Europa Donna – Advocacy Leader Conference
On the 16th of November, Europa Donna held its biannual Advocacy Leader Conference in Milan.
We were honoured to host over 70 experienced advocates from 35 countries. The event opened with a recorded message from Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, stressing the critical importance of continued breast cancer advocacy at the European level.
The conference provided specialized training for breast cancer advocates, with exceptional speakers sharing the latest insights and advancements.
🔬 Thomas Hofmarcher and Silvia Deandrea discussed three decades of progress in public health and cancer epidemiology, highlighting improved survival rates, enhanced personalized treatments, and ongoing challenges such as health inequalities.
🩺 Clinical oncology expert Gabe Sonke shared the latest innovations in early-stage breast cancer treatment, emphasizing how advancements are improving cure rates with better efficacy and reduced toxicity.
🌟 Fatima Cardoso, Director of the Breast Unit and President of ABC Global Alliance, presented 30 years of findings on early and metastatic breast cancer, emphasizing the importance of patients understanding their cancer type and advocating for research on biomarkers.
🤖 Michail Ignatidis and Isabel T. Rubio explored how AI is transforming cancer research, prevention, and treatment, focusing on reducing pathology errors, discovering biomarkers, and the need for rigorous testing and standardization in healthcare AI.
📢 Ines Vaz Luis emphasized the importance of patient engagement in research, advocating for studies done “with/by patients” rather than “for/about patients.”
✨ A powerful video by Lesley Fallowfield offered guidance for families and friends of advanced breast cancer patients.
🫂 The day concluded with a workshop led by Tamas Bereczky to explore the distance barriers to breast cancer treatment.
We are grateful to all our speakers, advocates, and participants who made this event a success. Together, we continue to push the boundaries of breast cancer advocacy, research, and patient support!
