The University of Cape Town invites you to an inaugural lecture by Professor Alan Davidson

It Takes a Team: Advancing Paediatric Oncology Through Collaborative Care

This conversation will examine a career of lessons learned and shared in the care of children with cancer. It starts with the importance of the history and takes a journey through examples of research, teaching and leadership development. Central to the discourse is the crucial role of collaboration.

Arguably, the paediatric oncology discipline is one of the finest examples of mission-focused teamwork, built on trust and respect for difference. As a global community they have serially improved outcomes for children in a relatively short time, but those advances have been much better realised in high-income countries. And standing on the shoulders of giants, services like the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital team in middle-income countries have been in a unique position to demonstrate what is possible with relatively fewer resources and to empower colleagues from the region to do the same with what they have.

Despite the seriousness of the subject matter, Davidson undertakes to prove that gentle humour and a shared smile can always light the darkness.

About our speaker

Professor Alan Davidson is the head of the Paediatric Haematology-Oncology Service at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital and the University of Cape Town. His clinical and research interests include paediatric brain tumours, HIV-related cancers, genetic predisposition syndromes, stem cell transplantation for primary immunodeficiency, and adapted therapy guidelines for low- and middle-income country settings.

He is a committed educationalist at specialist and sub-specialist level and has served as president of the College of Paediatrics of South Africa, as well as on the board of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa. He was a founding member of the South African Stem Cell Transplantation Society and is a former chair of the South African Association of Paediatric Haematology Oncology.

Davidson co-chairs the South African Paediatric Brain Tumour Workshop and serves as the president of the Society for Neuro-Oncology Sub-Saharan Africa. He has served the International Society of Paediatric Oncology as chair of the Global Health Network and the Advocacy Committee and is now the treasurer, serving on the board of directors. He also serves on the executive committee of the board of trustees of the Children’s Hospital Trust.

Date: Thursday, 17 July 2025
Time: 17:30 SAST
Venue: New Learning Centre Lecture Theatre, Anatomy Building, Faculty of Health Sciences campus

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