Michael Debrah: The Oncologist Reshaping Africa’s Cancer Research, Care Systems, and Scientific Leadership

By: Yinusa Babangida

Michael Debrah is a Nigerian oncologist and translational cancer researcher whose work is reshaping the landscape of cancer care and research across Africa. With expertise spanning cancer epidemiology, translational oncology, clinical governance, and equitable treatment access, he is leading efforts to improve cancer prevention, early detection, and therapeutic outcomes across diverse populations in Africa. His initiatives focus on building sustainable, Africa-led frameworks that strengthen oncology infrastructure and expand access to high-quality cancer services.

Michael and his team developed flagship initiative, COHERENT – the Cancer Oncology Health Equity Research & Integrated Network Transformation Program. Launched in 2019, COHERENT has since expanded to Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, and South Africa, equipping more than 50 cancer centers with tools to deliver community-anchored, ethically aligned, and data-driven oncology care.

The COHERENT Initiative is a multidisciplinary program dedicated to closing the gaps in cervical cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment across underserved communities. Anchored in HPV awareness and vaccination advocacy, COHERENT works to break the barriers that lead to late-stage cervical cancer diagnoses—such as limited access to screening, low health literacy, and stigmas around women’s health. Through community-driven education campaigns, mobile HPV vaccination clinics, expanded access to Pap smears and HPV DNA testing, and the integration of real-time data to identify high-risk populations, COHERENT is transforming how cervical cancer care is delivered. The program empowers women with knowledge, equips healthcare providers with modern tools for early detection, and strengthens health systems to reduce preventable deaths. At its core, COHERENT is redefining cancer equity—ensuring that every woman, regardless of her geography or socioeconomic status, has the opportunity to prevent HPV-related disease and receive timely, lifesaving care.

The program was cited in the African Cancer Control Strategy Report as a model for “continent-rooted oncology excellence and equitable cancer systems strengthening.”

Michael’s work goes far beyond innovation—it represents a shift in ownership, voice, and vision within African oncology.

“When I entered the oncology field, Africa’s cancer burden was being described by others, but rarely by us,” he said during a 2020 Global Oncology Roundtable. “We weren’t defining our research questions. We weren’t shaping the care pathways. That had to change.”

Over the last decade, him and his team has led that change.

Through senior leadership roles within major oncology networks, Michael has developed context-specific cancer protocols, trained more than 600 oncology researchers and clinicians across seven African countries, and designed Africa’s first Mobile Early Cancer Detection and Genomic-Sampling Unit—an initiative now used in rural and peri-urban regions to bridge diagnostic gaps. His research focuses on high-burden cancers in African populations—breast cancer, cervical cancer, prostate cancer, lymphoma, and, more recently, post-viral oncological complications and treatment-resistant tumors.

One of his most celebrated contributions is the OncoEquity Access Model (OEAM), a groundbreaking operational framework that ensures cancer clinical trials and treatment pathways across Africa prioritize community inclusion, culturally relevant patient counseling, affordability and continuity of post-treatment care, multilingual informed-consent processes, and genomic relevance to African populations. According to last year’s National Cancer Registry the OEAM approach increased early cancer screening uptake by 70% in underserved Nigerian communities and reduced treatment abandonment rates by 45% across oncology centers in Uganda, Kenya, and Côte d’Ivoire.

Michael’s leadership has also been deeply felt during public health emergencies. In 2021, as COVID-19 disrupted cancer care globally, his team at LUTH spearheaded Nigeria’s national Continuity of Oncology Care Taskforce, rapidly deploying tele-oncology hubs, mobile chemotherapy outreach teams, and emergency hormonal therapy protocols—preserving uninterrupted care for thousands of patients.

His influence extends to continental policy. Michael was invited to the African Union’s High-Level Forum on Cancer Sovereignty, where he presented a five-year roadmap for African-led cancer research, biobank development, and harmonized radiotherapy standards. His proposals are now being integrated into the AU’s Cancer Research Harmonization Framework, with additional member states seeking to adopt elements of the OEAM model.

A champion of workforce development, Michael helped embed oncology-focused GCP and cancer research ethics into university health science programs and established the African Oncology Leadership Fellowship, designed to train young clinicians and scientists—particularly women—interested in translational oncology. Graduates of the fellowship now lead cancer centers and trial units in Tanzania, Zambia, Cameroon, and Senegal.

His work has generated measurable, peer-validated outcomes. A recent report from the West African Centre for Translational Oncology (WACTO) found that Michael’s models significantly improved patient retention, community trust, longitudinal tumor-profiling consistency, and survivorship outcomes across three multi-year cancer studies.

His training modules are also now used by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and several humanitarian oncology programs in crisis-affected regions, ensuring ethical standards and treatment fidelity in high-risk environments.

In a world where African voices in cancer research have too often been sidelined, Michael Debrah is rewriting the narrative—anchoring Africa’s oncology sovereignty in science, equity, and visionary leadership.And now, the world is not only watching—it is learning