The SIOP PARC Committee is pleased to announce that Dr. Melda Berber Hamamcı has been awarded the 2026 PARC Early Career Award, made possible through the generous support from the Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research and the NaiKong and Irene Cheung Family.

Childhood cancer survivors face a substantial risk of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and impaired health-related quality of life. However, systematic mental health screening data from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) remain critically limited. This project aims to address this gap in Türkiye by developing a replicable reference model for LMICs with comparable healthcare infrastructure. In Türkiye, no standardised approach to psychosocial surveillance currently exists for this population; clinical practice varies markedly across centres, hindering early identification and effective management of psychosocial difficulties. Approximately 3,500–4,000 new paediatric cancer diagnoses are registered annually in Türkiye.

This project, led by the Department of Paediatric Oncology at Ankara University under the mentorship of Prof. Dr. Nurdan Taçyıldız, and conducted in collaboration with the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Ankara University and centres affiliated with the Turkish Paediatric Oncology Group (TPOG), introduces Türkiye’s first structured framework integrating systematic, age-specific mental health screening with a stepped-care intervention model for childhood cancer patients and survivors. Conducted prospectively and simultaneously across TPOG-affiliated centres, the study employs internationally validated instruments—the PedsQL, the SDQ, and the DASS-Y—alongside a clinician-rated Sociodemographic Risk Index. Referral to psychiatric care is guided by transparent, symptom-severity-based criteria aligned with the WHO’s mhGAP framework.

Beyond identifying the psychosocial burden, the study’s central contribution is a feasible and scalable care model that can be embedded in routine oncology practice. This research will establish Ankara University’s first institutionally coordinated, multidisciplinary psychiatric screening protocol implemented across multiple centres. The resulting protocol and implementation manual will offer a transferable model to other centres not yet practising structured psychosocial screening, while strengthening interdisciplinary collaborative capacity between paediatric oncology and child psychiatry at Ankara University. Ultimately, the protocol is designed as a replicable reference model for other LMICs with comparable healthcare infrastructure.

Bio

Dr. Melda Berber Hamamcı is a Physician and Lecturer in the Department of Paediatric Oncology at Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, and an active member of both the Turkish Paediatric Oncology Group (TPOG) and the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP). Her clinical and research interests centre on survivorship care and the long-term treatment-related effects experienced by childhood cancer survivors. Through her work at Ankara University’s Long-Term Follow-Up Clinic, she has developed extensive hands-on experience in the surveillance and management of late effects among childhood cancer survivors, and she actively contributes to TPOG’s multicentre research on cardiotoxicity and ototoxicity. As recipient of the SIOP PARC Early Career Award, she will lead a joint initiative between the Department of Paediatric Oncology and the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Ankara University, under the mentorship of Prof. Dr. Nurdan Taçyıldız and with participation from other TPOG-affiliated centres, to develop Türkiye’s first standardised, age-specific mental health screening and stepped-care protocol for childhood cancer patients and survivors. Through this work, she aims to strengthen psychosocial care capacity and establish a replicable model for other low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with comparable healthcare infrastructure.