Council Members

Professor Cesaltina Lorenzoni, MD, MSC,MPH, PhD, is a Medical Pathologist, Head of the National Cancer Control Programme at the Ministry of Health in Mozambique, and the Scientific and Pedagogical Director at Maputo Central Hospital. She is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Eduardo Mondlane University.
Dr. Lorenzoni is the President of the African Organisation for Research & Training in Cancer (AORTIC) for the 2026-2027 term.
She served as President-Elect of the African Organisation for Research & Training in Cancer (AORTIC) for the 2023-2025 term.
Dr. Lorenzoni obtained her medical degree from the Faculty of Medicine of Eduardo Mondlane University and specialized in Anatomical Pathology at Maputo Central Hospital. She holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) from the same university, with a thesis focused on Cancer Epidemiology, and a Master of Science (MSc) in Health Policy and Programme Planning.
She completed her PhD in International Health with a focus on Translational Cancer Epidemiology at the University of Barcelona, Spain.
She is a visiting professor at the University of Barcelona (Spain), and Guest Speaker at Rice University (USA), and MD Anderson Cancer Center – University of Texas (USA).
Dr. Lorenzoni has published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles and is the author of three book chapters published by the African Cancer Registry Network (AFCRN), the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). She is the author and co-author of various national manuals and standards, such as, the Standard Procedure Manual for Population-Based Cancer Registries in Sub Saharan Africa – for Portuguese-speaking countries published by AFCRN, the Investment Case for Cancer in Mozambique, published by WHO and the National Cancer Control Plan of Mozambique (2019-2029), published by Ministry of Health of Mozambique.
She serves as Principal Investigator(PI) in several research projects in partnership with national and international institutions, of the following research projects:
1. The Center for Innovation and Translation of Point-of-Care Technologies for Equitable Cancer Care (CITEC).
2. Sample-to-answer HPV DNA nucleic acid test for cervical cancer screening in Mozambique (Natflow).
3. The AVANÇO Research Consortium: A Mozambique/Brazil/Texas Alliance to advance novel and affordable technologies for the prevention and diagnosis of cervical cancer in women living with HIV.
4. Integrating HPV-DNA Testing Into HIV Care: Results Of A Programatic Implementation In Four Health Facilities In Maputo City, Mozambique

5. Population-based cancer registries in Maputo City – Mozambique.
6. The ECHO Project as a tool to support healthcare providers in Mozambique in cervical cancer screening through telementoring.
7. Cervical cancer prevention through the development and use of low-cost HPV detection methods and new technologies for diagnosing pre-invasive cervical disease.
8. A training programme for Obstetrics and Gynaecology residents in the diagnosis and treatment of women with pre-invasive cervical disease — strengthening clinical skills in colposcopy, LEEP, and classroom-based training at Maputo Central Hospital.
9. The journey of women with breast cancer in Mozambique: what is the best path? an intervention to reduce inequalities in breast cancer treatment.
10. Evaluating innovative technologies and approaches to addressing cervical cancer in the republic of Mozambique.
11. Assessment of New HPV Test Using Banked HPV Samples in Mozambique.
12. Cervical Cancer Screening using Primary Human Papillomavirus (HPV) in Mozambique.
She served as Chair of the Education and Training Committee of AORTIC from 2022 to 2023 and represented Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP) from 2020 to 2021.
Dr. Lorenzoni is a member of the Scientific Review Committee of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) for the BIG Cat Early-Career Investigator Catalytic Grants Programme. She is also a member of the African Cancer Registry Network (AFCRN) and the Director of the Maputo City Population-Based Cancer Registry.
In September 2022, she received the International Gynecologic Cancer Society (IGCS) Award, in the category of Community Advancement in Low-Resource Settings, in New York, USA.
In June 2024, she received the Global Leader in Health Award from the Global Health Catalyst (GHC) in Washington, USA.
She served as President of the Cancer Association of Mozambique from 2013 to July 2022 and she currently the President of the chair Assembly of this organisation since 2023
She designed and founded in 2024 the first Clinical Research and Training Centre at Maputo Central Hospital, focused on developing clinical trials in the field of cancer.

