Fredrick Chite Asirwa
Dr. Asirwa has been a Medical Oncologist & Hematologist for over 13 years, PD/PI of several access to personalized cancer care and research initiatives, including Blueprint Program (Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi, and Uganda), Shining Tower Program, Clinical Trials Program-all geared towards enhancing early detection, promoting primary HPV screening, providing SOC diagnostics & therapeutics cancer research. He has conceptualized and developed several training programs, including SSA Oncology Preceptorship training, a Digital Pathology Program, a Telemedicine Program, an Oncology training for Physician assistants (Clinical Officers), the development of an Oncology Nursing training program in Kenya, a Medical Oncology Fellowship Program, and Oncology Pharmacy program and assisted in the development of gynecologic oncology program. He has assisted in establishing 17 screening and early detection centers for breast and cervical cancers in Kenya, working closely with the county's MOH and other local partners named EMPOWER clinics. Dr. Asirwa is also the PI of over 20 Clinical Trials (Phase I, II, and III) in SSA.
As Director (2011-2019) of AMPATH in Kenya- a consortium of a dozen Universities in the United States in partnership with Moi University, Kenya. In this role, he conceptualized and developed infrastructure for telemedicine at AMPATH, created a robust hematology & oncology outreach program in rural Kenya, and participated in the development of the Kenya National Cancer Control policies, strategic plans, and guidelines by the National MOH. As PI to various clinical and research programs, he established a Multiple Myeloma program, a Lymphoma Program, a functional tumor registry, an Integrated Breast & Cervical Cancer screening & treatment program, Hemophilia and Sickle cell diagnostics, treatment & research, EMR for Oncology care and screening, a multinational Lung Cancer Control Program, MLCCP (Kenya, South Africa, Lesotho, Tanzania, and Eswatini). He also teaches at various Universities in SSA and participates in Scientific Review Committees (SRC) and Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) of various Oncology/Hematology Clinical Trials both in the U.S. and SSA.
Navneet Singh
Dr. Navneet Singh, MD, DM, is a thoracic medical oncologist, tenured (full) Professor of Pulmonary Medicine, and faculty-in-charge of the Lung Cancer Clinic at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, India. His primary area of clinical expertise & research is thoracic oncology, especially targeted therapies and immunotherapy for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Prof. Singh is the coordinator-cum-convener for PGIMER’s multidisciplinary thoracic oncology group that received IASLC’s Lung Cancer Care Team Award at its 2019 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in Barcelona, Spain. He has conferred the IASLC Clifton Mountain Lectureship Award for staging at the 2023 WCLC in Singapore.
Dr. Singh has been elected as a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (London), the American College of Physicians & American College of Chest Physicians. He has 250+ publications in peer-reviewed medical journals, authored several chapters in books, and is an invited faculty & program committee member for IASLC’s annual WCLC. He is/has been a member of several IASLC committees. Currently, he co-chairs the IASLC Partners for Thoracic Cancer Care initiative.
A past recipient of the International Development & Education Award (IDEA) of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Prof. Singh served as Chair of ASCO’s IDEA steering group and Co-Chair of ASCO’s expert panels responsible for ‘living’ guidelines on systemic therapy for stage IV NSCLC and management of stage III NSCLC. Previously, he has been an invited member of ASCO’s special awards selection committee and thoracic cancer guidelines group. In 2023, he became one of the few select oncologists from the Asia-Pacific region to be conferred lifetime Fellow of ASCO (FASCO) distinction and is among the 1st two from this region to have received both the IDEA and FASCO.
Dr. Singh has been a recipient of several other awards and honors from AACR, ESMO, and the Indian Council for Medical Research.
Akif Turna
Dr. Turna is a graduate of Istanbul University’s Istanbul Medical School and completed his thoracic surgery training at Yedikule Teaching Hospital for Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery. In 2007, he launched the VATS lobectomy program and has since earned both national and European Thoracic Surgery Board certifications.
He obtained his PhD in Immunology in 2003 and was appointed Professor of Thoracic Surgery at Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa in 2013. He currently serves as Chief of Thoracic Surgery at Cerrahpasa School of Medicine.
Dr. Turna’s clinical and research interests focus on minimally invasive thoracic surgery, particularly uniportal VATS, and RATS resections, mediastinal staging techniques such as VAMLA, inflammatory and infectious thoracic diseases, surgical treatment of emphysema, anti-tumor immunology, and the molecular biology of cancer.
He is an Associate Editor for Asian Cardiovascular and Thoracic Annals, Euroasian Journal of Pulmonology, and Heliyon, and serves as Managing Editor of the Turkish Journal of Immunology. He is also a contributing member of the 10th Edition Lung Cancer Staging Committee (IASLC).