Introducing the Chair and Steering Group of the SIOP Women Leaders in Paediatric Oncology Network

by SIOP Secretariat 

We are happy to welcome the Steering Group of the SIOP Women Leaders in Paediatric Oncology (WLPO) Network! The WLPO will be chaired by Prof. Faith Gibson. The WLPO Steering Group Members are Sarah Cohen-Gogo, Monica Cypriano, Amita Trehan, Adedayo Joseph, Eman Al-Shamsi, and Giselle Saulnier-Sholler. Thank you for your leadership! the first event of the SIOP Women Leaders Network will take place on Oct 1, 2022, at 3pm Barcelona at the 2022 SIOP Congress. Stay tuned for more details!

The Network aims to promote female leadership in paediatric oncology and camaraderie among female professionals in global health through public events, role modelling and networking opportunities. The Network seeks to contribute to building the next generation of talented female professionals in paediatric oncology. The new SIOP Network was approved by the SIOP Board of Directors in June 2021. Nominations and selection of the WLPO leaders took place in July-August 2022.  

Prof. Faith Gibson is a Registered Nurse, qualifying in 1981, and then in 1986 completing a second qualification as Registered Children's Nurse: both qualifications gained whilst at the University Hospital in Nottingham. During 1981-1986 Faith worked in a number of adult cancer units and a hospice, and completed her Oncology Training at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. From 1986 to date Faith has worked at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust (GOSH), undertaking a range of clinical, educational and research roles. This period includes joint appointments with UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and London South Bank University (LSBU). She was awarded her MSc from the University of Surrey (1984), and later her doctorate from London South Bank University (2001) for her working defining generalist and specialist children's nursing. Since completing her doctorate Faith has held a number of research posts, and was conferred as Clinical Professor of Children's and Young People's Cancer Care in  2009. This was a joint appointment between GOSH and LSBU. Faith continues with her joint appointment at GOSH in the role of Deputy Chief Nurse for Research, Nursing and Allied Health. Faith has a research career spanning nearly 20 years. She is internationally recognised for her research in children's and young people's cancer care. This work was recognised in 2007 when she was granted Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing.

Dr. Monica Cypriano earned her medical degree from the Federal University of São Paulo, followed by Pediatric Residency and Pediatric Oncology Specialization in the same university. She completed her training in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN. She subsequently returned to Brazil and joined GRAACC/IOP/UNIFESP as an attending physician responsible for renal tumors, hepatic tumors and histiocytosis. She started the After Completion of Therapy Clinic (CForT) in 2005 and Quality Assurance/Accreditation Program at this Institution in 2012. In 2014, she obtained her Master Degree in Pediatrics and Science Applied to Pediatrics from UNIFESP and in 2018 her Master Business Administration in Hospital Administration by Faculdade Getúlio Vargas (FGV), São Paulo, Brazil. Her major interests are improving cancer care and survivorship for children, adolescents and young adults in Brazil and Latin America. In this regard, she has been an active participant in the St Jude Global Health Initiative and Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Childhood Cancer Project.

Dr. Sarah Cohen-Gogo, MD, PhD, is a French pediatric oncologist now living and working in Toronto, Canada. She is part of the Haem/Onc New Agents and Innovative Therapies program at The Hospital for Sick Children and one of the Garron Family Cancer Centre Clinician Scientist Fellows. She holds a PhD in cancer genetics. 

Her main research interests are precision medicine, hard-to-treat solid tumours, supportive/palliative care and medical education.

Dr. Amita Trehan is currently a Professor of Paediatric Hematology - Oncology at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, India. She trained in Oncology in the UK under a fellowship at the Royal College.  She have been involved in Pediatric Hematology for 25 years and has been active in research and teaching. At present, she is involved in research in a multinational trial for leukemia and also exploring the genomic landscape of relapse. She has published 200+ papers in national and International journals. She served on Executive Committee (2020-2022) of the Pediatric Oncology in Eastern and Mediterranean (POEM) Countries Group. She is also on the advisory board of the Asian Pediatric Hematology Oncology Group (2021-2023). She is at present the Chairperson of the Pediatric Hematology Oncology Chapter of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (2022-23). Her main Interests and achievements have been directed towards improving survival statistics in a resource limited set up, with special efforts directed at Acute Lymphoblastic leukemia.

