Miriam Mutebi

Miriam Mutebi, MBChB, MMed, FCS(ECSA) is a pioneering breast and oncologic surgeon at Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi and one of the most influential advocates for surgical oncology access in Sub-Saharan Africa. Trained in Kenya and with advanced surgical fellowships in South Africa and North America, she has dedicated her career to building cancer surgical capacity on the African continent while simultaneously conducting impactful research on breast cancer biology, presentation, and outcomes in East African populations. Sub-Saharan Africa faces a critical shortage of surgical oncologists—fewer than 1 oncologic surgeon per million population in most countries—and Dr. Mutebi's work directly addresses this through training programs, mentorship networks, and policy advocacy. She serves on the UICC Young Leaders program and has collaborated with the Global Surgery Foundation and Lancet Commission on Global Surgery to quantify the burden of unmet surgical oncology need in Africa. Her clinical research documents how late-stage presentation, limited pathology infrastructure, and lack of systemic therapy combine to drive poor breast cancer outcomes in East Africa compared to high-income settings, and she proposes concrete, context-adapted solutions including task-shifting, mobile pathology units, and regional hub-and-spoke surgical models. Dr. Mutebi is also a vocal proponent of including local African researchers in global oncology guideline development, challenging the historically extractive dynamic in which data are collected in Africa but expertise resides in the Global North.