Professor Verna Vanderpuye is from Ghana, West Africa, and is a senior consultant at the National Center for Radiotherapy, Oncology and Nuclear Medicine, Korlebu Teaching Hospital, Accra, Ghana with affiliation to the University of Ghana, in Accra. Her interests are in breast, sarcoma, genitourinary, and gastrointestinal cancers and researching the specificities of managing cancer in Africa.

Dr. Vanderpuye trained at Howard University and the University of Chicago Hospitals, USA, supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the American Cancer Society. As a female pioneer in the West African region, she has mentored many regional and international young cancer professionals throughout their training, young- and middle-level career phases. She inculcates in them the importance of a holistic approach to patients considering economic, socio-cultural, and psychological factors in relation to current evidence of practice. This approach indeed has resulted in improved quality of life even in the face of limited resources, at the same time prompting research opportunities and developing cost-effective, pragmatic approaches to the implementation of new evidence.