Dear SIOP Members,

Please take a few minutes to see the variety of activities offered last 3 months as well as a few updates and opportunities. Many thanks go to the 260+ SIOP leaders who worked in various Networks, WGs, Committees and Continental Branches to offer the activities.

Highlights

  • We are proud to share that SIOP has been honored with the 2026 European Association Award in the category of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for our SIOP Women Leaders Network programming!
  • SIOP’s members for 2026 have surpassed 3,000 people – thank you for renewing and if you have not done it yet, please renew soon.
  • Members loved the diversity of our programs and activities — 468 attended at least one activity in the past 3 months.

Updates on the Initiatives across the Society

  • The SIOP PPO Network has received many applications for the Dr Tori Willard Early Career Award, worth 25,000 USD. Selection is underway.
  • The SIOP PPO Network and GHN Palliative Care WG held a webinar on “Supporting Children and Families through Cancer-Related Amputation” in Mar 2026.
  • The SIOP PPO Network and the SIOP Survivorship Network held a webinar on “From Challenges to Change: Identifying and Addressing Mental Health Needs in Childhood Cancer Survivors” in Feb 2026.
  • The SIOP PPO Network and the GHN Psychosocial Wellbeing WG held a Case Study meeting on “Psychosocial challenges of Non-disclosure across the Cancer trajectory” in Feb 2026. Submissions for the Case Studies Series are welcome-more info here.
  • The SIOP Women’s Leaders Network celebrated March 8, International Women’s Day, by releasing profiles of leaders from the 2026 SIOP Almanac of Women Leaders in Paediatric Oncology. The full list of profiles will be available by end-April.
  • The SIOP SCN Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine WG held a webinar on “Leveraging technology in rehabilitation and physical medicine for children and adolescents with cancer” in Feb 2026.
  • The GHN held a meeting for its WG leaders and selected partners in Mar 2026.
  • The GHN AI WG held a webinar on “Computational Pathology: Bringing AI into Pathology” in Mar 2026.
  • The GHN Traditional and Complementary Medicine WG held a webinar on “Integrative Oncology in Pediatric Cancer Care: Global Perspectives and 10 Years of Implementation” in Mar 2026.
  • The SIOP Nursing Network sent out a newsletter to its members in Mar 2026 and held a meeting of nurses interested in transition, early and late survivorship. In addition, a session on “Overview of the 2026 My Child Matters Practice and Education Grant Process” was held in Feb 2026 and a webinar on “Developing the Spanish QI Nursing Course Programme
  • Spanish Nursing Quality Team” was held in Jan 2026.
  • The Scientific Committee held elections for new members and results will be announced in May 2026. We also observed strong abstract submission season and look forward to the process to score and select abstracts for the San Antonio Congress. A site visit to San Antonio also took place in Mar 2026.
  • The SIOP PARC Committee welcomes applications for the Early Career Award by Apr 15, 2026, with funding from the Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research and the NaiKong and Irene Cheung Family.
  • The SIOP Nutrition Network held a webinar on “Nutritional Strategies to Prevent Premature Aging in Childhood Cancer Survivors” in Mar 2026. Another webinar, “Prehabilitation in Paediatric Cancer Patients Undergoing Stem Cell Transplantation”, was held in Jan 2026.
  • The SIOP Supportive Care Network help update meetings in Jan and Mar 2026 and offered a webinar on “Cardiotoxicity in Pediatric Oncology” in Jan 2026.
  • The Young SIOP Network welcomes applications for the Rising Star Award by Apr 14, 2026.
  • The Young SIOP Network and the Nutrition Network held a webinar on “Nutrition in first 30 days after bone marrow transplant” in Feb 2026.
  • The SIOP Advocacy Committee led the 2026 International Childhood Cancer Day campaign.

Updates from the SIOP Continental Branches

  • SIOP North America and SLAOP have prepared a 2-day pre-Congress program; registration is now open here; additional fees apply. A call for self-nominations for the Treasurer position also opened, due Apr 30, 2026.
  • SIOP Asia kept extremely busy this quarter:
    • Rising Star-Asia: applications due Apr 15, 2026.
    • A webinar on “Global Burden of Disease in Childhood Cancer: Why It Matters for LMICs and the Asia-Pacific Region” took place in Mar 2026.
    • SIOP Asia 2026 Congress in Mongolia received 300+ abstracts; please register before May 1 with the early bird registration rates.
    • Dr. Dennis Ku was selected for the SIOP Asia Ambassador to Hong Kong.
    • The next round of SIOP Asia Meet-ups will take place in summer 2026; host offers are welcome by Apr 30, 2026.
    • The 2nd round of Asia Meet-Ups (Dec 2025) was completed and SIOP Asia released the summary of the Meet-ups, highlighing that nearly 500 people met in person in 15 Meet-Ups across 12 countries in Asia. Thank you for the hosts and thank you to the participants!
  • SIOP Europe opened registrations for the SIOPE Congress in Glasgow.
  • SIOP Africa offered a number of activities to its members:
    • Rising Star-Africa: applications are being reviewed; winner will be announced shortly.
    • SIOP Africa 2026 Congress in Nigeria has produced a strong scientific program; your registration is welcome.
    • BVGH and SIOP Africa offered a series of educational webinars on various types of childhood cancer in this period.

Open SIOP Leadership Opportunities:

Elsewhere at SIOP

The SIOP Secretariat Team grew recently: we welcome Ms. Julia Georgieva, Program Coordinator supporting all Continental Branches, and Ms. Mandisa Sibanda, who will lead SIOP’s fundraising efforts. Welcome to both!

Thank you to the many leaders across SIOP who put in time and energy in developing activities for our members!

Warm regards,

SIOP Secretariat