Dr. Miriam Mutebi is a Consultant Breast Surgical Oncologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. She is also a clinical epidemiologist and health systems researcher with a research focus on understanding barriers to access for women with cancers in Sub-Saharan Africa and in designing interventions to mitigate those barriers.
She is the Vice-President of East Africa of the African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC), a member of the education and training committee for AORTIC and the Chairperson for the Kenya Society of Hematology and Oncology (KESHO) and on the board of directors of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). She is also the co-founder of the Pan African Women’s Association of Surgeons (PAWAS -www.africanwomensurgeons.org) and is part of the Kenya Association of Women Surgeons.
She is the Co-chair of the National Cancer Taskforce in Kenya, Chair of the Commonwealth Taskforce for the elimination of Cervical Cancer and a commissioner with three Lancet commissions of Women and cancer, Cancer in sub-Saharan Africa and Breast Cancer. She heads the African cancer survivorship working group that is dedicated to developing continental research that reflects patient reported outcomes and quality of life and has developed and helped implement both local and regional cancer policy. As a systems researcher, her focus is on bridging access gaps e.g. through education of healthcare workers on CBE, training cancer advocates (Kenya, South Africa) and in addressing diagnostic gaps by improving pre-analytical handling of cancer specimens

Her drive to connect and build continental communities of practice has led to the successful development and running of recurrent international multidisciplinary cancer symposiums that bring together AORTIC and other key players and to surgical oncology and pathology preceptorships. Her recent efforts have resulted in research mentorship program for African female surgeons interested in oncology research.

Dr. Hannah Ayettey is a graduate of the University of Ghana Medical School and a Consultant Clinical Oncologist at the National Radiotherapy Oncology and Nuclear Medicine Centre, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, Ghana. A Fellow of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons, she has served in various leadership positions including Training Coordinator at that Centre, Project Coordinator on the IAEA RAF 0655 TC Project, and a member of the Advisory Board of the African Cancer Coalition. She was Faculty Secretary and, currently, Faculty Chair of Oncology and Radiotherapy at the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Her research/Clinical interests are in Breast, Head and Neck, GIT cancers, and in Precision Oncology.

Hannah is a member of a number of international oncology organizations, including AORTIC, ESMO, ASCO and ASTRO. A member of AORTIC since 2013, Hannah was among the first batch of the African Cancer Leaders Institute (ACLI) program. In 2020/2021, she chaired the Planning Committee for the first Virtual Cancer Genomics Conference in Africa organized by AORTIC. She is a member of the Cancer Genomics special interest group. Currently, she is the Secretary General for AORTIC.

In Ghana, Dr. Ayettey had served as Vice President and President for the Breast Society, in the period 2018 and 2024. She led the society to provide coordinated medical and social interventions for improving standard outcomes of breast cancer care in Ghana also integrating cancer survivors into the society.

Hannah is an elder of the Faith Congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana.

Manjuh Florence, holder of a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing Sciences from the University of Buea, Cameroon, has worked with the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services (CBCHS) for 15 years. She serves as the supervisor for the Women’s Health Program (WHP). The WHP is one of Cameroon’s most prominent cervical cancer screening/prevention programs and does breast cancer early detection simultaneously for all women seen for cervical cancer screening. She is a 2019/2020 Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) Young Leader and a 2019 UICC fellow. She is a very passionate nurse who ceaselessly works to see that the capacity of the WHP nurses and others working in cancer care in her community is updated. She is the focal point for the Project ECHO cervical cancer Cameroon project and the Vice President for the Africa Organization for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC) for the Central Africa subregion. She desires to lead teams to eliminate cervical cancer through vaccination and screening, raise awareness of breast and other cancers, and for women to take action for cancer detection to reduce this tremendous burden of breast and cervical cancer in Cameroon. Her research interests are in Public Health Research, where she hopes to use evidence-based research to improve the quality of life for many in her community, Cameroon, Central Africa Region and Africa at large and advocacy.

I am a senior medical oncologist working in Nairobi Kenya with over a decade of experience in oncology care spanning from prevention, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship and palliative care. I am currently the Head of Department of the largest Cancer Centre in Kenya at the Kenyatta National Hospital. I am actively involved in cancer advocacy at a local, regional and international level having served a President of KESHO (2018-2020), member of National Cancer Control Program technical working groups, Vice President AORTIC East Africa and currently serving as a member of ASCO Sub- Saharan Regional Council for the last 2 years. My current research focuses on breast cancer and currently the Principal Investigator of Phase III clinical trials. Other research interests are on patient navigation, lung cancer and CML.

Yosr Hamdi is a biologist and researcher at the Pasteur Institute of Tunis, she is specialized in cancer genomics and precision medicine. She serves as an Expert in the World Health Organization (WHO) and member of the WHO- technical advisory Group on Genomics. She also serves as an Expert in the Africa-CDC and member of the Africa-CDC technical expert group on Human Genomics and Precision Public Health. Dr. Hamdi is a member of several international consortia, including BCAC, CIMBA, H3ABioNet, and H3Africa and a founder member of the Tunisian Society of Human Genomics (TSHG).

