Verna Vanderpuye

Verna Vanderpuye, MB ChB, FGCP is Head of the National Centre for Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Ghana's premier tertiary medical institution, and one of the most influential radiation oncologists on the African continent. She has spent her entire career building Ghana's cancer care infrastructure from the ground up, working with a single telecobalt machine in the early years of her career and advocating for the expansion of radiotherapy capacity to meet the needs of a rapidly growing patient population in a country of 32 million with historically fewer than two radiotherapy machines. Her clinical expertise spans the full spectrum of radiation oncology with particular depth in gynecological cancers (cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in Ghanaian women, with most patients presenting at advanced, potentially curable stages), breast cancer, and palliative radiotherapy. Dr. Vanderpuye is a pioneer in telemedicine applications for oncology in Africa, having helped develop and evaluate programs that connect rural health facilities to tertiary cancer expertise for remote consultation, radiology review, and treatment planning support—dramatically expanding the geographic reach of cancer expertise in a resource-constrained, geographically dispersed health system. She serves on the IAEA Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy advisory committee, contributes to WHO African Region cancer control guidelines, and is a founding member of the African Organisation for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC). She has been instrumental in designing continuing medical education programs for radiation oncology nurses and technologists across West Africa and has mentored the majority of the current generation of radiation oncologists practicing in Ghana and Nigeria. Her work represents the model of a clinician-leader who simultaneously delivers care, builds systems, trains the workforce, and shapes policy.