"A History Lesson” by Larry Broadfield
The first NOPS was in 1988, and it was organized by myself and Rosemary Bacovsky. There was a preceding meeting in 1986, organized by Rosemary and Mary Gannon in Toronto, which was, to my recollection, the first meeting of oncology pharmacists in Canada. I recall that Carlo DeAngelis, Flay Charbonneau and Linda Chow were there – a total of about 20 of us.
CAPhO was formed by myself and John McBride, and the first Executive Committee consisted of me as President, Jeff Barnett as Vice-President and Julie Levesque as Secretary-Treasurer. I think it was formed in 1990 or 1991. (I am not a nostalgist, so I tend not to keep notes and minutes, etc. Remember- we did not have computers everywhere in those days, so it was all on paper and typewritten notes.)
The NOPS meeting was scheduled to coincide with the NCIC CTG AGM, and, as such, it went between Toronto and Montreal for several years, getting larger each year. The first real highlight was our hosting of ISOPP III in Toronto, in 1993. It was at that Symposium that a few of us met and decided to form an international society, also called ISOPP. John McBride became interested in the NCIC activities so he stopped working on NOPS and formed the NCIC Pharmacists' Network. I helped a bit with this, but kept the NOPS meeting going, with lots of help. Julia Pacchiti became much more involved and eventually she took over running the NOPS meetings. In those years, I became more involved in ISOPP, helping form the organization, set the first legal constitution, and eventually becoming the third President of ISOPP.
The good news is that, after 25 years, many of us remain committed and excited about oncology pharmacy – we are active NOPS participants, we continue to produce publications and presentations, etc. But we need more new blood to keep this grand tradition going...”
Larry Broadfield, Manager Systemic Therapy Program
Cancer Care Nova Scotia
CAPhO Logos
The original logo was in red and white, until 2006. The coloring was updated in 2006 to the blue and yellow.
The logo was redesigned in 2011.
Description: The circle denotes strength in its simplicity. It firmly focuses the energy on the “O”, highlighting our specialty; oncology. The circle is easily associated with a group coming together for a common goal. The styling of the “O” represents forward seeing vision while at the same time balancing the logo graphically. The ring(s) represent a joining of forces toward a common goal. The ring(s) are focused on the “O” highlighting our specialty and inferring support. The sans-serif bold block typeface gives strength, seriousness and solidity to the whole.