COVID-19 and the Neuro-Oncology Community

SNO COVID-19 Task Force

As the global medical community and the world come together to face the challenges of COVID-19, the Society for Neuro-Oncololgy has established the COVID Task Force to address the needs of the Society’s membership and the neuro-oncology community. The Task Force’s mandate is to identify, develop, and disseminate guidance and educational resources specific to COVID-19 and the treatment and research of brain tumors.

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COVID-19 Education and Updates

Patient and Caregiver Fact Sheet

SNO appreciates that brain tumor patients are already dealing with distress and uncertainty, and that the pandemic is adding to these. A Fact sheet has been developed by SNO to provide information specific to brain tumor patients, caregivers and advocates. Please share this Fact Sheet with your patients and their families. To download the pdf Fact Sheet, click here.

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Webinars

Covid-19 and the Brain Tumour Community
Original Air Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2020

The International Brain Tumour Alliance (IBTA) and the Society for Neuro-Oncology encourage you to direct your patients, caregivers and advocates to register for a complimentary webinar during which neuro-oncology experts will provide answers on how the COVID-19 pandemic may be affecting them.  To view this webinar, click here.

This Pandemic Isn’t Making My Burnout Better: A Systematic Approach to Coping During Covid-19
Original Air Date: June 3, 2020

Speakers: Dan Shapiro, MS, PhD, Vice Dean for Faculty and Administrative Affairs, Penn State College of Medicine, Principal: Burnout Solutions Group DES Health Consulting and Alvina Acquaye, MS, LCPC [c], Bio-Behavioral Research Associate, National Cancer Institute, Columbus Technologies & Services, Inc., Neuro-Oncology Branch    
To view this webinar, click here.

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 Journal Resources

Neuro-Oncology

• Urgent Considerations for the Neuro-Oncologic Treatment of Patients with Gliomas During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Journal of Neuro-Oncology

• Milan 2020: COVID-19, neuro-oncology and much more
• Experiences of practicing surgical neuro-oncology during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Inpatient and outpatient case prioritization for patients with neuro-oncologic disease amid the COVID-19 pandemic: general guidance for neuro-oncology practitioners from the AANS/CNS Tumor Section and Society for Neuro-Oncology

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Other Resources

• Coronavirus (COVID-19) Rapid guidelines and evidence summaries (NICE)
• British Medical Association (BMA) published its “ethics guidance for doctors making difficult COVID-19 decisions on the front line”.
• ASCO Coronavirus Resources
• The COVID-19 AND Cancer Consortium
• Neuropalliative Care During COVID-19—How Clinicians Help Patients and Families Cope with Isolation, Fear, and Life-Limiting Illness
  
  

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Patient Advocacy Materials

• SNO COVID-19 Patient Fact Sheet (SNO)
• COVID-19 Information (ABTA)
• Brain Tumor Patients and the COVID-19 Crisis (The Musella Foundation w/ Eric T. Wong, MD)
• COVID-19 Information for the Brain Tumour Community (IBTA)
• COVID-19 What the Brain Tumor Community Needs to Know (NBTS)
• COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Update from the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation
• Patient Advocacy Resources to Combat COVID-19 (AACR)
• COVID-19 and Cancer Survivors: What Do I Need to Know?
         

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Wellness Resources
(Resources collected by the SNO Wellness Committee)

• Headspace Mindfulness and Meditation App, Free for Healthcare Providers with an NPI#
• The Happiness Lab Podcast
• Physician Burnout Modules  AMA
• Stress and Coping CDC
• Acknowledging Loss NPR
• At Home Workout Options CNET
• 6 Mindfulness Techniques Medical News Today
• The Importance of Sleep The Sleep Foundation
• Working Home with Your Kids Yale Medicine
• The Disaster Distress Hotline: National Hotline available to provided crisis-counseling for people experiencing emotional distress related to any natural or human-caused disaster.

Wellness videos from NCI Neuro-Oncology Branch

• 3 Tips to Manage Stress
• Mindfulness Technique
• Positive Affirmations

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SNO Conferences

Upcoming SNO Conferences:

• At the present time, we plan to hold our upcoming 25th Annual Scientific Meeting and Education Day in Austin, Texas as originally scheduled, November 19 - 22, 2020.
• The 2nd SNO Conference on Brain Metastases, originally scheduled for August 2020 has been rescheduled to August of 2021.
• The NCI/SNO Joint Conference on Brain Tumor Metabolism, originally scheduled for October 2020 has been rescheduled to April 6-7, 2021 in Bethesda Maryland

Ultimately, the health and safety of our registrants, partners, and SNO staff remain our main concern. We will continue to follow guidance and recommended safety measures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).  Information as it relates to all SNO meetings will be posted on the SNO Website  as it becomes available.

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SNO COVID-19 Task Force Members

• Alvina Acquaye, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• Sameer Agnihotri, University of Pittsburgh
• Terri Armstrong, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• Nicholas Butowski, University of California San Francisco
• Susan Chang, University of California San Francisco
• Milan Chheda, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
• Erin Dunbar, Piedmont Atlanta Hospital
• Charles Haynes, Society for Neuro-Oncology
• Monika Hegi, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV)
• Shawn Hervey-Jumper, University of California San Francisco
• Michael Lim, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Alireza Mansouri, Penn State Cancer Institute
• Maciej Mrugala, Mayo Clinic
• Farshad Nassiri, University of Toronto
• Kathy Oliver, International Brain Tumour Alliance
• Katherine Peters, Duke Cancer Center
• Alyx Porter, Mayo Clinic
• Shelley Pressley, Society for Neuro-Oncology
• Joanne Salcido, Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation
• David Schiff, University of Virginia Health
• Jennie Taylor, University of California San Francisco
• Alissa Thomas, University of Vermont Medical Center
• Martin van den Bent, Erasmus MC Cancer Center
• Gelareh Zadeh, University Health Network

If you are interested in joining the Task Force, please contact [email protected].