BioProfessor Claus Garbe obtained his MD in 1983 at the Free University of Berlin, Germany, he was board certified in Dermatology and Venereology in 1987 and was awarded his habilitation (PhD equivalent) in 1990, focusing on the biology of melanoma cells. Professor Garbe remained at the Free University of Berlin until 1995 when he appointed University Professor of Dermatology and Head of the Division of Dermatooncology at Eberhard Karls University, Tuebingen. Professor Garbe’s principal research interests include the biology and genetics of melanoma and keratinocyte skin cancers, therapeutic trials in skin diseases, epidemiologic studies, and dermato-histopathology. Professor Garbe has been awarded as the first dermatologist with the German Cancer Award in 1995. He has been a principal investigator in numerous multicenter clinical trials since 1989. He has authored more than 800 articles and 17 text books (H index 113 points). He coordinates the development of guidelines on behalf of the European Dermatology Forum and the European Association of Dermatologic Oncology. Currently, Professor Garbe is the President of the European Association of Dermatologic Oncology (EADO).graphy to come
Dirk Schadendorf is the Director of the Department of Dermatology (since 2008) and the West German Cancer Center (WTZ, http://www.wtz-essen.de, since 2013) at the University Hospital Essen, as well as Director of the WTZ Consortium, and, in addition, Founding Director of the Research Center One Health University Alliance Ruhr(https://www.uaruhr.de/researchallianceruhr/onehealthruhr.html.de)
He attended Medical School at the University Hospital, Hamburg, and has been licensed to practice medicine since 1986. Subsequently, Prof Schadendorf went to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, USA for 2 years where he obtained post-doctoral training in Tumour Immunology by Dr. Lloyd Old starting his experimental work on melanoma. After a short period at the Max-Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics at Berlin, he started his residency in dermatology. During his 6 years at the Department of Dermatology at University Hospital Rudolf Virchow in Berlin, he received his residency training and board certification in Dermatology and Venerology (1994) to become Assistant Professor for Dermatology in 1995. After receiving the prestigious DFG- Heisenberg Scholarship, he was appointed as Head of the Skin Cancer Unit at the German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg and as Associate Professor for Dermato-Oncology at Mannheim University Hospital, Medical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg in 1997.
Professor Schadendorf has been President of the German Dermatologic Cooperative Oncology Group (DeCOG) between 2010 and 2018. He has been serving on the steering committee of the well known EORTC Melanoma Group for more than 2 decades in several roles. He is currently involved in more than 30 clinical studies. He has a strong focus on translational research with special interest in tumor immunology, therapy resistance, tumor heterogeneity and plasticity and target therapy. Prof Schadendorf has published more than 700 peer-reviewed papers ( see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Schadendorf-D) with many aspects of clinical and translational research of skin cancers in journals like New England Journal of Medicine, Science, Nature, Nature Medicine, Cell, JAMA, JAMA Oncology, Cancer Discovery, J Experimental Medicine, Lancet, Lancet Oncology or Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Professor James Larkin is a Medical Oncologist specialising in the treatment of melanoma and cancers of the kidney.
Professor Larkin grew up in North Cornwall before taking a first in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University. He undertook clinical training at Oxford University, qualifying in 1996. He underwent general medical training in London and in 2001 won a Medical Research Council Fellowship for a Clinician, carrying out laboratory research at the Institute of Cancer Research leading to a PhD. Specialist training was completed at The Royal Marsden and he was appointed a Consultant in 2008.
His research interests involve trying to understand cancer and its consequences better, as well as developing improved treatments, particularly with targeted therapies and immunotherapies. In the past he has served on the Medical Oncology Specialist Advisory Committee for the Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board, as the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) National Specialty Lead for Early Phase Oncology Trials and as Vice Chair of the CRUK Clinical Research Committee as well as Chair of the NCRI Renal Cancer Clinical Studies Group, The Royal Marsden/Institute of Cancer Research Committee for Clinical Research and the CRUK Clinical Research Monitoring Panel.
In 2018 he was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and in 2020 as an NIHR Senior Investigator. From 2022 he has led the Cancer Immunotherapy Theme at The Royal Marsden/Institute of Cancer Research NIHR Biomedical Research Centre. Professor Larkin serves as a medical advisor to the patient advocacy group Melanoma UK, as a trustee of the Kidney Cancer Support Network and sits on the Medical Advisory Board of the International Kidney Cancer Coalition.
