Dr. Guillermo Chantada
President (until Oct 2025)
Dr. Guillermo Luis Chantada graduated from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and completed his postgraduate training in Clinical Pediatrics and Pediatric Hematology- Oncology at the Hospital JP Garrahan at Buenos Aires where he served for 31 years.
Dr. Guillermo Luis Chantada graduated from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and completed his postgraduate training in Clinical Pediatrics and Pediatric Hematology- Oncology at the Hospital JP Garrahan at Buenos Aires where he served for 31 years. He was president of the Latin American Society of Pediatric Oncology (SLAOP) and co-chair of the Latin American Group of Pediatric Oncology (GALOP). Currently is the Head of the Outreach Program at the Pediatric Cancer Center Barcelon at the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Hospital, Barcelona, Spain. He is a Principal Researcher of the National Council of Research in Argentina (CONICET) and Scientific Director at the Pediatric Hemato-Oncology Service of the Hospital Universitario Austral, Argentina and at the Fundación Pérez Scremini in Montevideo, Uruguay. His major contributions are in the area of translational research in retinoblastoma where he worked the identification of innovative treatments, the characteristics of this tumor in developing countries and in depicting its mechanisms of molecular dissemination. Other areas of interest include pediatric lymphomas and histiocytosis. He is a contractor at the St Jude Global Pediatric Medicine Department where he is Editor in Chief of Oncopedia at the educational Cure4kids portal.
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Prof. Rob Pieters
President Elect (until Oct 2025)
Rob Pieters is Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and co-CEO of the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology in Utrecht, The Netherlands.
In 1987 he obtained his MSc in human movement science and his MD at the Free University of Amsterdam and in 1991 his PhD with a thesis on drug resistance in leukemia. After finishing his training in pediatrics in 1995, he received a clinical fellowship in pediatric oncology from the Dutch Cancer Society. He was Head of Pediatric Oncology/Hematology at the Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital in Rotterdam. From 2000-2017, he was a full professor in Pediatric Oncology at Erasmus University Rotterdam and since 2017 at the University of Utrecht. Rob Pieters is initiator and one of the founders of the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology. This national center has merged all expertise from all former 7 childhood cancer centers in the Netherlands, thereby establishing the largest center in Europe for treatment and research of childhood cancer. Rob Pieters’ research is focused on the development of personalized therapies for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Several figures: he published >650 peer-reviewed scientific papers, gave >400 invited lectures and has supervised >55 PhD students. He chairs and/or is board member of several international study groups and of advisory boards of international institutes for childhood cancer. Among these are board membership of the EU Cancer Mission Board, European Society for Pediatric Oncology (SIOP-Europe), the recent election as President-Elect of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP International) and editor-in chief of the European Journal of Cancer- Pediatric Oncology. In 2018 he received a Royal knighthood decoration as Officer in the Order of Oranje Nassau for his achievements for children with cancer. His main focus is currently on international collaborations to improve survival rates and quality of survival and to overcome inequities in access to good quality of care and research for children with cancer.
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Prof. Rejin Kebudi
Secretary-General (until October 2026)
Prof Rejin Kebudi is a Professor in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology and Chair of the Department of Preventive Oncology at the Istanbul University, Oncology Institute and Istanbul Faculty of Medicine. She is the co-chair of SIOP-Supportive Care Network and has served in the SIOP-GHN- Supportive Care, Nutrition Working Group (2010-2014) and the Education Committee of SIOP (2010-2012).
She is past president of the Turkish Pediatric Oncology Group (TPOG) Society and chair of the Supportive Care Working Group of the Turkish Pediatric Hematology Society (TPHD). She is a member of SIOPE-HGG Working Group, European Retinoblastoma Group (EuRbG), Middleeast Cancer Consortium (MECC) and international member of COG. She is in the Governance Committee of the International Replication Repair Deficiency (RRD) Consortium. She serves as a steering group member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)-International Development and Education Award (IDEA) and is recipient of ASCO-2018 International Woman Who Conquer Cancer Mentorship Award. She has gained international experience in Radboud Hospital, the Netherlands; Divisions of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology, New York University; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; UCLA and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Her research interests include biology and clinical management of pediatric cancer, brain tumors, sarcomas, retinoblastoma, rare tumors, supportive care, palliative care, cancer predisposition syndromes, cancer care in developing countries.
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Prof. Alan Davidson
Treasurer (until October 2026)
Professor Alan Davidson is the head of the Paediatric Haematology-Oncology Service at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital (RCWMCH), which is recognised as one of the leading centres in sub-Saharan Africa.
