Strategic Planning Bureau
I. Office of Government Affairs, Strategic Planning Bureau
Tatsuya Suzuki, Tatsunori Shimoi, Nobuko Ushirozawa, Natsuko Okita, Hirokazu Takahashi, Yuta Amatatsu, Toshio Miyata
The Team and What We Do
Monitor relevant governmental committees and conferences, reporting updates to the board of directors, director’s meeting, and the center-wide management meeting.
Education
With secondments to and from central governmental agencies and affiliated organizations including the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labour, staff gain expertise on policy monitoring and advocacy.
Future Prospects
Working with individual units, the center’s advocacy will be strengthened, responding to policy formation processes on the part of the government, as appropriate.
Author
Tatsuya Suzuki
II. OFFICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS, STRATEGIC PLANNING BUREAU
Takaaki Tsuchida, Miyako Horikoshi, Toru Kishida, Yumi Kitada, Kentaro Takeda, Reiko Uokawa, Kiyotaka Yoh, Reina Kyo, Takara Taguchi, Yuka Takahashi
Introduction
The Office of Public Relations has been organized as one branch of the Strategic Planning Bureau Director-General, which was assigned as a public section under the supervision of the president of the National Cancer Center (NCC) in April 2013. A full-time staff member was newly assigned to the Office of Public Relations in April 2014. Our task is to manage the NCC website (https://www.ncc.go.jp) and SNS (Facebook, YouTube), publication of reports, and coverage and delivery of press conferences and press releases. By sharing the mission and vision between staff members throughout the NCC, we provide information about the NCC’s most outstanding activities in cancer care, research, screening, prevention, and policy making.
Our Team and What We Do
During weekly meetings of the Office of Public Relations, we perform prompt decision making regarding the public relations policy and share information about our tasks using a TV conference system between the Tsukiji and Kashiwa campuses. We receive information on the publicity work from each department, and draft a publication plan. In addition, through the distribution of the intramural information for staff members in the NCC, we share vital messages via e-mail, bulletin board, and/or information magazine to facilitate communication between the staff and executives. We distribute information promptly by publishing and sharing press releases, press conferences, and seminars about novel treatment, research activity and notable accomplishments within the NCC and elsewhere.
- Website and SNS improvement and updates
- Public information magazine “The National Cancer Center News”: for external hospitals, academia, research institutions, and administrative agencies
- Public information magazine “hibiho”: for patients in the NCC Hospital (NCCH) and the NCC Hospital East (NCCHE)
- Support for events, seminars, and public information
- Media support at press conferences, press releases, and media coverage
We held 16 press conferences and published 66 press releases. The total number of media coverage items was 1,375.
Future prospects
It is important to make the NCC website attractive, useful and accessible. It is also important to advance public relations activities. All staff share the NCC mission and move in the same direction.
III. OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Tomohiro Matsuda, Seiichiro Yamamoto, Kay Ohara, Laureline Gatellier, Tomoko Shimmura, Mitsuko Otani, Keiko Imai, Miwa Tokumoto, Satsuki Suzuki, Asuka Tsuzuki
What We Do
The NCC’s Office of International Affairs promotes the Center’s international activities through:
1. personnel exchange with leading medical institutions, nurturing cancer researchers / healthcare professionals, and a global network,
2. participation in international collaborative cancer research projects, and outreach to the international medical community,
3. sharing our medical expertise and information with overseas colleagues, with a focus on Asia, advancing cancer care and research in the region, and
4. engagement with the community at large
The Office of International Affairs serves as a conduit for, and supports the abovementioned activities.
1. Collaboration with International Agencies and Nurturing Human Resources
The Center supports the country’s contribution at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization (WHO). Dr Manami Inoue was elected Chair of the Scientific Council, and a joint team on long-term surveillance was established. Dr Ayumi Saito joined a working group for the WHO Global Breast Cancer Initiative.
Two webinars on immuno-oncology were co-organized with the French National Cancer Institute (INCa) and French embassy in Japan, and with support from the Kiyoko Goto and Paul Bourdarie Cancer Foundation.
