Welcome to UCL Cancer Charities Alliance Society (CCA)! We are the only society at UCL dedicated to fighting cancer.
Our Core activities for this academic year (2024-2025) will be:
1. Internship Panels for both undergraduates and postgraduates, serving to guide society members on the various application processes and opportunities in cancer research.
2. Fundraising events - Bake sales, Cancer awareness events (Previously held together with the Macmillan Cancer Support)
3. Social events - Quiz nights, picnics, joint events with other academic/non-academic societies at UCL
4. Student-Led Volunteering Project - "UCL CancerCare"
In 2023, we have established a Student-Led-Volunteering Project affiliated to the CCA, named "UCL CancerCare", now being recognized by the UCL Student Union. This project will allow UCL students to write newsletter/article about different types of cancer, which will be proof-read by experts in the field and be published online for free. This is a Fully remote, Flexible Volunteering opportunity!
How does this project benefit the wider community?
1. Cancer patients
This project will allow a deeper understanding of their conditions, as gaining fundamental knowledge of our body will assist them to fully understand their diseases and upcoming treatments. There are many patients who do not understand the biological functions of organs. For these patients, it is extremely difficult to understand the details of treatment procedures even after a doctor’s explanation. This not only hinders patients from making optimal decisions about their treatments, but also makes it hard for doctors to gain informed consent from their patients. Thus, supplying cancer patients with the relevant information can help expedite the treatment procedure, ultimately helping patients and their families feel more certain that they chose the optimal path.
2. General Public
It is important to understand that about 1 in 2 people nowadays will have cancer at some point in his or her life, which implies that we are all facing substantial risk from cancer. It is important to understand the risk factors associated with each type of cancer and what kind of conditions you should pay attention to. This is very important in preventing cancer and detecting each type of cancer at the earliest possible stage. The newsletter would encourage the general public to learn about cancer risk factors, take actions to prevent cancer, and to monitor their families’ health for early signs of cancer.
Cancer as a disease may not be familiar to a large number of university students. This may be completely natural given that cancer is a disease with higher risk for the older population. However, we also believe that there is still a significant number of us as "students" who are affected by cancer in different ways, and we aim to spread awareness to as many students as we possibly can, including those who believe that cancer is not relevant to their life yet. Let's come together to raise awareness and support those affected by cancer! :)
UCL Cancer Charities Alliance Society President 2024-2025
Raeisah Eddie