Paweł Pietkiewicz MD, PhD, FEBDV (UEMS), PDIPDER
Zwierzyniecka Medical Center, Poznań, Poland
Dr. Pietkiewicz serves as the President of the Polish Dermatoscopy Group (2022-2026), a Board Member of the International Dermoscopy Society (2021-2024), and a Member of the EADV Awards and Honours Committee (2023-27). His areas of expertise include conventional and ultraviolet dermatoscopy, the integration of artificial intelligence in dermatology, cancerogenesis, and autoimmunity. His international experience is highlighted by his EADO Fellowship at the Dermatology Clinic, ASUITs, Italy (2018), the Sapienza Fellowship at the Dermatology Clinic, Policlinico Umberto I, Italy (2018), and a Fellowship at the Skin Surgery Unit, University Department of Dermatology, Zürich, Switzerland (2015). He is a recipient of several awards, including the UCB Scholarship (2021), Eli Lilly Grant (2019, 2020), the Dermoscopy Excellence International Masterclass Challenge in Rome (2018), the British Society for Paediatric Dermatology Grant (2018), the Scottish Society of Dermatology Grant (2017), the Société Française de Dermatologie award (2015), Euroderm Excellence (2015), and the Michael Hornstein Memorial Scholarship (2015). Committed to education beyond his clinical and research work, he has been actively lecturing in dermatoscopy since 2018 and is involved in various research and development projects in the field. Additionally, he is an administrator of several professional Facebook groups, including the official International Dermoscopy Society Facebook group, the Brazilian Dermatoscopia e Melanoma group, and the Dermatoscopy and Skin Diseases group of the Youth Section of the Polish General Practitioners.
Dr Burger is the current Head of the Division of Radiation Oncology at Tygerberg Academic hospital (TAH) and Stellenbosch University (SU), where she has practiced as a Clinical Oncologist since 2015. She trained as a specialist at UCT and subsequently worked at the GSH department of Clinical Oncology as a consultant from 2012 to 2015.
Her professional interests include urological and gynaecological cancers, Kaposi sarcoma, palliative medicine, skin cancer, sarcomas, health professions education, and quality assurance in oncology. In addition to being a senior clinical oncology lecturer, she leads both the SU under-graduate and post-graduate academic programs in palliative medicine. She is a Counsil member and examiner for the College of Radiation Oncologists of South Africa, a principal investigator on international and local clinical trials and has published in local and international journals. She is currently completing her Masters degree in Palliative Medicine through UCT on the acceptability of a serious illness conversation guide in a public oncology setting.
Dr Sze Wai Chan is a medical oncologist in private practice @ Sandton Oncology, Johannesburg, South Africa. Shs is the director of clinical research @ Sandton Oncology and is involved as principal and sub-investigator in local and international clinical trials. She is a member of ASCO, ESMO, IASLC and is an EXCO member of SASMO since 2022. She is the vice president of the Melanoma Society South Africa (MSSA). Her main interests are lung cancer, melanoma, head and neck cancer and urogenital cancer. She has authored or co-authored in peer-reviewed journals and has presented abstracts locally and abroad. She also serves on both local and international Advisory Boards. She was trained professionally @ the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg and she was involved previously with the Wits HREC (Human Research Ethics Committee).
John Davies was born in Cape Town in 1970. He completed his MBBCh at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg in 1993 and after completing his internship decided to embark on a career in Medical Laboratory Sciences. He worked and studied as a registrar in Anatomical Pathology at the University of Cape Town, completing his training in 2000. While working as a consultant at Red Cross Children’s Hospital, he was awarded a Nuffield Fellowship to read for a doctorate at Oxford University. Here, he was supervised by Professor Siamon Gordon at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology studying a group of surface receptors present on leukocytes. After completing his D.Phil in 2006, he worked as a consultant in the NHS in Chelmsford for 18 months, before returning to the Department of Anatomical Pathology at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town. He joined Ampath laboratories in 2008 and has been in private practice in Cape Town since 2012. Currently he is responsible for Ampath’s Histopathology services in the Western Cape and is Chairman of the Ampath Trust. He maintains a keen interest in dermatopathology whilst juggling family time and long-distance running.