The service also treats the full spectrum of blood disorders, acts as a regional haemophilia centre and advises a large network of shared carers across sub-Saharan Africa through a telemedicine platform. His clinical and research interests include paediatric brain tumours, B-cell malignancy and other HIV-related cancers in children, genetic syndromes predisposing to childhood cancer, stem cell transplantation for primary immunodeficiency and adapted therapy regimens for low and middle income settings. He co-chairs South Africa’s annual Paediatric Brain Tumour Workshop and has previously chaired the South African Children’s Cancer Study Group. He served as the chair of the LOC for SIOP 2015 in Cape Town, and went on to serve as co-chair of the PODC’s Adapted Treatment Regimen Working Group and then co-chair the PODC committee from 2016 to 2019. He is also the vice-president of the Society for NeuroOncology’s sub-Saharan Africa branch. As a professor in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Cape Town (UCT), he serves as director of postgraduate education, and is currently the president of the paediatric council of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa. He also has an interest in paediatric haematology-oncology training having kickstarted UCT’s African Paediatric Fellowship Programme (APFP) in this area. The oncology component of APFP now operates with multiple partner institutions, and several stakeholders including Global Hope and St Jude. He also serves on the executive and boards of the Children’s Hospital Trust, the RCWMCH’s Facilities Board and RedX Radio which has played a pioneering role in radio for children by children.
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Dr. Asim Belgaumi
Scientific Committee Chair (until October 2025)
Dr. Belgaumi graduated from Aga Khan University Medical College, Karachi, and subsequently completed his Pediatric Residency at University of Texas, Houston, and a Fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
He joined King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh, as a Consultant in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. He held several administrative roles here, and eventually was appointed the Vice Chair of the Department. In 2014 he moved to Qatar as Interim Division Chief of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Sidra Medicine and Associate Professor in Clinical Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medical College – Qatar, where he remained until 2017. He then returned to the Aga Khan University, Karachi, where he is Professor of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs in the Medical College, and the Chief Medical Officer of the Aga Khan University Hospital. His main areas of interest are childhood leukemias and lymphomas. He is also trained in Palliative care and was instrumental in establishing programs in the hospitals he has been associated with. Over the past several years he has focused on national and regional development of care for children with cancer. He is a founding member of the Pakistan Society of Pediatric Oncology (PSPO) in 2008, and was elected its president in 2018; he will be finishing a second term in 2022. Regionally, he has been working within the Pediatric Oncology East and Mediterranean (POEM) Group since 2017, and is currently serving as the group president. He has a keen interest in research in the LMIC, and has been instrumental in research education and implementation of clinical trials in the region. He has been a member of the SIOP Scientific Committee since 2019.
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Prof. Marry van den Heuvel-Eibrink
Scientific Commitee Chair Elect (until Oct 2025)
Dr. M.M. van den Heuvel-Eibrink is MD, PhD Professor Translational Pediatric Oncology Pediatric Oncologist, and PI. Senior Consultant pediatric oncology and hematology Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital 1997-2014.
Working Group leader at the ‘Erasmus MC Postgraduate Molecular Medicine School’ which is recognized by the Dutch Royal Academy of Science and Arts, 2009-2015. Previous chair of the international EWOG-MDS foundation (2007-2016). Chair of the national core group member Dutch Late effects group, and co-PI of the DCOG LATER study (2007-2020). One of the pioneers, since 2015, of the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, where she has build the LATE effects clinic, and established, apart from research regarding the identification of (genetic) determinants of direct and late childhood cancer related toxicity, the national centralized care and translational research, Childhood Comprehensive Cancer program for all Dutch children with renal tumors. Leading the international SIOP-RTSG office trial management team (launched in 30 countries in Europe, Asia and South America) as co-PI of the UMBRELLA study, since 2018. Chair of the SIOP-RTSG (2022 onwards), co-chair of the SIOP-RTSG & COG-RTG consortium (HARMONICA). Professor Translational Pediatric Oncology at the University of Utrecht since 2016. Group leader of a research group of 25 PhD & Post-docs, in the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology in Utrecht, co-author on > 600 *international papers, supervisor of > 50 PhD projects (of which >30 already successfully defended).
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Prof. François Doz
Education and Training Committee Chair (until Oct 2026)
François Doz is paediatric oncologist, professor of Paediatrics at the University Paris Cité, deputy director for clinical research and training in the Institut Curie’s SIREDO oncology center (care, innovation, and research for children, adolescents and young adults with cancer) and director for training of the Institut Curie’s hospital group.
