Prof Cristina Stefan, a valued member of the ecancermedicalscience Editorial Board, is the new President of the African Organisation for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC).

"I am very happy to be the first woman president of this amazing African organisation," she told ecancer.

AORTIC’s key objectives are to further the research relating to cancers prevalent in Africa, to support the management of training programmess in oncology for health care workers, to deal with the challenges of creating cancer control and prevention programmes, and to raise public awareness of cancer in Africa.

Prof Stefan has served as Vice President of the South African Medical Research Council, the AORTIC vice-president for Southern Africa, founder of the African Cancer Institute, chair and founder of African Cancer Economics Network, the chair of AORTIC paediatric oncology, and the co-chair of the AORTIC research committee.

Prof Stefan is a paediatrician by profession, who later trained as an oncologist; cancer care for children remains one of her great passions. She also has an MSC in Epidemiology from York University in the UK, and a PhD in medical education.

Her great experience as a world leader in cancer control has given her a broad perspective on cancer challenges.

In a recent interview with ecancer, she noted the lack of paediatric specialists in Africa, and the application of elearning as a valuable training resource.

"We have a quite limited number of paediatric oncologists in Africa," she explained, noting that the work of paediatric oncology is often borne by nurses, GPs and adult oncologists. "They may lack the required experience; the training between adult oncology and paediatric oncology is completely different."

For other challenges to cancer care in Africa, she says that "advocacy, increasing awareness, and education will play an important role."

Watch Prof Stefan describing the future training possibilities of paediatric oncology in our recent interview at the World Cancer Leaders summit.

Read Prof Stefan's editorial on the challenge that the Afrian continent faces with cancer here.