Dr Johann de Wet is a dermatologist and Mohs Micrographic Surgeon. He is the founder of The Dermatology and Skin Cancer Institute, based in Stellenbosch, a referral centre for skin cancer patients from all over the Western Cape. Dr de Wet was awarded his Fellowship from the College of Dermatologists with distinction and obtained his MMed degree in Dermatology and a Master’s degree in Pathology from the University of Stellenbosch Cum Laude. He is also a graduate of the University of Cardiff in Wales and of the University of Queensland, Australia, where he obtained a Diploma in Dermatology and an MMed in Skin Cancer. Following his dermatology training he completed a fellowship in Mohs Micrographic Surgery through the American Society of Dermatological Surgery. He also holds a fellowship from the Canadian College of Family Physicians and an academic position as Honorary Lecturer at the Division of Dermatology at Stellenbosch University.
A keen clinician, academic and researcher, Dr De Wet has published various articles in peer-reviewed journals and appears as an invited speaker at both local and international conferences. He is the recipient of accolades such as the College of Dermatologists’ prestigious Peter Gordon-Smith, and Jansen Research Foundation Medals. He was also awarded the Stellenbosch University’s Rector’s Medal for Academic Excellence. For his work on melanoma skin cancer and Mohs Surgery he received the Discovery Foundation Academic Research Fellowship Award.
He serves on the Executive Committee of the Melanoma Society of South Africa.
Dr Kirstin Fearnhead studied undergraduate medicine at UCT graduating in 2004 with first class honours, having achieved the best results in final year Medicine. Following internship and Community Service in Johannesburg, Dr Fearnhead completed her fellowship training in the University of the Witwatersrand Department of Anatomical Pathology, obtaining her FCPath in May 2013 and her MMed in 2015. She has been in private practice since May 2018 and has broad capabilities as a general pathologist. Her active interests are in dermatopathology, breast and gastrointestinal/hepatobiliary pathology. She is a member of the Breast Wellness, Morningside Head and Neck Forum, Demato-oncology, Sandton Prosthetic Joint Infection (PJI), Milpark Gastrointestinal and Sandton Mediclinic Multidisciplinary teams. She spends her days doing frozen sections, with an emphasis on skin cancer and breast excisions, and in the laboratory grossing and reporting specimens. She prides herself in a close working relationship with the dedicated team of clinicians she serves. She is a perfectionist, passionate about service delivery and patient-centred results directing surgical and oncological treatment decisions. Staying up to date with developments in cancer diagnostics and terminology is paramount to her, and her continuing professional development includes participating in online courses and seminars and perusing the latest WHO tumour classifications as they are released.
Dr Heide Hart is a clinical oncologist with a passion for treating skin, lung, breast and gynaecological cancers, based in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town.
Dr Hart received her medical degree from the University of Pretoria, after which she developed a strong interest in oncology. She specialized at the University of Cape Town, winning the SASCRO gold medal for outstanding achievement in her degree.
Dr Hart is currently practicing at Vincent Pallotti Hospital, where she works closely with a multidisciplinary team of oncology specialists to provide the highest level of care to her patients. She has a special interest in novel therapies for her patients as well as advanced radiotherapy planning techniques. She is known for her compassionate approach, and takes the time to educate her patients about their condition and treatment options.
In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Hart is also a member of several professional organizations, including the South African Society of Clinical and Radiation Oncology and ESMO. She is the current chairperson for the Cape Town Breast Cancer forum and is regularly invited to speak and chair at conferences, events and advisory boards.
Radiation Oncologist
MBChB (UFS), DipPEC (SA), DipObs (SA), MPH (Liv), MBA (Wits), FCRadOnc (SA) MMed RadOnc (Wits)
Dr Mia (neé Erasmus) Hugo works in private practice at Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre (WDGMC). A doctor of varied interests earlier in her career, she worked in rural medicine for a few years in rural Mpumalanga and Limpopo, obtaining her diplomas in primary emergency care and obstetrics and participating in the start of the award winning Hlokomela antiretroviral programme, bringing care to farm- and wildlife tourism industry workers. After moving to Johannesburg, she practiced as a general practitioner in Parkview as well as a technical manager for a PEPFAR funded programme focusing on the prevention and care of HIV in sexworkers, and a mobile health programme in the rural Kalahari . With a keen interest in improving health systems, she completed a Masters in Public Health and a Masters in Business Administration during this time. Increasingly becoming aware of the burden of cancer in the public, NGO and private health sectors, both rural and urban, her experiences crystallised a specific interest in cancer care, leading to her specializing as a clinical and radiation oncologist through Wits University, with her MMed focused on neuro-oncology. She has an active interest in research, currently involved with breast and GIT cancer trials. She assists weekly with teaching of registrars as a Wits honorary lecturer and sessional consultant at the Soweto Comprehensive Cancer Centre at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.