She started in the field of human genetics in 2004 with the Human Genome Project at Laval University in Quebec, Canada. She then obtained a Master Degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the Faculty of Medicine at Laval University, Canada. In 2009, she joined the Genomics Center at the Research Center of the University Hospital of Laval (CRCHUL) in Quebec, Canada, where she got a Ph.D degree in Molecular Medicine.

By combining genomics, molecular biology, bioinformatics and precision medicine Dr. Hamdi currently leads the Genome Tunisia Collaborative Alliance (GTCA) and the PerMediNA Consortium (Personalized Medicine In North Africa) to continue research on cancer genomics in African populations and to implement genomic medicine and precision oncology in North Africa.

Dr. Omar Abdihamid is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist, Cancer Researcher, and passionate advocate for equitable cancer care in Africa. He leads the Garissa Cancer Center—the first and only Oncology facility in Northern Kenya—bringing lifesaving treatment closer to thousands who once had to travel vast distances for care.

His research and advocacy focus on decentralized oncology services, culturally informed care, palliative integration, and digital health innovation in low-resource settings.

Dr. Abdihamid has spearheaded projects quantifying the impact of regional cancer centers, advancing patient navigation systems, and exploring how African cultural and faith contexts influence treatment access and outcomes.

A 2024 Common Sense Oncology Fellow and Cancer Research Fellow at Queen’s University, Canada, he also serves as a 2023 Africa Cancer Leadership Institute Fellow and ASCO IDEA Award recipient. He was recently appointed as a founding Editorial Board Member of the AORTIC Journal for Cancer Research (AJCR), launching in October 2025, where he is committed to amplifying African scholarship and mentoring the next generation of researchers.

I have been working in a breast and cervical cancer screening program (Women’s Health Program) in Cameroon for over eight years now during which I have developed skills in screening and treatment of precancerous lesions of the cervix. This program is the largest cervical cancer prevention program in the Central African Subregion. However, it has screened only one hundred and thirty thousand women to date, despite the 8.01 million at risk of cervical cancer in Cameroon due to resource constraints. Other skills I have learned through this program include the management of reproductive tract infections (RTIs), infertility management, family planning services, Fine Needle Aspiration(FNA), cryotherapy, thermal ablation, punch biopsies( cervix, vagina, vulvar endometrium), and Tru-cut Biopsy. Due to my passion and commitment to this program, I was appointed in January 2022 as the Assistant Supervisor to further expand my leadership and advocacy role through this program. My research interest is preinvasive lower genital tract diseases (cervix, vulvar, vagina, and anus) in the HIV population, human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and screening, and breast cancer (prevention and diagnosis). I did my first AORTIC presentation in April 2023 on single-dose HPV vaccination in boys and girls aged 9-14 years in Cameroon. I have featured in more than 10 scientific publications on these research interests. In October 2022, I backed home with a Master of Oncology degree from Newcastle University after successfully defending the first study on cervical cancer clinical outcomes conducted in Cameroon. I currently have at least 5 manuscripts on my research interests pending publication.

I am a cancer genomics researcher and clinical biochemist with my research focused on understanding and reducing cancer disparities in Black populations, especially indigenous Africans. My work spans prostate, breast, and gynaecological cancers and uses multi-omics approaches to link ancestral genetics, infections, nutrition, and environmental toxicants to aggressive disease biology. I lead Africa-based genomic and biological studies that have championed indigenous genomics research on the Continent. My work integrates tumour and germline sequencing with social and environmental determinants to explain poor outcomes among Black men and to inform culturally grounded awareness, risk communication, and survivorship efforts.

Within AORTIC, I have served as Co-chair and Chair of the Research Committee and as Programme co-Chair for the Cancer Genomics Conference, helping to deliver the inaugural virtual conference in 2021 and the second Cancer Genomics Conference in Lagos in 2023. I also helped organise the 2024 AORTIC capacity-building workshop in Lagos, leading the genomics and bioinformatics track with hands-on training in cancer genomics tools for early and mid-career investigators.

Currently, I lead teams that are building cancer genomics and precision oncology capacity in West Africa through laboratory and biobank development, mentorship and training for clinicians, scientists, and nurses, and partnerships with advocacy groups and policy makers. Across these efforts, my goal aligns with AORTIC’s mission to harness Africa’s genomic diversity for improved prevention, earlier diagnosis, and more effective cancer care for our patients.

