Abbey White

Abby White is the co-founder and voluntary Chief Executive of World Eye Cancer Hope, which has the mission of bringing optimal evidence based life and sight saving care to all children with retinoblastoma.  Abby’s father was diagnosed with bilateral retinoblastoma in Kenya in 1946, and treated in England.  Abby was also born with tumours in both eyes.  She has an artificial eye and limited vision in her remaining eye that is now failing due to late effects of radiotherapy in infancy.  Abby studied geography at university, with a special emphasis on development in sub-Saharan Africa.  She co-ordinates the extensive activities of WE C Hope and the One Retinoblastoma World community while also assisting individual families. Abby enjoys creative writing, audio books, sailing, open water swimming and country walks with her guide dog, Annie.

Alison Finch

Alison is Matron and Lead Nurse for Children and Young People’s Cancer at University College Hospital in London, UK. Alongside her NHS roles, Alison has maintained a long-standing interest in nursing overseas, having volunteered over a number of years with an NGO in Azerbaijan, undertaken field trips to northern and southern India exploring the core values and role of nursing, and Alison has visited Bangladesh with World Child Cancer to co-lead a nurse education programme in our programme based at BSMMU in Dhaka. Alison has a particular interest in nursing leadership and teenage and young adult cancer care. She is a published author and loves getting involved in nurse-led research projects and activities. Alison has an MSc in advancing professional healthcare practice (palliative care) and was awarded an MBE for services to nursing in 2009.

Annabel Foot

Annabel is a Member of the Project Committee. She worked as a Consultant in Paediatric Oncology in Bristol, UK, for 15 years, retiring from clinical practice in 2007. In addition to clinical and teaching roles, she was lead clinician for Paediatric Cancer Services. Although caring for all types of solid tumour, leukaemia and transplant patients, she developed particular expertise in the areas of soft tissue sarcoma and neuroblastoma, leading national and international studies in these fields.  Following departure from clinical practice, she spent time working as an Advisory Consultant for pharmaceutical clinical trials.

More recently, following a stint of teaching Paediatric Oncology in Uganda, she has become a student again, now taking a Masters in Public Health, with a view to combining all her skills and helping those in less affluent countries. Leisure activities include photography (having also attained an Arts Masters in this sphere), and outdoor pursuits, including walking, cycling and sailing.

Carlos Rodríguez-Galindo

Dr Carlos Rodríguez-Galindo, a Spanish native, completed his training in paediatric haematology-oncology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. After 10 years as clinical researcher at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, he moved to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital Boston, where he was the Director of the Paediatric Solid Tumour Program, Medical Director of the Clinical and Translational Investigations Program, and Director of the Global Health Initiative in Paediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders. He was also Professor of Paediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

In 2015, Dr Rodriguez-Galindo returned to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to serve as Executive Vice-President, Chair of the Department of Global Paediatric Medicine, and director of St. Jude Gloabl. He also holds the Four Stars of Chicago Endowed Chair in International Paediatric Research. Carlos has been working with World Child Cancer’s programme in Myanmar since 2013 and provides valuable guidance for medical staff in Yangon.

Catherine Lam

Catherine is a Paediatric Oncologist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, USA, where she works in the Department of Global Pediatric Medicine as Medical Director of the Asia Pacific Program, and with patients in the Solid Tumour Division.  Inspired early in her training by the resilience of children and adolescents with cancer and the care providers she encountered in remote parts of Niger, Uganda, Taiwan, and China, she completed her paediatric haematology/oncology training at Toronto SickKids, Canada, with a Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins, USA.

Her specific interests include systems development and quality improvement practices in resource-limited settings, abandonment of treatment, palliative care, rare malignancies including adrenocortical tumours and nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and outcomes evaluation.  She is the Co-Chair for the SIOP PODC Abandonment of Treatment Working Group and Member of the SIOP PODC Core Committee.

Dr Stephen P. Hunger

Stephen Hunger is a Medical Trustee of World Child Cancer USA and a paediatric haematologist oncologist with over twenty years of experience and leadership roles in the field.