Dr Landau is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon trained both locally and in the UK specialising in the surgical management of skin cancers. He works in private practice at the Life Kingsbury Hospital in Cape Town and part time at Groote Schuur Hospital where he heads up the skin cancer service and runs the combined skin cancer clinic. He works in a multidisciplinary team both in private and the state sector. He is a senior lecturer and examiner and consults and lectures widely in the field.
Dr Jeremy O’Kennedy completed his undergraduate medical studies at the University of Pretoria in 2010, completing his 2-year internship at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital.
In 2013, Dr O’Kennedy joined the SAMHS, at the Institute for Aviation Medicine. He qualified, and was appointed as, military Flight Surgeon (Capt.), Aviation Medical Examiner (AME) and Hyperbaric Medicine Operator (HMO). During his service he was awarded with a Nelson Mandela medal for his work during the Lagos building collapse disaster and the death and illness of the former head of State. Dr O’Kennedy has additional qualifications and certifications in Aviation Medicine (PRET), Travel Medicine (Wits), Disaster Medicine (Stanford/SEMPER) and Infectious Disease (FPD).
He joined the Dermatology registrar program at the Universitas Academic Complex/UFS in May 2016, attaining his Fellowship in 2019 and Master of Medicine degree in February 2020. Dr O’Kennedy was the first graduate in the history of the program to achieve full qualification credits within 36 months of the 48-month program.
In April 2020, due to his qualifications and special expertise in disaster medicine, Dr O’Kennedy was appointed as Special Adviser to the HoD/Premier and served on the FSP COVID-19 command council for a year.
In January 2021, Dr O’Kennedy joined the Morningside Mediclinic Hospital in Sandton, as specialist dermatologist in private practice. Dr O’Kennedy has served on numerous pharmaceutical and product development advisory boards. He has a passion for teaching and the advancement of evidence-based medicine and uncompromising practice-excellence in dermatology.
The Medical Oncology Centre of Rosebank
Johannesburg, and Extraordinary Professor, Department of Immunology, Faculty of Health Science, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Professor Bernardo Rapoport is a Medical Oncologist in private practice in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has been in private practice as Director of The Medical Oncology Centre of Rosebank since 1993.
Professor Rapoport is an Extraordinary Professor, Department of Immunology, Faculty of Health Science, University of Pretoria. Professor Rapoport is a B2 rated scientist by the South African NRF (National Research Foundation of South Africa).
After earning his medical degree in 1978 from the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina, he completed an internship at Tel Aviv University in Israel. Professor Rapoport then specialized in Internal Medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Following which he served as a fellow in Medical Oncology at the University of Pretoria, where he became certified as a Medical Oncologist and subsequently worked as a Senior Consultant and Senior Lecturer until 1993.
Professor Rapoport is the past Chairman of the South African Society of Medical Oncology (SASMO) and serves on the Board of Directors of the South African Oncology Consortium (SAOC). He also serves as Chair of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) Neutropenia, Infection and Myelosuppression Study Group as well as the Immuno-Oncology sub Study Group.
Professor Rapoport is an examiner for the Medical Oncology Certification for the Collage of Medicine of South Africa. He is a former examiner for the M. Med. Clinical Oncology postgraduate exams for the University of Natal.
Professor Rapoport’s research efforts have focused on cancer supportive care, mainly febrile neutropenia and chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting (CINV), breast cancer, lung cancer, melanoma ad more recently immuno-oncology. His clinical practice focuses on both solid tumours and haematological malignancies. His special interests include breast cancer, melanoma, lung cancer, immuno-oncology, immune checkpoint inhibitors and immuno-oncology biomarker research. He published extensively in this area in translational and clinical research.
