SASMO Committee

Professor Georgia Demetriou Medical Oncologist Specialist Physician Certificate in Medical Oncology College of Medicine South Africa Fellow of the College of Physicians South Africa MBBCh University of the Witwatersrand Prof Georgia Demteriou is a Medical Oncologist in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is the Academic Head of Medical Oncology and Senior Lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, and the acting Head of the Department of Medical Oncology at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital. Prof Demetriou is the head of the Medical Oncology Clinical trial Syndicate of the Wits Clinical Trial Unit at the Wits Health Consortium and a Medical Oncologist in Private Practice at the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre in Parktown Johannesburg. In addition to her role as Medical Oncologist she ran a General Medicine Teaching Unit at the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital for 10 years. Prof Demetriou has been the intern and community service medical officer curator at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital since 2007, overseeing the 130 junior medical staff at the hospital. She is an examiner for undergraduate medical students at the University of the Witwatersrand and a post graduate examiner and convenor for The College of Medicine in the field of Medical Oncology, also serving as an examiner and organizer in Internal Medicine . She is a Director and Chairperson of the South African Oncology Consortium (SAOC) Board. She is an Executive Committee member of the South African Medical Oncology Society and serves as the treasurer of the Society since 2009. She has been involved in numerous pivotal clinical trials in the area on Oncology as local Principle Investigator, National Principle Investigator and serves on local and international Advisory Boards with a particular interest in Female malignancies, Onco-F Onco-Fertility and GI malignancies. She has published in local and international journals in her field of interest.

Dr S Moodley is a medical oncologist at Donald Gordon Medical Centre.

Clinical Focus
Breast Cancer In Solid Tumour Oncology And Leukemia Treatment In Hematological Malignancies Stem Cell Transplantation

Professor Paul Ruff, now Emeritus Professor in the School of Clinical Medicine, was Professor and Head of the Division of Medical Oncology at the University of Witwatersrand Faculty of Health Sciences and Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital from 2002 to 2021. He has been the Principal Investigator of the SA Medical Research Council / University of Witwatersrand Common Epithelial Cancer Research Centre since 2015 and is co-Principal Investigator of NIH Grant 1R01CA192627 with Dr. A Neugut of Columbia University School of Medicine, USA. Professor Ruff is a B2-rated scientist by the National Research Foundation of South Africa and has a Scopus H-index of 39. Professor Ruff has been Chair of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority Clinical Trials Committee since 2015, Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Cancer Control and Prevention since 2020, and Member of the National Essential Medicines List Committee since 2017. Professor Ruff was appointed to the ASCO International Affairs Committee from 2013-16, the ASCO International Clinical Trials Workshop Working Group from 2015-2018, the ASCO International Quality Task Force since 2020, and was part of the UICC Review Team of the WHO’s List of Essential Cancer Medicines (2015-16). He was also recently appointed Chair of the ASCO Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Council. Prof Ruff has authored or co-authored over 150 scientific papers, predominantly in the field of colorectal cancer, as well as presenting over 250 papers and posters at local and international scientific meetings.

Bernardo Rapoport is a Medical Oncologist in Private Practice in Johannesburg, South Africa. Qualified as a Medical Doctor in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1978. Completed Internship at Tel Aviv University, Israel. Completed Registrarship in Internal Medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

Completed Fellowship in Medical Oncology at the University of Pretoria where he worked as Senior Consultant and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Medical Oncology until 1993.

1993 – current: Medical Oncologist Principal Investigator of the Clinical Trial Unit at the Medical Oncology Centre of Rosebank. He is involved as an examiner in the sub-speciality certificate of Medical Oncology for the College of Medicine of South Africa and has been involved as examiner for the MMed in Radiation Oncology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

He is a longstanding member of the following Professional Societies:

• South African Society of Clinical Oncology (SASMO) – he has been on the Executive Committee for 20 years, and serves as current Chairman of the Society.
• Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) – Member of the Board of Directors of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) and Chairman of the MASCC Infection and Myelosupression Study Group. He is also a member of the MASCC Antiemetic Guidelines Working Group as well as the Skin Toxicity Study Group.
• European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO).
• American Society of Medical Oncology (ASCO).
• He is a Director of the South African Oncology Consortium (SAOC).

He has published widely with more than 70 articles in peer reviewed journals. He has presented more than 100 abstracts locally and internationally (including ASCO, MASCC and ESMO). He serves as reviewers of abstracts and publications in Scientific Journals including Jounal of Supportive Care in Cancer, American Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) and Annals of Oncology.

His areas of professional interest include:

• Cancer Supportive Care: Antiemetics and Infections in Cancer.
• Breast Cancer.
• Solid Tumours.
• New Anticancer Agents.

He has served on steering committees for pivotal clinical trials in oncology, and has been involved in clinical trials in oncology for over 25 years. He also serves on both local and international Advisory Boards.

Dr Sze Wai Chan is a medical oncologist in private practice in Sandton Oncology, Johannesburg. She is the director of clinical research 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, 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 has been trained professionally @ Wits since 1996.