He got his MD, paediatric specialty and master degree in pharmacology in Paris. He then spent two years as a research fellow in the Brain Tumour Research Center, University of California, San Francisco. His main research interests are Paediatric Neuro-oncology, Early Drug Development, Retinoblastoma and Ethics of Clinical Research. He is the author of more than 320 Pubmed referenced papers. He has been previous member, chair and past chair of the SIOP scientific committee (2011-2017), previous member of the SIOPE board (2016-2021), past-chair of the SIOPE Brain tumor group (2006-2010) and its medulloblastoma /CNS embryonal tumors working group (2012-2016), member of the ITCC Executive Committee (2003-2024), clinical chair of the ITCC Brain Working group (2020-2024), founding member and past-chair of the European Retinoblastoma group (2014-2020).
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Dr. Muhammad Saghir Khan
Co-Chair Global Health (until Oct 2025)
Muhammad Saghir Khan (MD) is co chair of SIOP Global Health. He is currently working as Specialist Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Physician at the Department of Paediatrics of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center Al Madinah Al Munawarah, Saudi Arabia.
He completed his medical education including Pediatric Oncology fellowship from Pakistan, and had served as General Secretary of PSPO (Pakistan Society of Pediatric Oncology) during 2013-2014. He is former co chair of SIOP Global Health Supportive Care working group (2014-2018). He has actively been involved in Pediatric Oncology East Mediterranean group (POEM) since it’s foundation. Saghir has contributed as leader/member of scientific committees for several National, Regional and International Pediatric Oncology Conferences. He played vital role as Scientific Co Chair of SIOP Asia 2019 held at Abu Dhabi.
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Dr. Federico Antillon
Co-Chair Global Health (until Oct 2026)
Dr Federico Antillon is the Medical Director of Unidad Nacional de Oncologia, Pediatrica and Secreatary in the School of Medicine at Universidad Francisco Marroquin, Guatemala.
Dr. Antillon obtained his Medical degree from the Universidad Francisco Marroquín, Guatemala and his general pediatric training from Universidad de Navarra, Spain, from where he also received a Ph.D in cellular biology. Dr. Antillon received a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Antillon is the Fellowship Director of the Joint Program Unidad Nacional de Oncología Pediátrica and the School of Medicine, Universidad Francisco Marroquín. He is also one of the founders of the Fundación Ayúdame a Vivir, a key institution in the development of a treatment program for pediatric cancer in Guatemala. Dr. Antillon is the author of several book chapters and more 100 medical articles.
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Dr. Jeffrey Dome
Continental President -North America (until Oct 2027)
Dr. Dome is senior vice president of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC. He is Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine and the Thomas Willson and Lenore Williams McKnew Professor of Pediatric Oncology.
Dr. Dome received his MD degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and PhD degree in Medicine from Erasmus University in Rotterdam. He completed a residency in Pediatrics at Yale-New Haven Hospital and completed a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Johns Hopkins Hospital. After fellowship, Dr. Dome was a faculty member at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital before joining Children’s National in 2006. Dr. Dome is an internationally recognized expert on pediatric solid tumors, with an emphasis on kidney tumors and sarcomas. He chaired the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) Renal Tumor Committee for more than a decade. He is presently on the Scientific Council of the COG and is past-Chair of the American Board of Pediatrics Subboard of Hematology/Oncology.
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Dr. Joyce Kambugu
Continental President Africa (until Oct 2025)
Dr. Joyce Balagadde Kambugu is a leading peadiatric oncologist in East and Central Africa with more than 10 years’ experience in this field.
She is based at Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI), the national referral cancer treatment, research and training center in Uganda where she directs the peadiatric oncology service. She did her basic and graduate (Paediatrics and Child Health) training at Makerere University in Uganda; and fellowship training in peadiatric oncology at the University of Cape Town (Red Cross War Memorial Children’s hospital). While at the UCI Joyce spear headed the establishment of a dedicated paediatric oncology service and later a fellowship program in paediatric oncology. She is now engaged in extending paediatric cancer services to regional hospitals in the country and modification of the National Cancer Control Plan. Joyce is a passionate advocate for paediatric cancer in developing countries.
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Prof. Jennifer Geel
Continental President Africa Elect (until Oct 2025)
Head of Clinical Unit. Paediatric Haematology-Oncology Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital
She is nvolved in international pediatric oncology communities, mentoring the next generation of healthcare professionals. Served as the SIOP Africa Secretary-General for the last few years
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Prof. Carmelo Rizzari
Continental President Europe (until December 31, 2024)
Carmelo Rizzari is Professor of Pediatrics and Head of the Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Unit at the Department of Pediatrics of the University of Milano-Bicocca, MBBM Foundation, ASST Monza, Italy.
