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Monmouth College grad Lisa Stevens '92 leading international cancer partnership in Europe

Programme director at International Atomic Energy Agency in Austria is from Naperville

by Barry McNamara

Monmouth, Ill. (12/19/2024) — When Lisa Stevens commits, she goes all in. That's good news for those rooting for victory in the fight against cancer.

It's a tendency that started even before Stevens came to Monmouth College from the Chicago suburb of Naperville in the late 1980s, and it's a virtue that's carried her all the way to her current role as director of the Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria.

"X-rays, PET scans, radiotherapy - those are all nuclear applications," she said. "I want every country to have a cancer plan and more people to know about the cancer work that the IAEA does."

Dig deeper into the 1992 graduate's resume, and there are also some titles of "president," including a pair of Monmouth organizations - her Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and an association of women students.

"When I want to do something, I want to go all in," said Stevens, who was also an RA, a radio station DJ and an actress at Monmouth. "I'm not a sit-in-the-back type of person. When I do something, I want to move into a leadership position. I enjoy bringing together different groups of people and breaking down working in silos."

Stevens just can't help herself, even taking on the board presidency at the school her two sons attended in Europe, an added responsibility to her already busy schedule that she called "just insane." Her sons have since returned to the United States, studying at the University of Massachusetts and the University of Maryland. The latter is Stevens' graduate school alma mater, where she earned a Ph.D. in molecular and cellular biology.

Professionally, Stevens serves as vice president of the IAEA's chapter of Women in Nuclear, a role she said she took because "mentoring is one of the things I'm passionate about. ... I'm also very interested in helping students who want to talk about careers in science. I'm happy to help people make connections."

Undergraduate summer research

As Stevens was starting out, she received a boost from a pair of summer research opportunities, both at the University of Chicago. The first one followed her sophomore year at Monmouth, and she returned a year later.

"When I came to Monmouth, I knew I wanted to go to medical school, and that plan never changed," said Stevens, who noted she received valuable assistance from Monmouth's biology faculty. "I received a Howard Hughes Fellowship to do summer research. Dr. (Bob) Buchholz helped me with that application."

From Monmouth it was on to Maryland where, early on, she encountered adjunct faculty who worked at the National Cancer Institute. She was hired on by the NCI as a graduate student, doing her Ph.D. research there.

"That's how I got into working with the federal government and into the lab-in-cancer space," she said.

Soon, her years working with the National Cancer Institute transitioned from lab work to "helping to craft an annual plan and budget that reached the desk of the president," as well as other strategic plans and support.

A champion for global public health

In 2012, Stevens shifted her administrative focus to a deputy director for planning and operations role with the Center for Global Health, although cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment were still on her radar.

"People were talking about global public health all the time (indeed, Monmouth would add it as an area of study a short time later), and I thought it would be a neat next step in my career," said Stevens. "One of the things I did was work with various ministries of health on their cancer plans, and we worked closely with the World Health Organization."

In keeping with "bringing people together," Stevens was able to work with her "old team" at the National Cancer Institute, as well as "new folks from the global cancer space." While at CGH, she co-founded International Cancer Control Partnerships and coordinated multiple global partners working with stakeholders in cancer control. The partnerships focused primarily on collating published cancer control plans.

Hope for elimination

"Cancer" is an intimidating word with its share of intimidating statistics, including 19 million new cases and 10 million deaths in 2020, with a two-decade projection of 30 million new cases and 16 million deaths.

But there's also hope, said Stevens, citing the IAEA's appropriately named Rays of Hope initiative - which she oversees - as well as the WHO's Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative.

"With Rays of Hope, it's not that we're doing anything different, it's how we're doing it," she said. "We're seeing a lot of progress more quickly, allowing us to diagnose and treat more patients."

Funding is critical, and Stevens has used her "strong relationship with the United States," to help raise 50 million euros from key U.S. donors, part of the 80 million euros that's been raised through late 2024.

"We're building partnerships with the private sector and bringing multiple partners to the table," she said.

Through a sharp focus on countries without radiotherapy or with inequitable access, Rays of Hope focuses on prioritizing a limited number of high-impact, cost-effective and sustainable interventions in line with national needs and commitment.

In promoting its "ambitious, concerted and inclusive strategy to guide the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem," the WHO said few diseases reflect global inequities as much. Nearly 94% of the cervical cancer deaths in 2022 occurred in low- and middle-income countries.

Stevens is no longer the scientist seated at the microscope in the lab, running tests and conducting research on the deadly disease. But her leadership within the International Atomic Energy Agency and the relationships she's built in the field over the past 30 years are helping to drive that research. She's definitely all in.

Media Attachments

Monmouth graduate Lisa Stevens is director of the Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria.

In a scene reminiscent of Mary Tyler Moore, Stevens celebrates her graduation from Monmouth in 1992.

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