Roman Kizyma, MD, was raised in a family of doctors. He has intended to work in health care since childhood. His mother, one of the pioneers of pediatric oncology in Ukraine, inspired him to take the same path. His primary motivation for working in pediatric oncology is creating a sustainable national system in his field and forming a modern professional society. He strongly believes that creating an effective healthcare system will result in finding the best cure for children with catastrophic diseases.
Kizyma earned his medical degree in 2007 from Lviv National Medical University in Lviv, Ukraine. He earned his master’s in science degree in 2009 in oncology from Lviv National Medical University. His master’s thesis focused on prognostic factors in the treatment of childhood soft tissue sarcoma. He was accepted to a fellowship in 2014 on the Ukranian Pediatric Fellowship Scholarship at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Because of this experience, he began to widely implement International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP) and Children’s Oncology Group (COG) guidelines into his hospital’s standards and began to take part in international clinical trials as an investigator.
He currently works at the West Ukrainian Specialized Pediatric Medical Centre (WUSPMC) where he is the lead Pediatric Oncologist. He works on the team that organizes the solid tumour, neuro-oncology program and palliative care for children with oncological diseases in the region. He is the investigator in international randomized clinical trials in pediatric oncology and pediatric surgery at the WUSPMC site.
Since 2017, he has served as the Ministry of Healthcare State Expert in Pediatric Oncology/Hematology responsible for forming the essential list for medications guaranteed and supplied by government and setting professional education guidelines.
“International collaboration is the key to the improvement of personal skills and local pediatric oncology system,” he says. “Having previously established good contacts with St Jude Global and SIOP, I realized that this is the perfect time for me to take a major step forward in developing a sustainable pediatric oncology system, which can be a role model for pediatrics in general. As the result of the combined efforts from me and my colleagues, the Ukrainian government issued a statement ensuring it will join and support the WHO Global Cancer Childhood Initiative.”
Education
Fellowship - The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
MS - Lviv National Medical University, Lviv, Ukraine (2009)
MD - Lviv National Medical University, Lviv, Ukraine (2007)