SPEAKER PROFILES:

Prof Mack Roach

Professor Mack Roach III, MD, is a Professor of Radiation Oncology, Medical Oncology and Urology, at the University of California, San Francisco. Roach earned his MD from Stanford University School of Medicine. His major research interest involves the application of 3-D conformal and intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) treatment planning technology as a major component of combined modality management of prostate cancer and other solid tumors. Over the last 10 years, his research efforts have been directed at defining optimal imaging modalities, as well as criteria for defining target volumes and improved treatment techniques.

Prof Roach chaired one of the most important large prospective randomized trials comparing different strategies for locally advanced prostate cancer. He has gained international recognition as an authority on treatment planning for prostate cancer and served as senior author for the guidelines for treatment planning recently published by the American College of Radiology.

Prof Roach is a member of several professional societies including the American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, Radiation Therapy Oncology Group, the NCI IMRT Working Group and American Joint Commission for Cancer (AJCC) Staging (GU), the American Cancer Society (ACS) Task for Cancer Screening Guidelines (Prostate cancer) and the NCI Concept Evaluation Panel (Prostate Cancer Phase III Trials).

Prof Silke Gillessen
Professor Silke Gillessen is a Medical Oncologist with focus on genitourinary cancer.

She completed her training in Basel, St. Gallen, and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston. After returning to Switzerland, she built up the medical oncology unit for genitourinary cancer and headed the clinical research unit for oncology/haematology in Cantonal Hospital, St Gallen.

She served for two terms as president of the SAKK GU group, she chaired the EORTC Genitourinary Cancers Group, and has founded the Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC).

Since 2018, Prof Gillessen has been Genitourinary Cancer Systemic Therapy Research Chair at the University of Manchester and Honorary Consultant at The Christie Hospital, while continuing to work as Consultant in the Department of Oncology/Haematology at the Kantonsspital St. Gallen, Switzerland.

In January 2020 Prof Gillessen was appointed Head of the Department of Medical Oncology, full professor at the Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI) in Lugano and Director of the Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland (IOSI) in Bellinzona, Switzerland.

Dr Samuel Nguku
Dr Samuel Nguku is a Consultant in Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at Aga Khan University Hospital Nairobi.

He has a master’s degree in Radiology from Aga Khan University and fellowship in Nuclear medicine from Imperial College London.

Dr Nguku was integral in setting up of the first PET CT service in Kenya at the Aga Khan University Hospital Nairobi.

He has great passion in improving cancer imaging in the country and integrating molecular imaging in management of cancer patients.

Moderator: Dr Angela Waweru

Dr Angela Waweru is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist and Section Head of Radiation Oncology at Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi.

She graduated from the University of Sheffield and undertook her Core Medical and Clinical Oncology training in Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust where she received her certificate of completion of training in 2015 and thereafter took on a Consultant Clinical Oncologist position within the same trust.

She is passionate about increased uptake of advanced radiation technological advances that achieve better outcomes and less toxicity. She has been instrumental at starting advanced radiation services at a leading health care facility in Nairobi. She has also promoted public private partnerships within radiation oncology and in 2022 started a pathway for treating patients requiring more conformal techniques of treatment not readily available at their institutions.

Dr Waweru is keen on promoting radiotherapy governance, she has started radiotherapy safety committees, peer review meetings and service development projects that benchmark local activities against standard guidelines.

She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Radiologist (Clinical Oncology faculty), Member of the Royal College of Physicians and Kenya Society of Haematology and Oncology.