Dr. Eman Taryam AlShamsi is a currently serving as Consultant and Head of  Pediatric Hematology Oncology service in Al Qassimi Women and Children Hospital. She graduated in 2002 from the Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences from the United Arab Emirates University. Following graduation, she trained and practiced in Tawam Hospital, UAE, from 2005 and as a staff member from January 2017 until June 2021 when she joined Al Qassimi Women and Children Hospital AQWCH as Consultant Hematology Oncology and Head of Department. She acquired the Arab Board diploma of medical specialization in pediatrics and RCPCH. She has been trained and obtained a diploma in clinical research affiliated by the Vienna School of Clinical Research. 

Later on, she completed a fellowship program at SickKids Hospital in Toronto, Canada, which included full training in Pediatric Clinical Hematology Oncology /Bone Marrow transplant and thrombosis for 3 year and 6 months as hemostasis fellow. She also has attended administrative fellowship program in MD-Anderson, Texas, USA. Dr. Alshamsi has been part of several of on-going collaborative research projects at Tawam and AQWCH Hospital, MBRU, UAEU & Zayed University with PubMed publications. She hosted the SIOP Asia Conference in Abu Dhabi in April 2019. Dr. Alshamsi is involve in many national and international committees and activities; NIHS pediatric hematology oncology accreditation (Head of the committee), National bone marrow transplants, SIOP, and WLPO; Patient support activity and awareness with CCI and Friends of cancer patients UAE FOCP. 

Dr. Giselle Saulnier Sholler is board certified in pediatric hematology-oncology specialist and is known around the world for her groundbreaking research. She specializes in pediatric solid tumors with a focus on neuroblastomas, diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPG), embryonal tumors with mutilayered rosettes (ETMR) and medulloblastomas. She is the director of the Isabella Santos Foundation Rare and Solid Tumor Program at Levine Children’s and the professor of pediatrics and principal investigator of the Sholler Pediatric Oncology Research Laboratory at Levine Children’s Hospital. She is also the chair of the Beat Childhood Cancer Consortium. Dr. Sholler received her master’s degree in microbiology and immunology at McGill University and her medical degree at New York Medical College. She completed her residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in pediatric hematology-oncology at Brown University. Additionally, she completed a sabbatical through the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health in Clinical Trials Management and postgraduate work in clinical pharmacology at Tufts University. The research she conducts at the Sholler Pediatric Oncology Research Laboratory focuses on 3 main areas. First is the targeting of neuroblastoma cancer stem cells to prevent relapse focused on a drug called DFMO. The second is in precision medicine through testing of novel agents for a panel of cancers including neuroblastomas, brain tumors and sarcomas to develop new clinical trials. The third is in the genomic understanding of patient tumors and generation of individual patient tumor models. 

Dr. Adedayo Joseph is an oncologist living and working in Nigeria. She is a clinical radiation oncologist, head of pediatric radiation, and the research program director with the NSIA-LUTH Cancer Centre of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. She is the secretary of the Diagnosis and Treatment Subcommittee of the National Cancer Control Program, co-chair of the Education & Training Committee of the Association of Radiation and Clinical Oncologist of Nigeria (ARCON), and a steering group member for cancer control groups such as the Africa Cancer Control Research Echo and the Nigerian Society for Pediatric Oncology (NISPO). 

She is also the founder and director of The Dorcas Cancer Foundation, a non profit organization working to improve pediatric cancer care and survival in Nigeria. She is a recipient of multiple awards and is an Ashoka Africa fellow.  Her clinical and research interests span hypofractionated radiation therapy regimens in Africa, and cancers that affect women and children. Outside of Oncology, Adedayo loves history, old movies, traveling for conferences and discovering new places.