Dr. Hussein Khaled, Dean of NCI, Cairo

Dr. Hussein Khaled

After three decades in cancer medicine, Dr. Hussein Khaled realizes that there is a simple cause and effect relationship with the majority of the cancers afflicting the people of his country. Yet rectifying the social and environmental conditions that set the stage for the development of cancer in the peoples of Egypt is a monumental challenge.

Dr. Khaled’s research interests include non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, breast cancer, and bilharzial-related bladder cancer. Most urinary bladder cancers in Egypt can be traced to the waterborne parasites in the River Nile. “If we could prevent parasites, prevent smoking, and prevent Hepatitis B and C viral infection,” he says, “then we could prevent more than 50% of cancer cases in the country.”

A distinguished professor of medical oncology and Dean of the National Cancer Institute at Cairo University—the largest comprehensive cancer center in Africa—Dr. Khaled understands that prevention and early detection is the key to improving the survival rates of cancer patients while also significantly lowering the cost of treatment. To that end, NCI Cairo has established a special unit to promote public awareness about the most common cancers in Egypt: bilharzial-related bladder cancer, breast cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma. Doctors there are also participating in several international projects focused on cancer prevention in high-risk groups. The IBIS-II trial, for instance, testing a new drug called anastrozole, has been called “the next big step” towards preventing breast cancer. Researchers believe that anastrozole could reduce the risk of breast cancer in post-menopausal women by more than 50 percent.

As a young man, Dr. Khaled was drawn to medicine for two reasons. When his father was critically ill, he developed great respect for the physicians who were treating him. And as a top scholar, he was a likely candidate for the profession. After graduating from Cairo University in 1975, he completed internships in several specialties, but he found his calling at NCI Cairo. “I knew then that my future would be in the field of oncology, conducting research, running clinical trials and motivating others in the fight against cancer.”

Throughout his career, Dr. Khaled has been involved with international cancer organizations. He was twice a visiting fellow in pediatric oncology at the National Cancer Institute in Washington, and was a visiting physician with the Grace Cancer Drug Center, Roswell Park Memorial Institute in New York. He is a member of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (Lymphoma Group), the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and is Secretary General of the Egyptian Foundation for Cancer Research. He has written more than 90 papers and 40 abstracts in both nation.al and international journals, and has edited three volumes—on lymphomas, on breast cancer, and nutrition and cancer (in Arabic).

As the regional representative for Egypt and Africa with the European Society of Medical Oncology, he encourages closer partnerships with other cancer societies. And as president of INCTR Egypt, he brings a global focus to cancer management. As such, he was instrumental in organizing INCTR’s 2004 Annual Meeting in Cairo.

“It is such an honor to be the first country to host such an important meeting,” Dr. Khaled says. “I hope that the international community will gain a better understanding of our national objectives in the fight against cancer. The meeting also provides a forum for discussing the common problems of all developing nations in the field of oncology. This will help in finding solutions for specific problems.”

NCI Cairo already participates in INCTR’s epidemiological studies in breast cancer.

“This study is a very important one,” Dr. Khaled says. “I have been trying for many years to form a database for the clinico-pathological profile and the end results of the treatment of breast cancer patients in Egypt as well as in other developing nations. This will give us a better chance to compare our data with those that originate in western countries, and ultimately will help us tailor the general strategies and management guidelines to our own patients.”

NCI Cairo is also collaborating with INCTR in the development of new treatment protocols for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and is working with King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFHRC) in Saudi Arabia to characterize the disease profile and to define prognostic factors of NHL patients. Another study seeks to identify factors which influence the development of lymphomas in the region.

Marcia Landskroener for INCTR