Sanford (Sandy) Dawsey, MD

Dr. Dawsey recentlyretired as a Senior Investigator at the National Cancer Institute of theNational Institutes of Health, where he worked for 36 years. During his time atNIH, his main focus was the prevention and control of esophageal squamous cellcarcinoma (ESCC).  He performed multiplestudies in China, Iran, Brazil and East Africa to understand the etiology ofthis cancer globally in high-risk populations, and he helped develop clinicallyuseful early detection and treatment techniques for this disease. With US andChinese colleagues, he developed an endoscopic early detection and treatmentprogram for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma that is now used in a nationalprogram to screen over 200,000 adults annually in high-risk areas of China, andthis program has been shown to reduce ESCC mortality by ~33% over 10 years.Most recently, he was a founding member of the African Esophageal CancerConsortium (AfrECC), which was created to perform coordinated etiologic, earlydetection and treatment, and palliation studies to try to reduce the burden ofESCC in Africa. He is currently President of the Board of the AfricanEsophageal Cancer Consortium Foundation.

ETIOLOGY WORKING GROUP

Leadership:

Hannah Simba, APHRC
Yukiko Yano, US National Cancer Institute
CLINICAL WORKING GROUP

Leadership:

Yona Ringo, Tanzania
Lucien Ferndale, South Africa

AfrECC Research

Etiology

Working Group

AfrECC Working Groups are subgroups within the AfrECC consortium that are focused on specific related activities. At the time of application for AfrECC membership, each potential new member will be asked which working group(s) they would like to be a member of. The AfrECC Etiology Working Group includes AfrECC members who are conducting etiologic and molecular studies of esophageal cancer in Africa. These include studies of the genetic, environmental and lifestyle risk factors and mechanistic pathways for esophageal cancer and its precursors.

Major Activities

  • Completion of 7 case-control studies across multiple African sites, enrolling approximately 2,400 cases and 2,400 controls, using harmonized mHealth-based data collection tools.
  • In-depth exposure assessments, including hot beverage consumption, household polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure, and micronutrient deficiencies.
  • Expansion of molecular and genomic research, including a coordinated consortium-wide genome-wide association study (GWAS).
  • AfrECC Etiology Pooling Project: A continent-wide effort to combine individual-level data from high-quality African studies, coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, to increase statistical power and enable robust cross-regional analyses.

AfrECC Research

Clinical

Working Group

The AfrECC Clinical Working Group includes members whose work aims to improve early detection and clinical care of patients with esophageal cancer.

Major Activities

  • An endoscopic capacity survey in 4 countries documented severe shortages in both endoscopic equipment and trained endoscopists compared to western countries.
  • An endoscopic screening study in Kenya showed that 14% of asymptomatic adults had esophageal squamous dysplasia, the curable precursor of ESCC
  • The AfrECC Stent Access Initiative, sponsored by Boston Scientific Corporation and Olympus Corporation,provides access to discounted self-expanding metal stents (SEMS) and conducts workshops to train local endoscopists to insert these stents for palliation of advanced stage ESCC. Since 2018, this hands-on training initiative has conducted 19 workshops in 8 countries, training 66 doctor-nurse endoscopy teams and stenting 344 patients.

AfrECC

Publications

2026

Validation of Methylated DNA Markers for Esophageal Squamous Cancer: An International Study.

Genomic Profiling and Methylation Studies
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2025

Multiple Mycotoxin Exposure Assessment through Human Biomonitoring in an Esophageal Cancer Case-Control Study in the Arsi-Bale Districts of Oromia Region of Ethiopia.

Aetiology
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2025

Esophageal Cancer Staging in Malawi: The Feasibility of Chest Radiography and Abdominal Ultrasound for Initial Evaluation.

Treatment, Survival and Survivorship
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2025

Treatment Outcomes of Esophageal Cancer in Malawi: An Analysis of Overall Survival and Patient-Reported Outcomes.

Treatment, Survival and Survivorship
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2024

Endoscopic Diagnosis of Gastric and Oesophageal Cancer in Lusaka, Zambia: A Retrospective Analysis.

Descriptive Epidemiology and Case Series
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2024

Hot Beverage Consumption in the African Esophageal Cancer Corridor: A Community-Based Thermal Exposure Measurement Study across the Lifespan.

Aetiology
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2024

Poor Oral Health and the Risk of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Malawi.

Aetiology
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2024

Clinical Trials in Gastroesophageal Cancers: An Analysis of the Global Landscape of Interventional Trials from Clinicaltrials.Gov.

Treatment, Survival and Survivorship
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2024

Spatiotemporal Distribution, Time to Treatment Outcome Clustering and Determinants of Esophageal Cancer in Ethiopia, a Scoping Study.

Treatment, Survival and Survivorship
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2023

Oesophageal Cancer Cases Recorded in the Zambia National Cancer Registry: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Descriptive Epidemiology and Case Series
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2023

Population-Based Investigation of Common and Deviating Patterns of Gastric Cancer and Oesophageal Cancer Incidence across Populations and Time.

Descriptive Epidemiology and Case Series
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2023

The Contribution of Smoking and Smokeless Tobacco to Oesophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Risk in the African Oesophageal Cancer Corridor: Results from the Esccape Multicentre Case-Control Studies.

Aetiology
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Upcoming Event Calendar

Cadence: Quarterly | Etiology Working Group Meeting
Led by: Hannah Simba and Yukiko Yano

Cadence: Quarterly | Clinical Working Group Meeting
Led by: Lucien Ferndale and Yona Ringo

AfrECC

Research Library

Browse peer-reviewed publications produced by the AfrECC consortium.