Prof. Rizzari’s main research interests fall within the field of paediatric leukaemias and cancer chemotherapy. He has participated in the development of a number of chemotherapy protocols for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). He is currently Chair of the ALL Scientific Committee within the Italian Association of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (AIEOP) and is member of the steering committee of the ongoing international protocol, AIEOP-BFM ALL 2017, for first-line treatment of childhood ALL. He is also international co-Chair of the AIEOP-BFM ALL working group on asparaginase studies and co-Chair of the Clinical Trials Council for the European Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP-E). Since 2016 Prof. Rizzari is the representative of the International BFM Study Group (I-BFM-SG) within the coordinating group of the European Network of Paediatric Research at the European Medicines Agency (Enpr-EMA), which aims to optimise and improve the use of drugs in childhood. In January 2020 Dr Rizzari has become President Elect of European Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP-E) and will become President starting from January 1st, 2022.
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Prof. Uta Dirksen
SIOP Europe President Elect (until December 31, 2024)
Deputy Director Paediatric Clinic III, Essen University Hospital
Main focus/specialisation: Diagnosis and treatment of bone and soft tissue sarcoma in children, adolescents and young adults, Ewing sarcoma, clinical and translational research, Cancer and haematological diseases in children, cancer in adolescents and young adults, transition, late effects, biomarkers, new therapeutic procedures, clinical trials
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Dr. Andrea Cappellano
Continental President -Latin America (until October 2025)
President of the Latin American Society of Pediatric Oncology (SLAOP)
Graduated in Medicine from São Francisco University (USF- 1997), residency in Pediatrics from Paulista State University(UNESP- 1998-1999) and Pediatric Oncology from Institute of Pediatric Oncology/ Support Group for Adolescents and Children with Cancer/ Federal University São Paulo (IOP/GRAACC/ UNIFESP- 2000-2003), working as a pediatric oncologist, with an emphasis on neuro-oncology at this institution since 2005. She has a doctorate in pediatric sciences from UNIFESP and is currently vice- clinical director of IOP/GRAACC/ UNIFESP (until January 2023), president of the Latin American Society of Pediatric Oncology (SLAOP) and member of the  Advisory Board of the Brazilian Society of Pediatric Oncology (SOBOPE) (until January 2023).
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Dr. Gevorg Tamamyan
Asia Continental President (until Oct 2027)
Gevorg Tamamyan, MD, MSc, DSc is the of Head of the Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Armenia, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Hematology and Pediatric Oncology at Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU), CEO of the Immune Oncology Research Institute, Editor-in-chief of OncoDaily, President-Elect of the Pediatric Oncology East and Mediterranean (POEM) Group, Chairman of the Board and Co-founder of the Institute of Cancer and Crisis.
Dr. Tamamyan is also the adviser to the Rector of YSMU and the adviser to the Director of Yeolyan Hematology and Oncology Center. He was the chairman of ASCO IDEA steering group and co-chair of the International Society of Pediatric Oncology (SIOP) PODC Supportive care working group. He is the ambassador of the Society of Hematologic Oncology, member of the ASCO International Committee, member of the SIOP Essential Medications Working Group, co-founder of the Armenian Association of Hematology and Oncology, a co-founder and a Board Member of the City of Smile Foundation, the largest cancer charity in Armenia, and co-founder of the 4090 charitable foundation. He was the 2018-2019 President of the Harvard Club of Armenia. MD and PhD degrees, he received from YSMU, MSc from the University of Ulm (Germany), where he also lectures pediatric oncology. He completed postdoc in leukemia at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (USA), visiting fellowships at China Medical University Hospital (Taiwan) and St. Anna Children’s Hospital (Austria), was a medical research fellow at the Headquarters of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (Belgium), visiting scientist at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center (USA), completed High-Impact Cancer Research postgraduate program at the Harvard Medical School (USA), Global Health Delivery Intensive Course at the Harvard School of Public Health (USA) and Global Health Diplomacy Executive Course at the University of Toronto (Canada). He is a recipient of numerous awards and distinctions, among them the ASCO IDEA (2013) and LIFe (2014) Awards, 40 Under 40 in Cancer Award (2022), he was recognized as a Young Leader of the International Agency for Cancer Research (2016) and Union for International Cancer Control (2016), and selected for the ASCO Leadership Development Program (2022).
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Prof. Claire Wakefield
Continental President Oceania (until Oct 2025)
Professor Claire Wakefield is a medical psychologist who leads research to improve quality of life for families affected by cancer.
