The global oncology and public health communities are mourning the death of Lynette Ann Denny, MD, PhD, a world-renowned gynecologic oncologist and a leading researcher in the prevention of cervical cancer in low-resource settings. Dr. Denny died on June 9, 2024, in Cape Town, South Africa, of metastatic breast cancer. She was 66 years old.

Lynette Ann Denny, MD, PhD. Photo courtesy of The Lancet.

Born in Pretoria, South Africa, on January 30, 1958, Dr. Denny dedicated her medical and research career to the causes of women’s health in her native South Africa. She was a fierce advocate for marginalized women, advancing reproductive rights in the country and addressing national concerns about violence against women, eliminating disparities in health care, and improving patient outcomes.

Dr. Denny was a vocal proponent of the importance of cervical cancer screening and prevention; in 1995, she opened a cervical cancer screening clinic in Khayelitsha, a large, urban township in one of the poorest areas of Cape Town. There, she investigated alternatives to Papanicolaou testing for the detection of potentially precancerous and cancerous cells in the cervix, to increase the very low rate of cytology screening in South Africa. She received funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and other sponsors to evaluate point-of-care human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA tests and the utility of “screen and treat” approaches that were designed to be more resource-appropriate than conventional cytology-based screening programs.

Dr. Denny researched two screen-and-treat approaches using HPV DNA testing and visual inspection with acetic acid, followed by treatment using cryotherapy for all eligible women with a positive test result. They were found to perform as well or better than traditional cytology-based screening for identifying high-grade cervical cancer precursor lesions; her positive findings were published in 2005 in JAMA. Since then, according to a report in The Lancet, more than 60,000 women in Cape Town have been screened for cervical cancer using this method.

Dr. Denny was also instrumental in lending her expertise in cervical cancer prevention to the development of ASCO’s Resource-Stratified Clinical Practice Guideline on Secondary Prevention of Cervical Cancer.

Recognizing Dr. Denny’s Contributions to Women’s Health

Dr. Denny received her medical degree from the University of Cape Town in 1983, a master’s degree in medicine in 1994, and a doctorate in obstetrics and gynecology in 2000. She served as Chair and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town from 2013 to 2022 and was President of the International Gynecologic Cancer Society from 2012 to 2014. She also served as Secretary Treasurer of the African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC) from 2004 to 2017.

Dr. Denny was recognized for her nearly 3 decade–long pursuit of quality cancer care for women in South Africa with numerous awards, including the Women of the Year Award in Science and Technology (2004); Distinguished Scientist for Improving the Quality of Life of Women by the South African Department of Science and Technology (2006); the International Agency for Research on Cancer Medal of Honour Award (2016); South Africa’s national civilian honor, The Order of the Baobab (2021); and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the South African Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (2022), among many others.

Colleagues Honor a Life Well-Lived

As news of Dr. Denny’s death spread across the global oncology community, her colleagues began paying tribute to her years of dedication to the prevention and treatment of gynecologic cancers.

Julie R. Gralow, MD, FACP, FASCO, Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of ASCO, said: “Lyn was a strong voice for cancer care in Africa and beyond, representing both health-care professionals, as well as patients with cancer. Her contributions to our field, especially in the prevention and early detection of cervical cancer, were substantial. I knew Lyn from her work in AORTIC, which she helped bring back to life and re-energize many years ago. I worked with her on the Women’s Empowerment Cancer Advocacy Network patient advocacy summits in East and Southern Africa. We also worked together on several reports for The Lancet, including The Lancet Breast Cancer Commission and a soon-to-be-published report on The Lancet Commission on Cancer and Health Systems. Lyn was more than a colleague. She was my friend. Her voice in oncology will be missed.”

“Dr. Denny’s work made an important contribution to the first-ever ASCO global guideline on cervical cancer screening and the treatment of cervical cancer precursors,” noted Sarah Temin, MSPH, Senior Guidelines Specialist at ASCO. “Her comments showed me how clinicians and researchers in global resource-constrained settings may face a large gulf between resource-agnostic interventions ASCO often recommends while developing innovations that can potentially inform practice everywhere. For example, many countries and regions do not have cervical cancer screenings available for their citizens, which is very different from public health policy across the United States regarding recommendations for cervical cancer screening. Yet, she and others developed evidence-based options reflected in the ASCO guideline. I regret that I only had the privilege of working with her for a brief time. Dr. Denny’s work, including creating a clinic in shipping containers and working in such disparate high-resource and low-resource settings within South Africa and beyond, inspired me. Her and colleagues’ perspective on cancer prevention and treatment reinforce the importance of those committed to resource-constrained settings shaping ASCO’s global guidelines, and the importance of supporting and documenting research and practice conducted in these settings.”

Miriam Mutebi, MD, MSc, FACS, President of AORTIC, said: “As we pay tribute to Professor Lynette Denny, we celebrate not only her remarkable achievements, but also the enduring spirit of compassion and excellence she embodied. Her legacy will continue to inspire and guide the efforts of those dedicated to improving women’s health and combating cancer in Africa and beyond for generations to come.”

“Her work demonstrating the utility of optimized ‘screen-and-treat’ approaches for cervical cancer prevention, her advocacy for patient-centeredness in intervention development, and her push for utilizing context-specific adaptations of innovations have continued to inspire several ongoing efforts supported by the NCI in our HIV/HPV-Cancer Prevention Clinical Trials Networks,” emphasized Vikrant Sahasrabuddhe, MBBS, MPH, DrPH, Deputy Chief of the Breast and Gynecologic Cancer Research Group and Program Director in the Division of Cancer Prevention at the NCI. “Dr. Denny’s passing is a sad loss for all of us in the global community of clinicians, researchers, advocates, and organizations working collaboratively for the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem.”

“She did a lot of work with women who had been subjected to gender-based violence…. I found the way she spoke to her patients incredibly moving,” remembered Felicia Marie Knaul, PhD, Professor, Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami.

Staying Connected to Humanity

Dr. Denny reflected on her extraordinary life in service to others in an interview she gave in 2021. She offered this advice to those following in her footsteps: “What I would like to impart to those who follow when I leave, is to be able to be of service to your community is a great privilege. It’s not a duty. It’s not a burden. Immersing myself in the Khayelitsha community was just so liberating; to lose the sense of othering, to feel connected to humanity like that has been so enriching. I recommend it.”