The Synergy of Thermal and Non-Thermal Effects in Hyperthermic Oncology

Dr. Carrie Minnaar specialises in hyperthermic oncology and is well-recognised for her ongoing clinical trials in this field. She holds a PhD in Radiation Sciences from Wits University (2019). Dr. Minnaar has specialised in hyperthermic oncology since 2009, when she attended training on local and whole-body hyperthermia techniques in Frankfurt, Germany. Dr Minnaar’s PhD was dedicated to the improvement of treatment outcomes for locally advanced HIV-positive and negative cervical cancer patients in resource constrained settings in Africa. Her work includes a positive phase III trial using modulated electro hyperthermia combined with chemoradiotherapy; numerous published papers on the results and in related fields of hyperthermia; and a co-author of a book on hyperthermia. She has lectured and facilitated training on the technique in oncology facilities around the world. Dr Minnaar is also a member of the European Society for Therapeutic and Radiation Oncology (ESTRO); The International Clinical Hyperthermia Society (ICHS); South African Radiobiology Society; Society for Hyperthermic Oncology in Africa (SHOA); and Radiation Oncology (ESTRO). Dr. Minnaar is currently an honorary lecturer at the Wits University; is researching the use of modulated electro-hyperthermia for the management of brain tumours in adults and children; and campaigning for the acceptance and inclusion of hyperthermia in oncology practices in resource-constrained settings in Africa.

Dr. Gyula Péter Szigeti is a physician, physiologist, and neurobiologist. Over the past 15 years, his teaching and research activities have been supplemented by innovation and knowledge management. His scientific expertise is in cellular physiology, intracellular signalizations and mathematical modeling of biological systems. He has more than 100 scientific publications in these areas. He previously worked at the University of Debrecen and Semmelweis University in Hungary, and in the USA at Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and the University at Buffalo also. He is currently an associate professor at Obuda University, Hungary, the medical director of the MedTech Laboratory, and the chairman of the University's Innovation Committee, as well as he is director of the grant and project management department. In addition, he is the founding CEO of Obuda University's Technology Transfer Company, the CEO of Biogrant Ltd, and CSO of Vitahint AI Ltd.

Professor András Szász is the developer of the “oncothermia” method and the founder of Oncotherm Germany/Hungary. As a small business, the company currently exports to 34 countries and is intensively developing and researching. Professor Szász’s research area is the fractal physiological aspects of bioelectrodynamics and biocomplexity. He is working in collaboration with several universities on developing bioelectrodynamics-based oncothermia. He headed the Department of Biotechnology of the Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences, and a few years ago he retired from this position. He was a visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde (UK), Chiba University (Japan), and Pazmany Peter Catholic University (Hungary). He also worked in an international research network dealing with oncological hyperthermia studies. He has managed numerous applications and taught biophysics to undergraduate and postgraduate students. He is the author and co-author of more than 450 scientific publications (articles, conference proceedings), and co-author of 8 books. In addition to his primary research work, he considers practical development his task, which he has formulated in more than 40 patents. The patents form the basis of the work of the Oncotherm group of companies and the cohesion of the established commercial network. Prof. Szasz is the scientific director of both (Hungarian and German) Oncotherm companies (www.oncotherm.org). He currently works in Boston (USA).