Ahead of the Tumor: Rewriting the Cancer Timeline

Cancer is still diagnosed far too late. By the time symptoms appear, the disease has often progressed beyond the stage where treatment is simplest and most effective. What would it take to catch it earlier, and can that innovation come from Africa? 

We invite the Stellenbosch University community, students, lecturers, professors, researchers, and professional staff, to join us for this Pro-VC Open Lecture with Pieter van Rooyen. 

As co-founder of xTenure and an Extraordinary Professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Stellenbosch University, van Rooyen has founded and led five venture-backed technology startups across semiconductors, wireless, healthcare, life sciences, genomics, image processing, and retail automation. He holds over 500 patents, has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific papers, and has raised hundreds of millions in equity financing across his career. 

His lecture, Ahead of the Tumor: Rewriting the Cancer Timeline, makes the case for a new approach to multi-cancer early detection, one that uses AI and predictive intelligence rather than costly genomic sequencing to determine who should be screened, when, and under what conditions. He will discuss how South Africa's AI, clinical research, and healthcare expertise could position it to lead in next-generation cancer screening, building technology designed for healthcare systems everywhere, not only high-income ones.