In recent years Professor Rapoport has been involved in numerous pivotal trials of several groundbreaking therapies to treat various solid tumors, breast cancer, malignant melanoma, febrile neutropenia and CINV. As frequently invited speaker, Professor Rapoport has delivered more than a 200 lectures at local, regional and international conferences and symposia including ASCO, ESMO, MASCC, focus meetings and SASMO. He is also a frequently invited expert speaker by pharmaceutical companies at a local, regional and international level. He is also a reviewer for several high impact scientific journals such as Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Annals of Oncology and Journal of Supportive Care in Cancer (JSCC). Professor Rapoport is currently a member of the editorial boards of various scientific journals such as Frontiers in Oncology and JSCC, where he serves as Associate Editor. He is also lead guess editor for Frontiers in Pharmacology, International Journal of Medical Research and Frontiers in Immunology.
He has authored and co-authored various book chapters and has published more than 140 papers in peer reviewed journals including Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Annals of Oncology, Journal of Global Oncology, Cancer, Journal of Supportive Care in Cancer, Cancers and Frontiers in Immunology.
Professor Rapoport is a member of local, regional and the international Advisory Boards of several multinational pharmaceutical companies.
Professor Rapoport serves as a member of the MASCC/ESMO Antiemetic Guidelines Working Group, as well as the ESMO Febrile Neutropenia and G-CSF Guidelines Committees. He is also involved in developing guidelines in the management of immune-related adverse events associated with checkpoint inhibitors agents with MASCC.
Bianca is a dermatologist working in Cape Town. She works in private practice and as an honorary lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch. Her special interest is in acral melanoma, and her PhD was accepted by the University of Stellenbosch in January 2024. Her PhD examined acral melanoma in the South African setting, exploring its epidemiology, clinical, pathological and molecular features.
Dr. Marcia Venter is a dedicated Medical Officer in Oncology at the AB May Cancer Care Centre. In 2023, she completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Palliative Care from the University of Cape Town.
Currently, Dr. Venter is an integral member of the Melanoma Research Group, focusing on groundbreaking research in Melanoma in Namibia.
In addition to her research endeavors, Dr. Venter is recognized for establishing the first breast clinic in Namibia, a milestone in the country’s healthcare landscape, providing specialized care and support to breast cancer patients. In May 2024, Dr. Venter will embark on a new chapter as a Registrar in Clinical Oncology
Mark Phipson MBBch (Wits) FCS(SA) Plast
Qualified as a Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon in Johannesburg in 2003.
Worked at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital, Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre and Mediclinic Sandton. Currently based at Mediclinic Sandton. Practice exclusively treatment of skin cancers.
Dr. Willie Visser is the Head of Dermatology at the University of Stellenbosch, Tygerberg Academic Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. With a focus on skin infections and skin cancer in patients with skin of color, he holds Master’s degrees in Family Medicine and Dermatology. Dr. Visser is the current treasurer of the Dermatological Society of South Africa , and is passionate about medical education and teaching.
Robert Weiss graduated at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1980. He studied dermatology at the University of the Witwatersrand and completed his Fellow of the College of Dermatology exams in 1986.
He has been involved with the Dermatology Society of South Africa for decades serving as EXCO member, secretary and president
Dr Weiss convened the first national Dermoscopy workshop together with Dr Gary Levy in 1980 and have held refresher courses at a number of conferences since then. He co-presented the first South African dermoscopy symposium with Dr Geppe Arganziano and Dr Iris Zaludek.
During the Covid epidemic ,Dr’s Weiss and Levy hosted the worlds first on-line Dermoscopy course featuring Dr’s Arganziano, Zaludek, Lallas ,Begu Nisa Akay and most importantly , our invited expert for this meeting Dr Pawel Pietkiewicz
This meeting attracted an international audience of over 2000 dermatologists
Dr Weiss is currently in private practice in Johannesburg.
Dr Dagmar Whitaker was born in Frankfurt/Germany where she did her Medical Pregrad studies. She specialized in Dermatology at Tygerberg Hospital, University of Stellenbosch.
She has been in Private Practice since 1994 but has always maintained her academic national and international connections and skincancer management is her passion.
She has been the president of the Melanoma Society South Africa for over 20 years as well as the Vice President of the World melanoma Society for over 10 years. Those Societies aim to further education for medical and lay people (public education awareness campaigns) as well as keeping up with world wide research and access to new cancer drugs.
The melanoma Society is a truly interdisciplinary Society with colleagues from dermatology/oncology/plastic surgery and pathology forming the Exco committee. This Skin Cancer update 2024 is the 3rd such conference in Cape Town which Dr Whitaker has organized and led as the congress president in collaboration with the world melanoma society.