SPEAKER PROFILES:

Dr Khadija Warfa
Khadija Warfa is a Consultant Gynecologic Oncologist, who completed her gynaecological oncology fellowship at the University of Calgary, Canada.

Currently Dr. Warfa is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at The Aga Khan University Hospital, where she had done her Obstetrics and Gynecology residency training. She is involved in the training and supervision of postgraduate students.

Dr. Warfa is a member of the African Cancer Coalition and European society of gynecologic oncology (ESGO). She is involved in the Harmonized NCCN guidelines and is a technical advisor to the Kenya National cancer treatment protocols with the objective to reduce mortality related to Gynecologic Cancers in Kenya.

Prof. Matteo Lambertini, MD PhD

Matteo Lambertini is associate Professor and Consultant in Medical Oncology at the University of Genova – IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino in Genova (Italy).

He is mainly focused in the care of breast cancer patients and is deeply involved in breast cancer research.

Above all, he has a particular expertise in the management of breast cancer in young women, with a specific attention to the fertility and pregnancy-related issues that they have to face after diagnosis.

During his medical oncology training, he had the opportunity to work and collaborate with several national and international leading experts in the field; these experiences have played a crucial role to deepen his skills in the management of breast cancer in young women.

Thanks to the support of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), in 2018 he completed his PhD at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.) in Brussels (Belgium) with a project entitled “Unmet Fertility and Pregnancy-related Issues in Young Breast Cancer Patients”. With this work, he has contributed to improve our understanding of many controversial aspects related to the management of breast cancer in young women specifically focusing on fertility preservation and the possibility to have a pregnancy following treatment completion, with the ultimate goal to further improve the care and quality of life of these young women.

He is member of the guideline group on fertility preservation in cancer patients for ESMO (Lambertini M et al, Ann Oncol 2020), the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embriology (ESHRE; Anderson RA et al, Hum Reprod Open 2020) and the Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM; Lambertini M et al, Eur J Cancer 2017).

He has authored more than 220 publications in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters. His most important research conducted so far addressed the role of administering gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogs during chemotherapy as a strategy to preserve ovarian function and fertility in early breast cancer patients who are candidates to receive cytotoxic therapy (Lambertini M et al, JAMA 2015 & Lambertini M et al, Ann Oncol 2015 & Lambertini M et al, Eur J Cancer 2017 & Lambertini M et al, J Clin Oncol 2018 & Lambertini M et al, JNCI 2021), the safety of having a pregnancy in women with prior history of breast cancer (Lambertini M et al, JNCI 2018 & Lambertini M et al, Cancer 2019 & Lambertini M et al, J Clin Oncol 2021), and the fertility and pregnancy-related issues in BRCA-mutated breast cancer patients (Lambertini et al, Ann Oncol 2018 & Lambertini et al, RBO 2019 & Lambertini et al, Front Oncol 2019 & Lambertini M et al, J Clin Oncol 2020).

He is an active ESMO member since October 2011. He was awarded with the following ESMO Fellowships: Translational Research Unit Visit in 2012, Clinical Unit Visit in 2013 and Translational Research Fellowship in 2016-2018. In 2017, he attended the ESMO Leaders Generation Program that gave him the unique chance to acquire new communication and leadership skills as well as to deepen his involvement in the Society. He has served in the ESMO Press & Media Affairs committee and in the ESMO Breast Cancer Faculty. He is currently member of the ESMO Young Oncologists Committee and he is an Associate Editor for ESMO Open Cancer Horizons.

Prof. Hatem A. Azim Jr, MD PhD

Dr. Azim is a medical oncologist, serves as an adjunct professor of oncology at the School of Medicine of Monterrey Institute of Technology since 2019. In addition, he acts as a senior faculty at the college of the European School of Oncology (ESO). In recent years, he occupied as well different senior roles in pharma and biotech companies as responsible for early clinical drug development of novel agents, including immune therapies and antibody drug conjugates.

Dr. Azim has completed his medical oncology training at the National Cancer Institute (Cairo, Egypt) and the European Institute of Oncology (Milan, Italy). He then joined Institut Jules Bordet (Belgium) where he worked for 7 years. During this period, he developed his expertise in the field breast cancer in young women and its relation to pregnancy and fertility.

Dr. Azim holds a Medical Degree from Cairo University, Master’s Degree in Oncology from University of Newcastle Upon Tyne (UK) and a PhD from the Faculty of Medicine at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium). He received several awards, including the ESMO Translational Research Award, ASCO Merit Award, and University of Padua Breast Cancer Award. He published more than 130 research papers, led and contributed to more than10 books. He served on several international guidelines committees in addition to serving as an invited speaker in more than 20 countries including an invited faculty to ASCO and ESMO annual meetings.

Moderator: Dr Abeid M. Athman Omar, MD, MMed 

Abeid Omar is a Consultant Clinical (medical and radiation) Oncologist and Nuclear Medicine based in Kilifi, Kenya. Besides, he consults for International Cancer Institute – ICI Eldoret, Kenya. He has keen interest in breast cancer in young women, oncofertility, breast cancer research, radiotherapy, advocacy and Global Oncology particularly in LMIC.

Dr. Abeid completed his training in Clinical Oncology and Nuclear Medicine in Alexandria University Egypt in 2021. He is a fellow of College of European School of Oncology (ESCO) and he has also successfully passed the ESMO exam to become a certified ESMO oncologist.

Dr. Abeid has conducted researches, presented abstracts in ESMO, ASCO, ESTRO, St. Gallen, KESHO conferences and Aga Khan Symposium, published in peer reviewed journals about breast cancer in young women, pregnancy associated breast cancer, pregnancy after breast cancer among others under the close guidance of Prof. Hatem Azim, who has been mentoring him since 2019.

Dr. Abeid is an active member of several societies including KESHO – where he also serves as a member of the education committee, ASCO, ESMO, ESCO, Society of Toxicology. In 2019 he was awarded the ASCO Virtual Mentorship Program and currently he is under the mentorship of College of European School of Oncology. Besides, Dr. Abeid serves as a reviewer for several journals.