We are very pleased to announce that Professor Pamela Kearns has taken the Presidency of SIOP Europe for the years 2019-2021.  Pamela Kearns succeeds Professor Martin Schrappe, who has been President for the past three years and has served on the board since 2009.  As a SIOP Europe board member for the past 6 years, Pam has a solid understanding of our organisation, mission and strategy.

The SIOP Europe board and staff thanked Martin Schrappe for his dedication as President over the past years.  SIOP Europe made tremendous strides under Martin’s leadership.  Amongst his significant accomplishment is navigating the organisation to explore and launch a key flagship event: the first SIOP Europe Annual Meeting, which will take place on 20-24 May 2019 in Prague, Czech Republic.

Martin is passionate about the SIOP Europe Annual Meeting and will carry on championing the necessity of bringing together all the diverse stakeholders together once a year to exchange, learn from each other and network.  We therefore look forward to building on this and more as we enter the next chapter.

Samira Essiaf, SIOP Europe CEO said: “We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to Martin Schrappe for his dedicated service, insights, and contribution and we are looking forward to working with Pam Kearns in her role as President of SIOP Europe.”

Joining the SIOP Europe board are Tomasz Szczepański, Carmelo Rizzari, Andishe Attarbaschi and Reineke Schoot.  We are very pleased to welcome all three to the SIOP Europe board.

Tomasz Szczepański is an Independent Scientist at Medical University of Silesia in Katowice (Poland) and since 2009 the Head of the Department of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology in Zabrze.  He is also full professor at Medical University of Silesia, serves as Vice-Rector for Scientific Affairs, member of the Board of the Polish Paediatric Association and the President of the Polish Society of Paediatric Oncology and Haematology.

Carmelo Rizzari has been involved in the field of paediatric leukaemias with a special interest for both traditional and innovative chemotherapy agents.  He is currently running the Paediatric Haematology-Oncology Unit in Monza (within the frame of the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy), which is one of the largest centres for the diagnosis and treatment of haematological malignancies in Italy.

Andishe Attarbaschi dedicated 20 years career as a physician, scientist and ‘teacher’ to paediatric haemato-oncology, especially leukaemia and lymphoma.  As Associate Professor of paediatrics/adolescent medicine, with specialisation in paediatric haemato-oncology at the Medical University of Vienna.  He is responsible for training both residents and students during their first clinical year at the St. Anna Children’s Hospital in Vienna.

Reineke Schoot is currently a clinical fellow and Postdoctoral researcher at Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology.  She is chair of the European Young SIOPE Group and prior to that, as chair of SIOP YI-NET, she was involved with the development of several projects such as the SIOP educational day, SIOP mentorship program and collaborative event.

These new board members fill vacancies and replace board members who have served on the SIOP Europe’s board for many years.  Also, a special note of thanks and appreciation to all our board members (new, current and past) for their dedication to the children and young people we serve.  Given the impressive track records and diverse backgrounds of our board members, we are confident of their leadership and impact.

Pam Kearns said: “SIOP Europe is founded on a strong ethos of collaboration and all of our Board members bring their individual expertise, talent and energy to the table.  We feel fortunate to have their knowledge and leadership collectively striving for a brighter future for children and young people with cancer.”

The SIOP Europe and CCI Europe Manifesto for the European Elections of 2019 was launched at the International Childhood Cancer Awareness Day event, hosted by MEP Elena Gentile (IT, S&D) at the European Parliament on 6 March 2019.

This Manifesto outlines the vision “Beating childhood cancer: Cure more and cure better – Towards zero deaths and zero late effects”.  The paediatric oncology and haematology community in Europe together with parents, patient and survivors invites the next European Parliament to sustain and reinforce its support for the paediatric cancer cause.

Professor Pamela Kearns (SIOP Europe President) said: “The keywords that have been crucial are: working together, collaboration and partnership.  Such firm and committed alliances have enabled us to make progress in paediatric oncology over the past 20 years.  Working together and collaboration are at the heart of improving outcomes for childhood cancers.”

You may read the full SIOP Europe and CCI Europe 2019 European Elections Manifesto detailing specific action points for MEPs here.

A new group within SIOP Europe has been formed: the Young SIOPE Group.  This group was created in recognition of the need to support the future of Europe’s healthcare and future paediatric oncologists. The initial aim is to develop a programme for young oncologists to participate in the SIOP Europe Annual Meeting.

SIOP Europe is therefore extending membership to younger medical professionals with an invitation to join the upcoming SIOP Europe Annual Meeting in Prague.

All SIOP members have been invited to the first edition of the SIOP Europe 2019 Annual Meeting in Prague, Czech Republic on 20-24 May 2019.

This unique event will include novel session formats, interactive workshops and forums in order to empower clinical trial groups to debate and disseminate the outcomes of the high quality clinical and basic research carried out in Europe.

An innovative focus of the meeting will be on direct interaction between tumour and clinical trial groups, parent groups, and survivors.  Therefore, the programme for Wednesday 22 May is dedicated to best practice and educational sessions on cross-tumour topics (including debates and keynote lectures).

• View the programme online
• View the programme in PDF format
• Register before 15 May 2019

Kindly note that this meeting is per invitation only. All SIOP members should have received personalised invitations together with the registration link via email.  To apply for an invitation or to nominate a peer or colleague, please contact SIOP Europe: annualmeeting@siope.eu

We look forward to welcoming everyone in Prague for a memorable annual meeting!

Successfully co-organised by SIOP Europe and ITCC, the 7^th edition of the ACCELERATE Paediatric Oncology Conference was attended by almost 170 participants from 26 countries worldwide.

This annual conference brings together academia, industry, patient advocacy groups and regulators interested in accelerating new oncology drug development for children and adolescents. As a multi-stakeholder platform, it challenges the current ways of working by asking the difficult questions to bring about more effective therapies for children with cancer.

The conference presentations and photos are available on the website.

The 8^th ACCELERATE Paediatric Oncology Conference will take place on 6-7 February 2020 in Brussels, Belgium.

More information: www.siope.eu