Dr. Jackson Orem

Executive Director, Uganda Cancer Institute

Dr. Jackson Orem is a medical oncologist and Executive Director of the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI). UCI is a teaching and research institute of the Government of Uganda under the Ministry of Health affiliated with Makerere University and is spearheading all aspects of cancer research and training in oncology in Uganda. UCI is designated as the oncology center of excellence for East Africa which comprises six countries (Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya Tanzania, South Sudan, and Uganda).

Dr. Orem is leading the operationalization of the East Africa Centre of Excellence in Oncology (EACOE) at the Uganda Cancer Institute. The mandate of this is to provide specialized cancer care research and training for the entire East Africa region under the East African Community (EAC) network of Centers of Excellence (CoEs).

He is also leading the development of several international collaborations with renowned international cancer centers and institutions for infrastructure, human resource capacity development. Such institutions include Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, University of Washington, Case Western Reserve University, National Cancer Center of Korea (NCC), and lately the University of Cambridge.

He is the principal investigator in several NIH-supported research projects through NIAID, AMC, ACTG and is the recipient of a number of industry-supported grants such as GSK funded Open Lab, MERCK, ROCHE. Jackson has strong international collaboration with civil society organizations such as the American Cancer Society (ACS) and is the alternate chair for African Cancer Coalition an initiative with ACS and NCCN to harmonize cancer treatment guidelines for Sub-Saharan Africa.

He has a strong working relationship with IAEA through their support to the development of radiotherapy services for which he is the national lead (counterpart). Jackson is a member of the ASCO International affairs committee representing Africa, an active member of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) and the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC).

Dr. Orem is a graduate of Makerere University Kampala, Case Western Reserve University Cleveland Ohio, and Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm.