Kathy Oliver is Chair and a Founding Co-Director of the International Brain Tumour Alliance (IBTA), a global network established in 2005 as a dynamic worldwide community for brain tumour patient organisations and others involved in neuro-oncology. Kathy lives in Tadworth, Surrey, United Kingdom.
On behalf of the IBTA, Kathy campaigns for equitable access to brain tumour therapies; encourage the establishment of brain tumour patient/caregiver support groups in countries where they don’t yet exist; and raises awareness of the challenges of this devastating disease.
She is involved in cancer patient rights-based advocacy and is a co-author of The European Cancer Patient’s Bill of Rights (2014) and The Brain Tumour Patients’ Charter of Rights launched in July 2020. Kathy – a frequent speaker at international cancer and neuro-oncology conferences – also participates in high-level, multi-stakeholder projects and committees focussing on patient reported outcomes, quality of life, treatment guidelines, rare cancers, regulatory matters and supportive and palliative care.
Kathy has authored/co-authored a range of journal papers, book chapters and magazine articles about brain tumours, patient advocacy, regulatory matters, COVID-19, supportive care and other relevant topics.
She is a EUPATI Fellow (European Patients Academy), having participated in the first cohort of patient advocates in 2014/2015 enrolled in this 15-month course on medicines development from drug discovery through to regulatory approvals and health technology assessment processes.
Kathy is a faculty member at the College of the European School of Oncology (ESCO).
She is also:
- Former co-chair and current member, European Cancer Organisation (E.C.O) Patient Advisory Committee (PAC)
- Former member, European Commission’s Expert Group on Cancer Control
- Founding member, Rare Cancers Europe (RCE)
- Member, Guidelines and Reported Outcomes Committee, US Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO)
- Member, Society for Neuro-Oncology COVID-19 Task Force
- Founder member, Cancer52
- Founder member, Workgroup of European Cancer Patient Advocacy Networks (WECAN)
- Member, Steering Group, European Reference Network (ERN) for Rare Adult Solid Tumours (EURACAN)
- Member, Steering Group, EURACAN Domain 10 for brain and CNS tumours in adults
- Founder member, Global Cancer Coalitions Network (GCCN)
- Member, European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Brain Tumour Subgroup on Quality of Life
- IBTA representative, US NCI-CONNECT programme (for rare brain tumours)
- Former member SISAQOL-IMI consortium
- Member European Cancer Organisation’s Focussed Topic Networks on COVID-19, Cancer Inequalities, Quality Cancer Care, and Survivorship and Quality of Life
- Member, European Cancer Organisation’s Special Network on the Impact of the War in Ukraine on Cancer
- Founding member, All.Can International
- Editor/publisher, Brain Tumour magazine (circulation: 12,000 copies sent for free to 112 countries and distributed at international neuro-oncology and cancer conferences)
- Coordinator, the biennial IBTA World Summit of Brain Tumour Patient Advocates
Kathy also helped spearhead an initiative for sub-Saharan Africa, alongside the US Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO) and the Zimbabwe Brain Tumour Association (ZBTA) in an effort to improve outcomes for African brain tumour patients and their families. The result of this activity, with support from SNO, was the establishment of the Society for Neuro-Oncology Sub-Saharan Africa (SNOSSA).
Kathy is proud to have the privilege of heading up the IBTA which has been the recipient of a number of prestigious awards over the years, the latest of which is the Society for Neuro-Oncology’s (SNO) Neuro-Oncology Community Service Award which was presented to Kathy as IBTA Chair, in November 2019 at the SNO annual meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. This award recognizes an organisation or meritorious individual who has made significant contributions to the neuro-oncology community.
Kathy and her husband Gordon’s son, Colin, was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2004 at age 24 and passed away, at age 32, in August 2011. Kathy cites her son’s “incredible courage, determination and fortitude” as the driving force and inspiration behind her involvement in the international brain tumour and rare cancer communities.
