Nazik Hammad

Nazik Hammad, MBBS, MSc is a radiation oncologist who serves as Programme Officer for the International Atomic Energy Agency's Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT), the UN system's primary initiative for building radiotherapy infrastructure in developing nations. With clinical roots in Sudan and academic training in the United Kingdom and Canada, she embodies the bridging expertise required to translate global standards into low-resource realities. The IAEA PACT program, which she supports, has assisted over 70 countries in assessing radiotherapy needs, procuring equipment, training radiation oncologists and medical physicists, and establishing quality assurance systems. She has authored and contributed to IAEA guidelines on hypofractionated radiotherapy, which reduces treatment time from 6–7 weeks to 3–4 weeks, dramatically expanding access in settings with limited machine time and patient transport capacity. Her research documents the profound treatment gap in radiation oncology across sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East—regions where over 90% of patients who need radiotherapy cannot access it. At Queen's University, she maintains an academic appointment investigating quality of life outcomes in cancer patients in resource-constrained settings and mentors the next generation of global radiation oncologists. She is a founding member of the Global Task Force on Radiotherapy for Cancer Control and contributes to ASTRO and ESTRO global access initiatives. Her integration of IAEA operational expertise with academic research makes her a unique force for scaling life-saving radiotherapy to underserved populations.