Doctor recognised for work in nuclear medicine

Dr Bawinile Hadebe, the head of the Department of Nuclear Medicine’s Clinical Unit at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital (IALCH), received the Best International Abstract Award at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) Conference in Toronto, Canada recently.

She is under the mentorship of her head of department, Professor Mariza Vorster, who introduced the innovative Ac-225 prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) cancer therapy for the management of prostate cancer.

Prof Vorster won the Maurits W. Geerlings 2023 Next Generation Award for Outstanding Research and Contributions to Actinium-225 Radiopharmaceuticals.

Dr Hadebe’s study is focused on cervical cancer. She highlighted that cervical cancer remains a global health crisis. While high-income countries such as Europe and North America have seen a decline in incidence and mortality, it continues to be a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Southern African women due to late presentation to health facilities and HIV-comorbidity.

“Local patients present with more advanced and often metastatic disease, which is more challenging to treat with existing treatment modalities. This underscores the need for new molecular targets for this condition,” she said.

Dr Hadebe was also recently awarded the 2023 Discovery Foundation Fellowship Award for her pioneering PhD research on The Impact of Gallium-68 Pentixafor in Solid Tumours.

She credits her supportive husband and family, who share her passion for advancing nuclear medicine in her home province of KwaZulu-Natal. She said their support and motivation have driven her to conduct more impactful research in this area and continue mentoring her junior colleagues to contribute towards the advancement of this growing field.

She urged businesses to sponsor targeted radionuclide therapies to help patients in need of this life saving treatment. Targeted therapies have demonstrated improved survival rates and fewer side-effects compared to conventional chemotherapy, as they deliver radiation directly to the tumour with minimal impact on surrounding organs, leading to reduced morbidity and fewer hospital admissions, said Dr Hadebe.