Paediatric Oncology Special Interest Group

Mission Statement
This Special Interest Group (SIG) is dedicated to physiotherapists globally working within paediatric and adolescent cancer (oncology and haematology). The SIG’s aims are to bring together physiotherapists working in the field to share knowledge, latest research and best practise, and to provide educational opportunities via World Physiotherapy for these colleagues and the wider World Physiotherapy and IPT HOPE community. Through our activities, we hope to raise the profile and awareness of physiotherapy and rehabilitation for children with cancer. The SIG’s initial objectives are to expand its membership, so we invite anyone interested to join us.

Initial Objectives

To promote collaboration between physiotherapists working with children with cancer throughout the world
To develop a network between physiotherapists working with children to provide support and to share knowledge, innovation, and best practice.
To support colleagues in settings where physiotherapy in children’s cancer is a limited resource or an evolving speciality area.
To work in partnership with other IPT-HOPE SIGs and the World Physiotherapy Paediatric subgroup to build on and enhance existing networks

Paediatric Oncology Special Interest Group Leadership:

Special Interest Group Lead
abu headshot Abu Sidhanee (UK Great Britain, Europe)

Abu Sidhanee is a Specialist Children’s Physiotherapist with over 20 years of experience and a Senior Lecturer on the Physiotherapy programme at London South Bank University. He has worked with children & teenagers with a wide range of cancer diagnoses and has a special interest in neuro-oncology, bone tumours and on-treatment rehabilitation & physical activity.

Abu is a member of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP) and the Children’s Cancer & Leukaemia Group (UK). He is lead of World Physiotherapy’s IPT-HOPE Paediatric Oncology specialist interest group and co-lead of SIOPs Rehabilitation & Physical Medicine specialist interest group. Abu was also part of the peer review group for the 2022 WHO Cancer Package of Intervention for Rehabilitation.

Contact Information
Email Abu Sidhanee

Special Interest Group Education Facilitator

Rachel Keating (Ireland, Europe)

Rachael Keating is a senior physiotherapist working in Paediatric Haematology and Oncology in the National Children’s Cancer Service based at Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland. She qualified in 2014 from University College Dublin with a BSc in Physiotherapy. Rachael subsequently went on to complete an MSc in Cancer Survivorship in Trinity College Dublin from 2020-2022 and as part of this completed research exploring quality of survivorship in survivors of childhood central nervous system tumours.

Clinically, Rachael works as part of a large multi-disciplinary team and has developed a special interest in rehabilitation for CNS and bone tumours and in cancer survivorship. She is involved in education and lecturing at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Rachael is the Education Lead for the Childhood Cancer Special Interest Group within IPT-HOPE and is the secretary for SIOP’s Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine special interest group.

Contact Information
Email Rachel Keating

Special Interest Group Research Facilitator

Paula Ospina Lopez (Canada, North America)

Paula Ospina Lopez is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Alberta and serves as the Knowledge Translation support for the Oncology Division of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association. Additionally, she is the Research Lead for the Childhood cancer Special Interest Group of the IPT-HOPE, a subdivision of the World Physiotherapy.

Paula earned her Bachelor of Physical Therapy in 2015 at the Universidad del Rosario in Colombia, and received her Master of Science in Rehabilitation Sciences degree in 2018 at the University of Alberta, where she started her research in pediatric oncology rehabilitation. To date, Paula’s area of research focuses on exploring the benefits of physiotherapy for children and adolescents with cancer with or at risk of developing chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. As a graduate student, she has served as a research assistant and coordinator for studies involving rehabilitation programs for adults with cancer. In addition to her research experience, she works clinically in the oncology inpatient and outpatient wards at the Cross Cancer Institute.

Contact Information
Email Paula Ospina Lopez