The Aga Khan University and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center today expressed their shared commitment in working together to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer and related diseases in low-and-middle-income countries.
President Firoz Rasul of Aga Khan University and President and Director of Fred Hutch, Dr Gary Gilliland, signed a memorandum of understanding which aims to foster joint international scientific research projects, training programs in clinical care, laboratory and clinical research programs and infrastructure development in low-and middle-income settings, primarily in East Africa.
As outlined in the memorandum, the Hutch’s Global Oncology Program would work with Aga Khan University on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer and related diseases, with a focus on Africa, where the Hutch has research laboratories in Kampala, Uganda and Cape Town, South Africa.
“The vision we share is to see how we can improve outcomes for cancer globally,” said Dr Gilliland. “We must work together to enable this vision, as the global impact of cancer continues to increase. That is the extraordinary value of our collaboration with Aga Khan University. Together we can make an enormous difference in the burgeoning global cancer problem.”
Prince Rahim and Princess Salwa Aga Khan, Dr Carl Amrhein, Provost and Vice President, Academic, for Aga Khan University and leaders from both organisations joined President Rasul and Dr Gilliland for a signing ceremony at Fred Hutch’s Seattle campus. The group also visited the labs of Dr Edus Warren, head of Global Oncology at Fred Hutch, and Dr Stan Riddell, scientific director of Fred Hutch’s Immunotherapy Integrated Research Center.
“Cancer is a global problem that requires global cooperation to deliver new diagnostics and treatments that will save lives around the world,” President Rasul said. “We are proud to be partnering with Fred Hutch, a world leader in cancer research and care, to tackle one of the biggest challenges in global health today.”
“I believe we can reach curative approaches to most, if not all, cancers by 2025, and it’s through this type of collaboration that we’ll get there,” said Dr Gilliland.
The two organisations are committed to pursuing oncology research that is directly relevant to patients in low-and-middle-income countries. Aga Khan University and Fred Hutch engage in programs to improve the next generation of cancer care through hematology and oncology training fellowships and have identified this as an area of potential collaboration.
In addition, the two organisations share the goal of increasing infrastructure development in low-and-middle-income income countries, with particular emphasis on laboratory and biorepository capacity, to accelerate cancer research globally.
* This article was updated on March 12 with additional information from
an article posted on the website of Fred Hutch.