Jackson Orem is a

Ugandan Demographic features of the population of Uganda include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and others. Population According to the total population was in , comp ...

physician, oncologist and researcher. He has served as the director of the

Uganda Cancer Institute Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) is a public, specialized, tertiary care medical facility owned by the Uganda Ministry of Health. It is designated as ''East Africa's Centre of Excellence in Oncology''. In collaboration with Makerere University Coll ...

, since 2004.

Background and education

Orem was born in Uganda and he attended local primary and secondary schools. His father was a driver and salesman. His mother was a housewife. After

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

, he was admitted to

Makerere University School of Medicine The Makerere University School of Medicine (MUSM), also known as the Makerere University Medical School, is the school of medicine of Makerere University, Uganda's oldest and largest public university. The medical school has been part of Makerer ...

, the oldest in

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

. He graduated with a

Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery A Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (; MBBS, also abbreviated as BM BS, MB ChB, MB BCh, or MB BChir) is a medical degree granted by medical schools or universities in countries that adhere to the United Kingdom's higher education tradi ...

(MBChB) degree. After internship, he was re-admitted to Makerere University to pursue a

Master of Medicine Master of Medicine (MMed, MM) is a postgraduate professional clinical degree awarded by medical schools to physicians following a period of instruction, supervised clinical rotations, and examination. As of May 2009, the following universities ...

degree (MMed), in

Internal Medicine Internal medicine, also known as general medicine in Commonwealth nations, is a medical specialty for medical doctors focused on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases in adults. Its namesake stems from "treatment of diseases of ...

, graduating in the early 2000s. In 2002, he left Uganda for

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, in the United States, to pursue a two-year

Fellowship A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned or professional societies, the term refers ...

hematology Hematology (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to bloo ...

and

oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's Etymology, etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγ ...

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case ...

. After graduation in 2004, he returned to Uganda. Later, he was awarded a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

(PhD) degree by the

Karolinska Institute The Karolinska Institute (KI; ; sometimes known as the (Royal) Caroline Institute in English) is a research-led medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area of Sweden and one of the foremost medical research institutes globally ...

Solna Solna ( or , ), also known as Solna Municipality, is a municipality in central Stockholm County, Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna i ...

, Stockholm County in Sweden.

Career

In 2004, Orem returned to Uganda to head the Uganda Cancer Institute. He was the only trained, qualified

oncologist Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''� ...

in a country of 26 million people at that time. In the beginning his case load was in excess of 10,000 patients annually. In 2004, he began collaborating with Dr. Corey Casper and others from the

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, formerly known as the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and also known as Fred Hutch or The Hutch, is a cancer research institute established in 1975 in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. History ...

(Fred Hutch), in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

, in the United States. That collaboration led to Fred Hutch offering two annual slots to MMed graduates from Uganda, to pursue two-year medical oncology fellowships in Seattle. Dr Victoria Walusansa, the first graduate of that program in now the Deputy Medical Director at Uganda Cancer Institute. Dr Orem's research interests are in infection-related cancers, especially viral-related ones. He is also interested in the treatment of cancer in low resource settings.

Other considerations

Dr Orem is a Senior Consultant in Oncology at the

Uganda Ministry of Health The Ministry of Health is a Cabinet of Uganda, cabinet-level government ministry of Uganda. It is responsible for planning, delivering, and maintaining an efficient and effective healthcare delivery system, including preventive, curative, and reh ...

. He is an honorary faculty member at

Makerere University College of Health Sciences Makerere University College of Health Sciences (MakCHS) is a constituent college of Makerere University, Uganda's oldest university. The schools of the college offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the biomedical sciences, health scienc ...

, and is an external faculty at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He is a member of the

Non-Communicable Disease A non-communicable disease (NCD) is a disease that is not transmission (medicine), transmissible directly from one person to another. NCDs include Parkinson's disease, autoimmune diseases, strokes, heart diseases, cancers, Diabetes mellitus, diab ...

Technical working group of the Uganda Ministry of Health and chairs the adverse events and surveillance committee of the

HPV Human papillomavirus infection (HPV infection) is caused by a DNA virus from the ''Papillomaviridae'' family. Many HPV infections cause no symptoms and 90% resolve spontaneously within two years. In some cases, an HPV infection persists and ...

vaccine program in the country. Dr Orem is associate director of the UCI/Hutchison Cancer Center Alliance collaboration between the Uganda Cancer Institute and the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center. He is a member of the AIDS Malignancy Consortium (AMC), NCI international BL Clinical Care Committee and is the Principal Investigator for the AIDS Clinical Trial Group.

References

External links

Website of Uganda Cancer Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orem, Jackson Living people Ugandan oncologists Acholi people Makerere University alumni Karolinska Institute alumni Academic staff of Makerere University People from Northern Region, Uganda Year of birth missing (living people) Case Western Reserve University alumni Ugandan healthcare managers Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center people

Background and education

Career

Other considerations

See also

References

External links