Dear Young SIOP Network Members,

We are happy to welcome SG members Kamalina Coopasamy, Ahmed Kamal Bayoumi, and Katrina O’Halloran. Current SG member Gabriela Villanueva has been voted into a second term.

Kamalina Coopasamy MD, MMed, is a paediatric oncologist and acting head of clinical unit in the department of paediatric haematology and oncology unit at Greys Hospital, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Together with 4 other countries, the hospital was a pilot site for the Global Comfort Promise with St Judes Children’s Cancer Research Hospital, a QIP to decrease procedural pain in children with cancer. She belongs to SIOP Africa Wilms Tumour Working Group and hopes to conduct more research in this area in the near future. Her other areas of interest include leukaemia, retinoblastoma and Hodgkin lymphoma and ways to improve early detection of childhood cancer thereby decreasing advanced stage at presentation and delayed diagnosis.

Ahmed Kamal Bayoumi, MD, is a pediatric hematologist and oncologist at the National Cancer institute, Cairo University, Egypt . He has been a SIOP Ambassador for 3 years . His research interests are Supportive Care and Neurooncology.

Katrina O’Halloran is a Pediatric Neuro-Oncologist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Her research focuses on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) liquid biopsy in central nervous system (CNS) tumors. We have developed a platform able to detect tumor DNA signal from a variety of pediatric CNS tumor patients and are working now to expand this technology. Her clinical focus is on precision oncology therapies which may be better informed by our work in liquid biopsy.

Gabriela Villanueva, MD, MS, is a pediatric hematologist and oncologist at the Pediatric, Adolescent, and Young Adult Oncology Department at Hospital de Clínicas, Argentina, and the Director of Academic Programs at Resonance Health. Her current research focuses on retinoblastoma survivorship and second malignancies in Argentina, as well as global initiatives on AYA care among other coordinated projects in Latin America. She is a member of the Scientific Committee for SLAOP (Society of Latin American Pediatric Oncologists), a member of the Young SIOP Network Steering Group,  the Co-Chair for the SIOP GHN AYA Working Group and a SG member of the SIOP Epidemiology and Outcomes Network.

For questions or to get engaged with the YSN Working Groups, please email young.siop@gmail.com.

Warm regards,

Steering Group of the Young SIOP Network

Korede Akindele, Chair

Louise Guolla, Vice-Chair

Ahmed Kamal Bayoumi, Steering Group Member

Cielle Stapleton, Steering Group Member

Daniel Ortiz-Morales, Steering Group Member

Gabriela Inés Villanueva, Steering Group Member

Kamalina Coopasamy, Steering Group Member

Katrina O’Halloran, Steering Group Member