She is a Professor at the School of Clinical Medicine at UNSW and Director of the Behavioural Sciences Unit at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Australia. Professor Wakefield is on the Board of Directors for SIOP and is Continental President of SIOP Oceania, advocating for children with cancer across 14 Oceania countries. She is also Chair of the International Psycho-Oncology Society Paediatrics Committee, supporting psychologists who work with children with cancer globally as well as serving as Co-Director of Child Unlimited, which is a network of >200 child health experts across Australia.
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Dr. Courtney Sullivan
Chair of the Nursing Network (until Oct 2027)
Dr. Sullivan attained her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Michigan State University. She earned both her master’s degree as an Acute and Continuing Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and Doctorate of Philosophy in Nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
She is presently a postdoctoral research fellow at UAB where her research focuses on measuring pediatric oncology nursing quality and establishing an evidence-base of nursing-sensitive outcomes internationally. Her passion and focus are to support and enable nurses to improve practice and outcomes. Dr. Sullivan has worked with nurses internationally through St. Jude Global and other avenues for nearly a decade. While at St. Jude Global, she expanded its nursing outreach from 12 to more than 40 countries, transitioning from a twinning to a network approach. She established the Latin American Nurse Educator Network; St. Jude-VIVA Asia Pacific Nursing Institute; and co-led the development of the Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses (APHON) Spanish chemo/biotherapy certificate courses in Latin America and laid the groundwork for Portuguese and Russian versions. As past chair of the APHON Global Outreach Committee, she led strategic planning efforts and transformed the International Task Force into a robust and productive committee with several work streams. She is presently the SIOP Nursing Network Chair and has been active in the Young SIOP Educational Day Working Group, Membership Committee, Global Health Nursing Working Group, and Baseline Nursing Standards. Dr. Sullivan is also engaged in the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer (GICC) and is passionate about integrating nursing priorities within national childhood cancer control planning.
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Mr. Korede Akindele
Young SIOP Chair (until 2025)
Korede is a passionate advocate and public health contributor with an uncommon blend of understanding and strategic thinking that enables the implementation of impactful actions geared towards improving pediatric cancer outcomes globally.
Over the years, he has spearheaded and led teams to create, implement and replicate pediatric cancer interventions, research, advocacy, and policy discussions at different levels in Sub Saharan Africa and other regions. He is an active member of the International Society of Pediatric Oncology (SIOP) serving as a SIOP advocacy committee (SAC), Social media and blog committee of Young SIOP network (YSN), a member of SIOP Africa Network, Nigeria Cancer Society (NCS), and Nigeria Palliative and Hospice care. Korede has continued to work with countless families, healthcare professionals, community leaders, and policymakers, as well as governments, to increase enlightenment, understanding, and interventions on the importance of early detection, accurate diagnosis, and prompt and proper treatment of pediatric cancer. He preacher of the message of "Hope and Survival" of pediatric cancer. His mantra that guides his decision-making at work is: ‘Because that child must live.
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Dr. Rashmi Dalvi
Advocacy Chair (until October 2026)
Rashmi Dalvi MD DCH, has in the recent past been Continental President for SIOP-Asia (2018-2021). She is presently MUHS Professor & Head, Department of Pediatrics & Pediatric Hematology Oncology at the Bombay Hospital Institute of Medical Sciences & Visiting Consultant at NH-SRCC Children’s hospital and PHO-BMT Department of LTMG Medical College Hospital, in Mumbai.
An alumnus of Seth GS Medical College/KEM Hospital, she trained in PHO In India (1988), and at the Children’s Hospitals of Michigan (1996) & Philadelphia (UICC-ICRETT 2001). She was among the earliest to develop and promote PHO subspecialty in India, and has been involved in academics & clinical practice in PHO & Immunology for over 30 years, as university faculty & previously at BJ Wadia Hospital for Children, with numerous publications & presentations to her credit. She has special interest in Lymphomas, Nutrition & Supportive care, Registries, Histiocytic disorders & HLH. She has been actively involved with SIOP & the Pediatric Oncology in Developing Countries Committee since 1992; including as founder member of the SIOP-India project, “NTP-PPO” addressing Early Diagnosis & Treatment Abandonment in children with cancer. She has held various positions including, Chair of National PHO Society, India(2009-12), Chair, SIOP-PODC Committee on Education & Training(2010-13), Chair-Coordinator NTP-PPO (2007-2012), LOC member for SIOP Asia 2002, Delhi & SIOP 2007, Mumbai, and Chair LOC, for Virtual SIOP Asia 2020.21 Conference, Mumbai. She is presently also a member of the SIOP-PARC Steering Committee, Vice-Chair, SIOP Membership Committee, Founder Member/Executive Council Asian Pediatric Hematology Oncology Group (APHOG), ICON Ethics Committee and Stem Cell Committee, King Edward Memorial Hospital.
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