I am a oncology surgeon from Angola.
Since 2019, at our district hospital we managed to create an oncology department in a maternity hospital, with screening, diagnostic and surgical treatment of breast and cancer of the cervix. And since 2024 alongside with the main referral hospital we are able to offer chemotherapy locally.
We also initiated Pink October awareness activities since 2019 with clinical breast examinations within the community, and referral to the hospital for all clinical positive results. In 2024 we started performing FNA (fine needle aspiration) locally for any positive results, and send the samples to be processed in order to reduce time delays.
Since 2024 we started a screening program cytology and colposcopy based to HIV positive women.
Alongside with three other hospitals we have the first population based cancer registry. This data was published in Globocan and for the first time Angola data was real and not based on neighbouring countries.
I am also al fellow of the AORTIC ACLI institute since 2023, and was ASCO mentored in 2024.
I’ve been selected to participate at SSO (SOCIETY OF SURGICAL ONCOLOGY) in Tampa Florida, with one week observorship program at MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER exchange program 2025: a training program for residents, and junior MD Gyne/OB, in order to screen, diagnose, and discuss in a board female cancer conditions. As well as nurses, training to breast clinical, exam ,colposcopy, cytology, and perform FNA.

I am a board member of the Institute of Cancer Policy, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Community and Patient Engagement and visiting researcher at Kings College London. Research interests span the spectrum of global cancer prevention and control with a particular interest in women’s health and cancer. I gained a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Liverpool, UK, 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, I’ve worked internationally with a policy and advocacy focus working alongside United Nations agencies and government bodies. During more than a decade (2008-2021) at UICC in Geneva, Switzerland I worked with cancer organisations across the globe, including AORTIC, in advocating for the Global Action Plan on NCDs, 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. My cancer research covers cancer systems strengthening, access to cancer medicines, palliative care, radiotherapy and cancer surgery. I am currently a member of the WHO Global Guideline Group for Cervical Cancer and an advisor to Global Breast Cancer Initiative. I am a Trustee of World Child Cancer, with strong African partnerships, and I support a wide network of civil society organisations in Sub-Saharan Africa on a volunteer basis, in particular as a board member of Kilele Health Association, Kenya, Humanity at Heart, Cameroon and advisor to the African Cervical Health Alliance.

Dr Abiola Falilat Ibraheem is a medical oncologist at University of Illinois (UIC) dedicated to ensuring Sub-Saharan African countries is a hub for globalized biomarker-driven innovative therapeutic cancer clinical trials. Currently, she serves as the Director of the Global Oncology Program at UIC , where her work is centered on addressing disparities in cancer clinical trials within black communities in the United States and globally. She also holds a pivotal role as a liaison between the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the newly established Sub-Saharan African Council. In addition, she is the chair of the diversity committee at Eli Lilly where her work is centered on ensuring representation of under-represented minorities in breast cancer trials.
Dr. Ibraheem began her career in Nigeria, where she received her medical education and worked for almost a decade as a medical officer in all the healthcare tiers within the country. Her invaluable experience in her home country laid the groundwork for her international journey. Her internal medicine residency training was at Morehouse School of Medicine and at University of Chicago she trained as a medical oncologist and medical ethicist. She underwent an abbreviated physician program at Abbvie pharmaceuticals where she had first-hand experience on globalization of cancer clinical trials from Big Pharma and CROs perspective. She is a past recipient of the African Cancer Leadership Institute (ACLI) and has been involved in multiple programs centered on clinical trial training of African investigators. She is currently an investigator on multiple ongoing globalized breast cancer trials.

Prisca Olabisi Adejumo is a Professor of Adult Health Nursing and current Dean, Faculty of Nursing, University of Ibadan. She holds dual PhDs in Medical Sociology and Nursing, alongside master’s degrees in Medical Sociology and Medical-Surgical Nursing. A seasoned academic leader, she has served as Head of Department, Sub-Dean, and Dean on sabbatical at Chrisland University. She is the MPI of the NIH-funded SPARC-TRAIN program for strengthening sickle cell disease (SCD) research in Nigeria and Ghana (2024 to 2029).

Prof. Adejumo’s expertise spans interprofessional education, interdisciplinary research, and global health. She is a 2020 FAIMER Fellow, member of the CUGH Global Health Competency Subcommittee (2020–2024), and has served as WHO consultant on COVID-19 preparedness across eight African countries. Her current research focuses on cancer genetics, particularly risk factors and counselling.

She completed advanced training in cancer risk assessment at City of Hope, California, and is a 2013 ACLI Fellow and mentor for cancer genetic counselling trainees across Africa. She pioneered cancer genetic counselling in four southwestern Nigerian states and has ongoing initiatives in Cameroon and Rwanda.

Prof. Adejumo is a long-standing AORTIC member and contributor, with deep commitment to cancer care in Africa. She is the founder of the Focusing on Empowering Young Nurses Initiative (FYNI), mentoring nurses to excel in clinical expertise and compassionate care. Her vision includes strengthening AORTIC’s impact, growing its membership, and advancing nursing research and education across the continent.