EUMEDIS) and others (research and education networks, EUMEDconnect) are currently investigated as a suitable way of IT infrastructure support to the project.
One of the main aims of the project itself is to provide training to health professionals through specialised courses, practical workshops and fellowships. This will be done through 9 courses, 3 workshops and practical training. Each of the fields covered in the different courses will be the topic of a consensus document prepared by the invited faculty and by the students at the end of each course. These consensus documents together with the internet versions of the course will be accessible to all partners through a web-site and will serve as a basis for further refinement and development of teaching curricula in medical genetics in the respective partner institutions and countries.
This material together with exchange of information regarding difficult diagnosis will also be the basis for discussion groups created around each of the topics, allowing the participants and partners to discuss issues that are related with their everyday practice concerning that particular field of medical and cancer genetics. These working discussion groups will also serve as a means that will motivate the participants and partners to maintain productive relations with the colleagues and peer institutions and to continuously gain further experience in their respective fields.
To transform the specialised courses into internet presentations and to establish the network of clinical geneticists mutually discussing and helping each other in making diagnoses on problematic cases, robust and simple internet technology will be deployed. As this kind of technology is already penetrating into general everyday use, only minimum supplementary training will be necessary to use this technology within the project.
This minimum training in IT will be provided according to user/application needs as these needs will be identified in the course of the project. Basic information regarding specific issues concerning IT use within the healthcare environment (data security, data confidentiality etc.) will be included in the training courses and these topics will be also presented to the users as a part of the internet branch of the project.
In the short-term (3 years) the indicator of Achievement is represented by the number of trainees; this means that effects will be measurable in terms of attendance also for Internet courses. In the long term (next decade) The network should become influential and self-financing, grow into a Network of Euro-Mediterranean centres of excellence in genetics. This will lead to important effects on Health systems as prevention of common genetic disorders.
The activity of this project in terms of visibility will consist in the dissemination of results through the Internet. However a major visibility conference will take place in the middle of the project probably in Egypt, where Nasser Institute Hospital, responsible for this particular task, is located. The use of medical genetics services in the different European countries should take into account that there is in Europe a North-South decreasing gradient with respect to services and personnel dedicated to the prevention of genetic disease.

Results: 

1. 135 fellowships for 9 course: 39 for 3 workshops and 21 practical training (2 weeks to 6 months).

2. 7 courses on internet.

3. Several public awareness activities.

4. Prevention of common genetic disorders as important effects on the Health systems.

Project Management: 

The Project Management is based on an existing Medical Research Foundation whose experience in researching, teaching and dissemination is quite substantial.
A scientific committee will be in charge of the quality control of learning materials and of the data collection.

Web site: http://www.eurogene.org/body.php?l=0&p=pages/proj/curr/eumcors.htm

Project Coordinator: Giovanni, Romeo (more details ...)

Project Manager: Michele, Bianco (more details ...)

Leading partner

Italy

European Genetics Foundation [http://www.eurogene.org/]

Participating Partners