2023 featured speakers:

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  Stella Kyriakides

  Commissioner for health and food safety, European Commission

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  Stella Kyriakides

  Commissioner for health and food safety, European Commission

  As European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides has been leading the commission’s work on the public-health response to covid-19. She is responsible for a number of initiatives to establish a strong European Health Union, including Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, implementation of the EU Pharmaceutical Strategy, the proposal for a European Health Data Space and the operationalisation of the EU4Health Programme. Ms Kyriakides has been an active advocate for patients’ rights, including cancer patients, founding the first Cypriot breast cancer organisation, Europa Donna Cyprus, which she served as president for more than 15 years. Ms Kyriakides has also been president of the European Breast Cancer Coalition Europa Donna.

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  Andrei Baciu

  President, National Health Insurance House of Romania

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  Andrei Baciu

  President, National Health Insurance House of Romania

  Andrei Baciu has been secretary of state for health in the government of Romania since 2019. He was a front-line leader of the national co-ordination efforts for the covid-19 pandemic. Dr Baciu was appointed vice-president and later president of the National Committee for Covid-19 Vaccination. He co-ordinates the Pharmaceutical Directorate of the Ministry of Health and has been involved in strategic projects including e-health, cancer and refugee support. Dr Baciu is a prominent supporter of a national plan to prevent and combat cancer in Romania. With a background in cardiovascular surgery, he is also trained in hospital management, health and social care, and diplomacy.

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  Sara Cerdas

  Member of the European Parliament

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  Sara Cerdas

  Member of the European Parliament

  Sara Cerdas is a Portuguese medical doctor and, since 2019, a Member of the European Parliament. Dr Cerdas is a member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), the Special Committee on COVID-19 (COVI) and the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN). She is also co-chair of the Health Working Group and was vice-president of the Special Committee on Beating Cancer (BECA).

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  Tomislav Sokol

  Member, European Parliament

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  Tomislav Sokol

  Member, European Parliament

  Tomislav Sokol worked in a legal practice before becoming an assistant minister in the Croatian Ministry of Science and Education. He was subsequently a Member of the Croatian Parliament until 2019, when he was elected to the European Parliament. Mr Sokol serves on the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) and is a substitute member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) and the Committee on Regional Development (REGI). Mr Sokol teaches law at the Zagreb School of Economics and Management and the Catholic University of Croatia. His areas of interest include EU health law, competition law, and social and trade law.

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  Antoni Comin i Oliveres

  Member of the European Parliament

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  Antoni Comin i Oliveres

  Member of the European Parliament

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  Tuula Helander

  Director, Ministry of social affairs and health, Finland

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  Tuula Helander

  Director, Ministry of social affairs and health, Finland

  Tuula Helander is director of the biotechnology and medicines unit at the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. She is a MS representative and co-chair of the European Commission declaration “Towards access to at least 1 million sequenced genomes in the EU by 2022”. She is also MS representative on the Sub-group on Cancer of the Beating Cancer Plan, supported by Horizon Europe’s Mission on Cancer. Dr Helander was previously senior adviser in the permanent secretary’s cabinet at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. She has served as secretary-general of the Finnish Cancer Institute, and as director of the Southern Cancer Centre at Helsinki University Hospital.

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  Cally Palmer

  National cancer director, NHS England and chief executive, The Royal Marsden Hospital

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  Cally Palmer

  National cancer director, NHS England and chief executive, The Royal Marsden Hospital

  Cally Palmer is chief executive of the Royal Marsden and has held a dual role as national cancer director for NHS England since 2015. At the Royal Marsden she leads the work of a specialist cancer centre and serves as a trustee of the Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. As national cancer director Dame Cally is responsible for the development and implementation of the national strategy for cancer to improve survival and quality of life for all those affected by the diseased. She is a member of the Institute of Health Services Management.

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  Marko Korenjak

  President, European Liver Patients' Association

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  Marko Korenjak

  President, European Liver Patients' Association

  Marko Korenjak is president of the European Liver Patient Association (ELPA), representing 31 liver patient associations from 25 countries. He is a member of the Patients’ and Consumers’ Working Party and co-chairs the Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee at the European Medicines Agency (EMA). He sits on the Policy and Public Health Committee and the Task Force on Liver Cancer Prevention at the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL). He also serves on the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) Advisory Forum and working group on monitoring hepatitis B and C in the EU, and the World Health Organisation EURO Collaborating Committee on TB, HIV and viral hepatitis.

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  Alex Filicevas

  Executive director, World Bladder Cancer Patient Coalition and president, All.Can International

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  Alex Filicevas

  Executive director, World Bladder Cancer Patient Coalition and president, All.Can International

  Alex Filicevas is an executive director of the World Bladder Cancer Patient Coalition, fostering an international community of people affected by bladder cancer to advance cancer information, treatment and care. Mr Filicevas previously led advocacy, stakeholder partnerships and capacity-building of patient organisations as head of EU affairs at the European Cancer Patient Coalition. Recently he served on the steering committee of the multi-stakeholder initiative All.Can International. Mr Filicevas has a background in health-care and technology consulting, and having lived in five countries he believes in the strength of international collaboration among a variety of stakeholders to bring health-care innovation to cancer patients.

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  Mark Lawler

  Associate pro-vice chancellor, professor of digital health and chair in translational cancer genomics, Queen's University Belfast

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  Mark Lawler

  Associate pro-vice chancellor, professor of digital health and chair in translational cancer genomics, Queen's University Belfast

  Mark is an internationally renowned scientist with >200 papers including key publications in the highest impact journals. His work has been recognised by numerous national/nternational awards. He is Associate Director of Health Data Research Wales-Northern Ireland and Scientific Director of DATA-CAN, the UK’s National Health Data Research Hub for Cancer.

   

  Mark has a strong commitment to patient-centered research. He was architect of the European Cancer Patient’s Bill of Rights, which he launched in the European Parliament with colleagues (World Cancer Day 2014). The Bill of Rights received The 2018 European Health Award, a prestigious award for partnerships that yield real health impact in Europe. Mark’s work on addressing cancer inequalities formed the centrepiece in the European Cancer Organisation’s (E.C.O) European Code of Cancer Practice, which Mark launched (virtually) with EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides in Brussels in 2020.

   

  Mark’s work with DATA-CAN colleagues on the impact of Covid-19 on cancer has garnered international attention, receiving the Royal College of Physicians Excellence in Patient Care award. He co-chairs the E.C.O Special Focussed Network on Covid-19 and cancer, launching its 7-Point plan to Build Back Smarter from Covid. He presented recent data on Covid’s impact on cancer in Europe to the Europe Beating Cancer Committee in the European Parliament and launched E.C.Os pan European Time To Act Campaign to ensure Covid-19 does not stop us from tackling cancer. He recently received the Irish Association for Cancer Research’s Outstanding Contribution to cancer research award, for his pioneering work on cancer research and care on the island of Ireland.

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  Carmelo Rizzari

  President, European Society of Pediatric Oncology (SIOPE)

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  Carmelo Rizzari

  President, European Society of Pediatric Oncology (SIOPE)

  Carmelo Rizzari is a professor of paediatrics at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy. He has been involved in the field of paediatric leukaemias with a special interest in both traditional and innovative chemotherapy agents. Dr Rizzari runs the Paediatric Haematology- Oncology Unit in Monza (MBBM Foundation, ASST Monza, University of Milano-Bicocca), which is one of the largest centres for the diagnosis and treatment of haematological malignancies in Italy. Since January 2022 Dr Rizzari has been president of the European Society for Paediatric Oncology (SIOPE).