Maja Beck Popovic: bidding farewell to a highly respected name in the field of childhood cancer research

Just how dramatically childhood cancer treatment evolved during Maja Beck Popovic’s career is demonstrated by the example of retinoblastoma, a tumour that develops in the retina in babies and infants. Maja Beck Popovic is an expert in this disease. In the past, the treatment was to remove the entire eye (known as enucleation). Nowadays, in most cases doctors are able to save patients’ lives while also preserving their eyesight.

A success story in childhood cancer of the retina

Over the years, the treatment of infants with retinoblastoma evolved from enucleation and radiotherapy to increasingly precise treatments such as cryotherapy (or cold therapy), thermotherapy (or heat therapy) and laser treatments. Major progress was made in the 1990s, when multidisciplinary treatment teams comprising paediatric oncologists, ophthalmologists and neuroradiologists succeeded in administering chemotherapy first into the ophthalmic artery (intra-arterially) and later directly into the vitreous body of the eye (intravitreally).

At Lausanne University Hospital CHUV, where Maja Beck Popovic practised for 38 years, radiotherapy has no longer been part of the treatment for 16 years. Nowadays, 95 per cent of children survive this very rare disease, and complete eye removals are far less common. CHUV has become an international centre of excellence for the treatment of retinoblastoma.

A key figure in this development is Maja Beck Popovic, born in Belgrade and raised in Bern, and mother to an adult daughter. A speaker of six languages, the Professor of Pediatric Oncology studied medicine in Bern and discovered a passion for paediatric medicine at an early stage. She gained her specialisation in paediatric haematology and oncology in Lausanne and Paris. From 2010 onwards, Maja Beck Popovic was Head of Paediatric Oncology at CHUV.

Internationally renowned

As well as retinoblastoma, Maja Beck Popovic also specialises in neuroblastoma, a cancer affecting infants that originates in the sympathetic nervous system and in which tumours primarily develop in the abdomen and on the spine. In this field too she became internationally renowned, serving as President of the European research network SIOPEN (Neuroblastoma Research Network).

At the farewell symposium at CHUV in early May, Maja Beck Popovic looked back on her impressive career. She pointed out that paediatric nursing care in oncology has also progressed in leaps and bounds over the almost 40 years she has spent at CHUV. She also referred to multidisciplinary tumour boards, which first came about during her career and are now commonplace in the field. Other key topics she mentioned include long-term after-care and preserving patients’ fertility during cancer treatment.

Close cooperation with parents’ associations

Working with parents’ associations has also been especially important to Maja Beck Popovic. A network between the associations and clinical research teams was put into place, of which she is extremely appreciative. Patient organisations in the area of childhood cancer conducted additional work that she considers to have been vital to the field as it is today.

Former patients speak warmly of her “gentle and sincere nature”. At the farewell symposium, letters from patients were read out that described the central role she played in their lives and their families’ lives during extremely challenging times. Her dedication also required her, at times, to forgo certain commitments in her personal life.

Alongside the successes, Maja Beck Popovic’s medical career also featured its share of setbacks and strokes of fate. She doesn’t hide the fact that these were difficult to cope with. Yet with great dedication she persevered in her work, racking up an extraordinary number of achievements.