สำนักงานราชบัณทิตยสภา

The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume IV - 2012 1  The story behind the Queen Sirikit Centre for Breast Cancer, its philosophy and outreach projects. Finola Chatamra Abstract To honour Her Majesty the Queen’s special birthday, the editorial board asked if an article could be written about the work of the Queen Sirikit Centre for Breast Cancer, based at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Thai Red Cross Society. The centre was built up from the ambitious idea of creating a centre of excellence for the treatment of all women, but primarily the underprivileged. The main barrier to the project’s fruition was the lack of initial funding. The article charts the story of the centre’s humble beginnings to its present status, as an international ‘centre of excellence’, in clinical care and research. It also examines the outreach work to educate Thai women about breast cancer at a national level, and its pioneering annual breast cancer awareness campaign. The piece also discusses the centre’s breast and cervical cancer screening programme in the slums of greater Bangkok. Keywords: goals of QSCBC, outreach projects Finola Chatamra ‘I would like it to be a sanctuary for women in need.’ Her Majesty Queen Sirikit, Patron. Her Majesty the Queen graciously opened the Queen Sirikit Centre for Breast Cancer (QSCBC) in 2005 as Patron, accompanied by HRH Princess Sirindhorn. The opening came after many years of planning, building a team and fundraising by Dr Kris Chatamra MBBS [London], FRCS [England], MD [London]. After returning to Thailand after 30 years in the UK, as a senior clinician and internal examiner at the Royal College of Surgeons, England, he saw the need for a facility designed speci fi cally