COMMENT: Women Who Conquer Cancer

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Published: 1 Feb 2023
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Prof Ahlam Dohal - King Fahd Specialised Hospital Dammam, Dammam, Saudi Arabia

Prof Ahlam Dohal speaks to ecancer at BGICC 2023 about Women Who Conquer Cancer.

She explains the women in oncology meeting was aimed at empowering women in oncology and encouraging collaboration.

Prof Dohal also comments on Prof Sandra Swain's speech on the founding of 'Women Who Conquer Cancer'.

She concludes by highlighting that every woman in oncology in every country faces their own difficulties and so BGICC was an important opportunity to hear a variety of experiences from women around the world.

The other thing that was very interesting this time, that there was a Women for Oncology meeting happening for the fifth time, I think they started in 2019, Women for Oncology Egypt. They have a very nice idea to empower the women in oncology and collaborate in different aspects – research, education, leadership. This year, the beauty of it, that we heard also from the ASCO experience from Dr Sandra Swain, about their experience as women and oncology belongs to ASCO. She was talking about the grants and how they are empowering the women there. For me, as a radiation oncologist and as an oncologist from Saudi Arabia, it’s a very nice idea to extend this concept in oncology and extend it to Saudi Arabia. Probably, because I believe that every woman in oncology in every country they face their own difficulties, they face their own challenges, and it’s nice to have the group together just to overcome those challenges and try to bring oncology to the next level and bring the female oncologists to the next level. 

So it was really nice to hear experiences from different people, from Egypt, from the US, and probably in the future we will have the collaboration with them to do Women for Oncology in the Gulf region, or Saudi Arabia. I was talking to a colleague about that and I think it’s a very appealing idea to start in the near future.