SPEAKER PROFILES:

Dr Felipe Roitberg

Felipe Roitberg is a clinical oncologist at the Hospital Sirio Libanes in São Paulo, Brazil, and a WHO Consultant for Cancer Management and Control.

Dr Roitberg completed his clinical oncology fellowship at the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, Sao Paulo, in 2011. He also had the opportunity to educate himself in the public health field while following courses in Healthcare Management, Quality for Healthcare Services and Economics for healthcare organizations at Harvard School of Public Health.

He has worked in clinical research in the ICESP/University of Sao Paulo for 10 years, and is currently involved with economics for healthcare analysis, including an ongoing systematic review on financial toxicity for cancer patients in partnership with the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Cancer Research (IARC). He is also an active member and alumni of the UICC Young Leadership Program and a member of the Brazilian Society of Clinical Oncology International Affairs Board.

Dr Roitberg has presented at international conferences and workshops and has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals. He works as a peer reviewer for high-impact scientific journals such as the Journal of Global Oncology and Frontiers in Oncology, and his latest achievements in this field came when he was asked to serve as a reviewer of the 2020 WHO Report on Cancer and to join the Editorial Board of the Journal of Cancer Policy.

Dr Roitberg is an active and engaged ESMO member, including his activities as a member of the ESMO Global Policy Committee and the ESMO Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale (ESMO-MCBS) extended Working Group.

Dr Mary Nyangasi

Dr. Mary Nyangasi is a public health specialist/epidemiologist with interests in Non-Communicable Disease especially Cancer. She earned her medical degree from the University of Nairobi and a Masters in Public Health in Epidemiology and Disease Control from Kenyatta University. She holds postgraduate certificates in Non-Communicable Diseases and Diplomacy from Graduate Institute Geneva and Leadership and Management in Health from the University of Washington.

She has experience spanning over 15 years in clinical practice and public health with 7 years of specialist oncology practice and currently working in the area of cancer control programming and policy. She is a member of the African Cancer Coalition and has contributed to the development of NCCN harmonized guidelines for head and neck cancers as well as the conceptualization and implementation of Chemosafe project in Kenya.

Dr. Nyangasi is the Head of the National Cancer Control Programme in the Ministry of Health within the Department of Non-Communicable Diseases, the arm within the Ministry that coordinates the implementation of cancer control activities on behalf of the Ministry.

Her main interests are in breast, cervical and colorectal cancers prevention and control, research, innovations in public health for strengthening the health systems and implementation science.

She enjoys cooking especially trying out healthy menus, travelling, meeting new people, networking, and sharing ideas. She is also an avid reader.

Dr. Nyagasi mentors women in her community and participates in community awareness and sensitization on health topics of interest.

Dr Alfred Karagu

Alfred Karagu is a public health specialist with over 16 years’ experience in clinical care, health services management, monitoring and evaluation, training and public health research. He holds a Bachelors degree in Medicine and Surgery and a Master of Science in Health Systems Management and is a graduate of the Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme, a competency-based training by the Ministry of Health and United States Centre for Disease Control.

He has a vast experience in program management in both the infectious and non-communicable disease prevention spheres having worked in the public health sector across the national and county government levels. He currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Cancer Institute of Kenya, a statutory body established under the Cancer Prevention and Control Act of 2012 to coordinate and regulate cancer prevention and control activities. He is thus spearheading the development of policies, guidelines and standards to enhance access to cancer treatment, quality improvement initiatives for better treatment outcomes and improved cancer data management to inform policy and practice.

Dr. Karagu has a keen interest in health system research with a number of publications in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at local and international conferences. He is passionate about strengthening health systems to respond to the rising burden of non-communicable diseases through innovations and effective partnerships

Moderator: Dr Miriam Mutebi 

Dr. Miriam Mutebi is a Consultant Breast Surgical Oncologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. She is also a clinical epidemiologist and health systems researcher with a research focus on understanding barriers to access for women with cancers in Sub-Saharan Africa and in designing interventions to mitigate those barriers.

She is the President Elect of the African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC), the Chairperson for the Kenya Society of Hematology and Oncology (KESHO) and on the board of directors of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC).  She is also the co-founder of the Pan African Women’s Association of Surgeons (PAWAS-www.africanwomensurgeons.org) which was developed to mentor and provide transformative leadership for women in surgery in order to improve surgical care and pathology on the continent and is part of the Kenya Association of Women Surgeons.

She is the Co-chair of the National Cancer Taskforce in Kenya, Chair of the Commonwealth Taskforce for the elimination of Cervical Cancer and a commissioner with three Lancet commissions of Women and cancer, Cancer in sub-Saharan Africa and Breast Cancer. She is currently pursuing a pilot’s licence in order to extend breast care services to marginalised areas.