TMA hosted an exhibition "Art as a Therapy" which was dedicated to World Cancer Day. The Academy has been cooperating with Onco Society "Hope" for two years in the direction of raising awareness about breast cancer in society, and this day was celebrated with aნ exhibition in the context of institutional partnership.

Within the framework of the meeting, the students personally talked to women cancer patients, got to know their personal stories, and learned about the challenges and victories of their daily lives. Each woman told the audience about her own transition, and how she went through or is currently going through this path.

"Relationship with a doctor is important for any patient, especially for a cancer patient, since the issue is sensitive. Here, the competence of the doctor is not limited only by his knowledge of oncology, and it is very important that he/she has the human skills called empathy. It is necessary to develop this during the student period so that the future doctor can maximally combine the competence of the doctor and the human resources that will give him /her the opportunity to become an absolutely perfect doctor. Today's meeting gave me hope that in the future when a person learns his diagnosis, it will be much more stable because it will be explained by a qualified doctor and an empathetic person. Therefore, for the patient, his/her disease will be much easier to bear, it will not be a cancer sentence for him/her, and he will fight against this disease more sustainably" - Khatuna Chincharashvili, Vice President of Onco Society "Hope".

Visitors to the exhibition also listened to the blog of TMA student Tony Varghese, which he wrote after meeting these women and conveyed his emotions - Society keeps deeming that “Cancer is the end word” but these ladies showed me that “The show has not even begun.” The places where they needed support and care from their doctor, to reassure them that they are going to overcome, they did not get it. They survived it on their own, they did it themselves, as one of the fighters I saw remarked “I am a survivor of the war in 2008, this is nothing to me, I can survive this too”.

Within the framework of the meeting, a memorandum of cooperation was also signed between the Tbilisi Medical Academy and the Caucasus Oncology Society "Hope". The memorandum envisages the development and promotion of medicine and public health in Georgia, in particular, the promotion of social integration of people with oncological diseases; In accordance with the educational program of the TMA, to introduce the bio-psycho-social context of oncology patients to the students of the TMA and deepen their professional knowledge, etc.

The meeting was attended by TMA students, women patients representing the Caucasian Oncology Society "Hope", the director of the National Screening Center Eter Kighuradze, and representatives of the TMA administration.

"Today's meeting was important for a person, even more so for a future doctor. Today I realized that there is always a point in the struggle and that these women are part of an amazing world that gives hope to each other and to other people. I heard how they felt when they were diagnosed or going through chemotherapy. I also learned that cancer is not dangerous, even though I was always afraid to talk about it. I was filled with amazing emotions and realized that every new hour is a gift in our life" - Ani Tskipurishvili, third-year Student.

This emotion of a student of the academy leaves us with the hope that together with "Hope", students will contribute to raising awareness about breast cancer and interesting projects are ahead.