Immunotherapy researcher and oncologist Edus Warren was named head of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center program in Global Oncology. The program is focused on transforming cancer care in sub-Saharan Africa, China and other regions by providing greater access to the latest research and treatment. Warren, who goes by the nickname, “Hootie,” has been at Fred Hutch for 24 years. He designed and led Fred Hutch’s first clinical trial on T-cell therapy for patients with leukemia. More recently, he has concentrated on global oncology, and today about half of the research in his lab is focused on cancers that are particularly prevalent in Uganda, where Fred Hutch has a long-standing collaboration with the Uganda Cancer Institute, or UCI. As program head, Warren will lead the research program with UCI, which was initiated because of the high incidence of infection-associated cancers in the region, and now encompasses Kaposi sarcoma, Burkitt and other non-Hodgkin lymphomas, cervical cancer, breast cancer and Hodgkin lymphomas. He will also spearhead collaborations between Fred Hutch and Chinese medical researchers that go back decades. Today, Fred Hutch’s China Initiative focuses on infection-associated cancers, environmental exposures, immunotherapy and cancer biomarkers for precision medicine. “The opportunities to grow these and other international partnerships, while bringing the full breadth of Fred Hutch’s expertise and ingenuity to bear, make this an exciting time for Global Oncology at Fred Hutch,” said Gary Gilliland, Fred Hutch’s director and president. “Under Hootie’s leadership, Global Oncology will work to engage oncologists, infectious disease doctors, epidemiologists and other researchers from Seattle, Uganda and elsewhere in unique research and training opportunities aimed at improving patient outcomes in the near-term and amplifying our impact globally in years to come.” Most academic institutions and nongovernment organizations working in sub-Saharan Africa concentrate on infectious diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. Fred Hutch’s program is dedicated to ending the suffering caused by cancer in these regions. More than 70 percent of cancer deaths worldwide occur in low- and middle-income countries. The Fred Hutch program grew out of a small 2004 research project with UCI, which led to a formal alliance in 2008. In 2015, the state-of-the-art UCI-Fred Hutch Cancer Research Centre opened in Kampala to house research, training, laboratories and adult and pediatric outpatient clinical care.
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