News and Events

This section is intended to keep you informed about some of the recent Marjorie E. Korff PACT Program events both at the Massachusetts General Hospital and in the community. Given the activity of the PACT team and its members, this list is subject to change at any time. If you would like additional information about scheduled upcoming events, please contact us.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Channel 5, Boston

Dr. Paula K. Rauch was interviewed as part of a series by Kelly Tuthill (of Channel 5, Boston) for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The resulting news segment discusses the effects of cancer on the entire family, and provides some suggestions for families in which a parent has cancer. Click here if you would like to watch this segment, or click here if you would like to read about it.

Newsweek Article and Video Online

Click here to read Dr. Paula K. Rauch's online essay in Newsweek regarding the Marjorie E. Korff PACT Program.

Watch the Newsweek video "Living in the Now" and read the accompanying Newsweek story by clicking here.

January, 2008
Launch of the Facing Challenges and Beyond Initiative: Stories of Resilient Families

Each day, members of the Marjorie E. Korff PACT Program have the privilege of working with people facing the daily challenges of serious illness. The parents and children we serve consistently impress us with their courage, wisdom, and strength in facing these challenges.  The lessons we have learned from them have helped us to help so many others. In 2008, we want to increase the opportunity for families to share directly with one another, which is why we are launching the Facing Challenges and Beyond Initiative.

Through this initiative, we are inviting each of you to share your own personal stories with us. We plan to use this website, now viewed in over 26 countries, as a medium for you to share some of your insights, lessons, and experiences with others who might directly benefit from them – countless parents and children facing similar challenges. We will anonymously post many of your submissions into the “What Families Say” section of our website.

We realize that the hopeful message that families can survive and even thrive, despite the outcome of a parent’s serious illness, is powerful when heard firsthand. That is why we ask you to share your stories with us – to share the ups and downs, the losses and gains, the helpful and unhelpful, the physical and spiritual – in hopes that others may benefit from your experience. All are welcome and warmly invited to participate in this initiative. Please contact us to share your story.

February 28, 2008
PACT at APOS Annual Conference

Dr. Cynthia W. Moore and Dr. Anna (Nina) Muriel join our colleague Karen Fasciano from Dana Farber Cancer Institute in presenting a pre-conference workshop, Parenting With Cancer: Guiding Families Through the Illness Continuum, at the American Psychosocial Oncology Society annual conference, Irvine, California.

March 12, 2008

Dr. Paula K. Rauch gives Grand Rounds at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.

May 9 & 30, 2008

The Mike Caruso Jazz Quintet performs selections from their CD, Songs for Amy, at a fundraiser for bone marrow transplant patients at Massachusetts General Hospital on Friday, May 9, 7 p.m., at the Acton Jazz Cafe in Acton, MA.  All proceeds go toward the purchase of several computers to be used by patients who spend extended periods of time in the hospital. The group will also be playing in Framingham, MA on May 30th. For more details, please visit www.mikecarusomusic.com.

Summer, 2008

PACT joins with the Young Photographers Initiative (YPI) to give children who have experienced a parent's serious illness "exposure to the magic of photography and the ability one has to capture his/her feelings, aspirations and dreams in an image...." Learn more about YPI at www.ypikids.com.