Staff who participated in joint research and was seconded to Danderyd Hospital, Karolinska Institute, returned after a full year.
Virtual conferences were held with the Massachusetts General Hospital and with Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, to discuss future collaboration.
Memoranda of understanding were concluded with Vital Strategies on collaboration on cancer registration in Viet Nam, and with the Thai Society of Clinical Oncology, the Tata Memorial Centre, the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research and Peking University First Hospital.
2. Collaborative Medical Research
The NCC continues its participation in multiple international collaborative research programs and international clinical trials, the logistics of which the Office of International Affairs supports, whilst serving as a conduit for information between the research teams. More details can be found in other sections within this annual report.
3. Medical Contribution, with a Focus on Asia
We hosted 6 medical staff from overseas institutions on visits to our two campuses during fiscal year 2021. We kept in touch with prospective visitors and alumni by relaying information on webinars in which our doctors gave presentations.
Serving as the secretariat to the Asian National Cancer Centres Alliance (ANCCA), we organized the annual top level virtual meeting, and coordinated joint research towards developing an Asian code for cancer prevention.
A virtual meeting between the National Cancer Centers of China and of Korea was held in June with the Presidents of each Center presenting mid-term initiatives. Regulatory officers studying on the Nagoya University Young Leaders’ Program were hosted.
Thanks to support from the embassy of Thailand in Tokyo, the Center successfully obtained a registration certificate to establish the Asian Partnerships Office in Bangkok. In November, we issued a joint statement with the National Cancer Hospital of Viet Nam for further collaboration. With the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA), another virtual workshop on multi-regional clinical trials was co-organized for regulatory officers from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation framework.
As part of the initiatives by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), our specialists shared their experience on palliative care with Moldova and Palestine. As a member of the SUCCESS consortium promoting secondary prevention of cervical cancer, our specialist joined the implementation research study steering committee.
4. External Engagement
Supporting the Center’s outreach activities to our global partners, we are placing a renewed focus on engaging third parties domestically, including ones in industry. We continued issuing a monthly internal newsletter to share information on international engagement, encouraging more staff to take part in global activities. More was done to reach out to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine.
Table 1. April 2021 - March 2022: Visiting fellowships and short-term (within 3 days) visits
Table 2. April 2021 - March 2022: Visiting fellowships (with and without fees)
IV. OFFICE OF DEVELOPMENT, STRATEGIC PLANNING BUREAU
Chie Matsuda, Atsushi Takano, Maiko Tanahashi, Kimiko Oka, Yuki Inokawa
What We Do
We receive limited funding from the Japanese Government at around 10% of our total cash inflow. Currently, the NCC’s main sources of cash flow are revenues from medical services, cancer research, and clinical trials. It is vital to diversify revenue sources to make the NCC’s financial position stable over the long-term. As one of the alternatives, we look for sustainable growth in donation revenue from NCC supporters.
What We Achieved in FY2021
Donation revenue was ¥367 million (+23% YoY) from 1,421 donations (+25% YoY) in FY2021. It has shown a consecutive increasing trend since FY2015, both in value and numbers, apart from FY2018. In FY2018, a major legacy gift (¥190 mn) was received and also one crowdfunding was successfully completed. The main factors for the revenue growth are as follows:
1. Diversification in the donor portfolio, from NCCH/NCCHE patients to other sectors
2. An increase in legacy gifts
What We will Do - Priorities in FY2022
We will focus on the following measures:
1. To diversify the donor portfolio further, from NCCH/NCCHE patients to all those who support the NCC’s vision of “Don’t get cancer, don’t get beaten by cancer, and live with cancer.” We will continue to conduct publicity about the reasons why we need funding and how it is spent, with the launch of “The National Cancer Center Foundation” in 2020.
2. To encourage legacy giving for future cancer research from senior upper-middle class people who are interested in philanthropy, we will continue to seek collaboration with professionals, including legacy gift-related NPOs, lawyers, tax accountants, and trust banks.
Figure 1. Donation Revenue & Number of Donations
(Yearly)