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2026 Presidential Plenary
Environmental Sustainability in Gynecologic Oncology
Exploring our environmental impact and role in shaping more sustainable systems.
Friday, October 2, 2026 | 3:05–4:05 PM
IGCS Annual Global Meeting | Montréal, Canada
Modern gynecologic cancer care saves and improves lives—but delivering that care also requires energy-intensive technologies, complex supply chains, patient travel, infrastructure and significant use of materials and resources.
How can we continue advancing high-quality cancer care while reducing its environmental impact?
Join IGCS President Prof. Greta Dreyer and invited experts for a Presidential Plenary examining sustainability across gynecologic cancer care—from healthcare-sector emissions and the operating room to radiotherapy pathways, procurement, technology and industry partnership.
Through practical examples and perspectives from different healthcare settings, the session will look beyond sustainability as simply a question of waste. Instead, panelists will consider the broader cancer care pathway and where changes in clinical practice, resource use and healthcare delivery could benefit patients, health systems and the environment.
Speakers & Panelists
Prof. Greta Dreyer
Pretoria Academic Hospital & the University of Pretoria | South Africa
IGCS President & Moderator
Hear perspectives from clinical practice, radiotherapy, healthcare systems and industry, followed by a moderated discussion led by IGCS President Prof. Greta Dreyer.
Session Description
As the global healthcare community reflects on its broader impact, the environmental footprint of cancer care is coming into sharper focus. While modern gynecologic oncology represents a major achievement in medicine, it is also inherently resource-intensive—relying on energy-demanding technologies, extensive supply chains, and high volumes of single-use materials. These realities are not peripheral; they are embedded in how care is delivered.
This session will explore the intersection of high-quality cancer care and environmental sustainability. Participants will hear perspectives from diverse practice settings, including resource-constrained environments where efficiency and sustainability are already deeply integrated into care delivery.
The session will highlight emerging strategies across gynecologic oncology, prioritizing prevention through early detection and vaccination. It will also provide a platform for shared learning, encouraging participants to reflect on their own practice and identify actionable opportunities for change.
This session serves as part of an ongoing global effort to define and advance sustainable cancer care within the gynecologic oncology community.
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the key drivers of environmental impact in gynecologic cancer care, including energy use, carbon footprint, supply chains, and material waste.
2. Identify and prioritize practical strategies to reduce environmental impact, including waste reduction, energy optimization, telemedicine, and prevention.
3. Compare approaches to resource efficiency from both high-resource and resource-constrained settings.
Jodi Sherman, MD
Yale School of Medicine | United States
Sustainable Healthcare:
From Systems to Surgery
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Jodi Sherman, MD, is Associate Professor of Anesthesiology of the Yale School of Medicine, and Associate Professor of Epidemiology in Environmental Health Sciences in the Yale School of Public Health. She is founding director of the Yale Program on Healthcare Environmental Sustainability in the Yale Center on Climate Change and Health. Dr. Sherman also serves as Medical Director of Sustainability for Yale New Haven Health System.
Dr. Sherman is an internationally recognized researcher in the emerging field of sustainability in clinical care. Her research interest is in life cycle assessment of environmental emissions, human health impacts, and economics of drugs, devices, clinical care pathways, and health systems. Her work seeks to establish sustainability metrics, paired with health outcomes and costs, to help guide clinical decision-making, professional behaviors, and healthcare organizational management toward more resilient and ecologically sustainable practices to improve the quality, safety and value of clinical care while protecting public health.
Dr. Sherman co-chairs the Lancet Commission on Sustainable Healthcare. She is a member of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change and was contributing analyst for the UK National Health Service Net Zero Initiative. She serves on the National Academy of Medicine Action Collaborative for Decarbonization of the U.S. Health Sector. She chairs the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists Sustainability Committee.
Kari Tanderup, PhD
Danish Center for Particle Therapy | Denmark
Sustainable Radiotherapy:
Rethinking the Patient Pathway
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Kari Tanderup, PhD, MSc, is Professor at Aarhus University and a medical physicist and researcher in radiation oncology. She has played a leading role in advancing international standards for radiotherapy in gynecological cancer, including as coordinator of the EMBRACE studies in cervical cancer.
In recent years, she has established environmental sustainability in cancer care as a major focus of her research and professional activities. She co-chairs the ESGO Environment and Sustainability Working Group and chairs the ESTRO Green Task Force, working to advance research, awareness and practical strategies for more sustainable cancer care. Her research addresses the environmental footprint of cancer treatment and how clinical pathways and healthcare delivery can be redesigned to reduce environmental impact while maintaining high-quality patient care.
She is Professor at the Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Denmark.
Maisie Cheung
Sr. Director, Medtronic | Canada
Industry's Role in
Sustainable Cancer Care
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Bio coming soon
IGCS-ESGO Collaborative Sustainability Survey
Help Shape a More Sustainable Future for Gynecologic Cancer Care
IGCS members are invited to participate in the ESGO Survey on Environmental Sustainability, developed by the ESGO Environment and Sustainability Working Group.
Recognizing an opportunity for our organizations to learn together, IGCS President Prof. Greta Dreyer invited IGCS members to contribute to this important initiative. The survey has been adapted for the IGCS community while maintaining the same questions, allowing responses to contribute to the broader analysis.
The survey explores attitudes, awareness, expectations, and current practices related to environmental sustainability in gynecologic oncology—and how ESGO and IGCS can support more sustainable approaches across our global community.
Your perspective matters. Please take a few minutes to share your experience and help inform future sustainability efforts in gynecologic cancer care.