Dr Hunger completed training in paediatrics at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Paediatric Haematology/Oncology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is currently Professor of Paediatrics and Chief of the Section of Paediatric Haematology/Oncology/Bone Marrow Transplantation at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Stephen has extensive experience in international paediatric cancer. He has worked closely with international colleagues to increase collaboration in childhood ALL basic and translational research and to develop new collaborative clinical trials in high risk ALL subsets. Dr Hunger directs a twinning partnership with the paediatric oncology programs in the Dominican Republic to improve outcomes for children with ALL in that country. He has a major interest in developing graduated intensity therapy regimens to help centres in low and middle income countries implement treatments that are appropriate for their local conditions.

Gabriele Calaminus

Gabriele is Head of Global Advocacy and the Past-President of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP). She is an international expert on brain tumours, germ cell tumours and quality of life. Dr Calaminus is a prolific author of numerous scientific publications and was instrumental in the establishment of key partnerships for SIOP, including that with the World Health Organization, Childhood Cancer International (CCI), World Child Cancer, the Union for International Cancer Control, and with the Sanofi Espoir Foundation.

John van Doorninck, MD

Dr. John van Doorninck is a pediatric oncologist practicing at the Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children in Denver, Colorado, USA.  A native of Denver, he studied medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and completed his training in pediatric hematology/oncology at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. There, he served as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Bone Marrow Transplantation prior to accepting his current position. Dr. van Doorninck’s interest in delivering pediatric cancer care in low and middle-income countries took hold in 2007, when he took inspiration from work being done by members of SIOP’s PODC (International Society of Paediatric Oncology, group for Pediatric Oncology in Developing Countries).  His interest further developed through discussions with Professor Tim Eden of World Child Cancer. In 2014, he became formally involved in establishing World Child Cancer’s presence in the United States and in 2017 he joined the Global Project Committee. His wife, Dana Bryson, serves on the Board of Directors of World Child Cancer USA. They have two children.

Louise Soanes

Louise is an experienced children’s and young people’s cancer nurse. She has worked at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, UK, as a Nurse Practice Educator and has lectured in nursing at the South Bank University in London. Before taking up her current role as Teenage Cancer Trust Nurse Consultant for Adolescents and Young People at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust she was the Trust’s Senior Sister for Children’s Services.

She brings a wealth of experience to the both the Project Committee and the World Child Cancer UK Board and has had direct experience of programmes in developing countries, having visited childhood cancer wards in Bangladesh. As well as working full-time, Louise gained her professional doctorate in nursing and is the author of academic articles and books on nursing.

Chair

Rachel Hollis

Rachel Hollis is Honorary Nurse Advisor for Children’s Cancer at Leeds Children’s Hospital. She has spent more than 30 years as a nurse in paediatric oncology and haematology. Rachel is a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing of the United Kingdom and has been involved in developing national services for children and young people with cancer in the UK.

Rachel is a member of the nursing group within the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP). She is a former Chair of the SIOP Paediatric Oncology in Developing Countries Nursing Working Group, where she advocated for and worked with nurses from low- and middle-income countries to define base-line standards of nursing care. She continues to collaborate with international nursing colleagues as part of the Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer and through her engagement in the work of World Child Cancer.

President

Scott Howard, MD, MSc

Julie Torode

Dr Julie Torode is a Board Member of the Institute of Cancer Policy, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Community and Patient Engagement and Visiting Researcher at King’s. Her research interests span the spectrum of global cancer prevention and control with a particular interest in women’s health and cancer.

Julie gained her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Liverpool, conducted post-doctoral research at the University of Marburg, Germany and entered the health arena and field of oncology through industry clinical trials work across phases I-IV (2000-2008). Since then, Julie has worked internationally with a policy focus and global advocacy working alongside United Nations agencies and government bodies. During more than a decade (2008-2021) at Union for International Cancer Control in Geneva, Switzerland, Julie worked with cancer organisations across the globe in advocating for the Global Action Plan on Noncommunicable Diseases, the palliative care and cancer resolutions and most recently the WHO Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer as a Public Health Problem. Her global cancer research covers cancer systems strengthening: access to cancer medicines and palliative care, global radiotherapy and cancer care in conflict. She serves WHO Global Guideline Group for Cervical Cancer and supports several civil society organisations in Sub-Saharan Africa as a board member or advisor.

Julie has worked with global organisations dedicated to childhood cancer including St Jude, Childhood Cancer International and SIOP as well as projects at national level in low- and middle-income countries such as Tanzania, Philippines and Ghana.