Nataliya Kovalchuk, Clinical Professor at Stanford Radiation Oncology, shared on LinkedIn:
“Last night was a very special night for Help Ukraine Group (HUG).
We were deeply honored to receive the Order of Princess Olga, 3rd Degree, awarded by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. We received this recognition as an award for the work of our entire Help Ukraine Group (HUG) team and the extraordinary community that has stood with Ukraine.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, HUG has worked to strengthen cancer care and radiation oncology in Ukraine.
Together with our Ukrainian and international partners, we have:
- Reached approximately 80% of radiation oncologists, medical physicists, and radiation therapists across 43 radiotherapy centers in Ukraine through our training programs
- Organized national courses and hands-on workshops
- Created international observerships at leading cancer centers in the US, Canada, Australia, Europe
- Supported research, mentorship, and publications
- Secured donations of critical hardware and software, including AI technologies; translated and distributed books
- Helped Ukrainian centers implement modern radiotherapy technologies and practices.
I am also happy to congratulate Nelya Melnitchouk, MD of Global Medical Knowledge Alliance and Maria Hrycelak of Ukrainian Medical Association of North America-UMANA, who also received the Order of Princess Olga, 3rd Degree.
It is an honor to share this recognition with two remarkable Ukrainian-American women whose work has made such an important contribution to Ukraine.
Many thanks to Andriy Beznosenko for the nomination.
We are deeply grateful to our more than 60 partners and sponsors who have made HUG’s work possible.
In particular, we thank the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Radiological Security, Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), and the Government of Sweden through Swecare for their tremendous support of our programs in Ukraine.
We are equally grateful to every organization, institution, company, and individual who has contributed expertise, time, resources, and funding to this shared mission.
To our entire Help Ukraine Group (HUG) team: thank you for everything you do for Ukraine and for helping us build a stronger future for Ukrainian medicine.”
Other articles from Nataliya Kovalchuk on OncoDaily.
