I was really impressed with the sheer size of this European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress - so many people, such a comprehensive programme and such a perfect organisation.

The programme offered a huge number of interesting presentations. Due to this large number of interesting sessions, it wasn’t possible to see everything so  I am very happy there are webcasts available of the sessions I missed plus a chance to review those I attended.  For my future work this will be a great help, because it will be easier to circulate information and disseminate knowledge to a broader public, especially to other childhood cancer organisations.

The most interesting sessions for me were those in the Patient Advocacy/Ethics and Paediatric Oncology Tracks. First and foremost in the Patient Track during the sessions about the internet and social media I gained a lot of information about existing initiatives in Europe (eurocancercoms, E-cancerhub, one vote one kiss …) and discovered how I could potentially use these initiatives in my work. It was good to see that so many good projects already exist.  I also was fortunate to have made the acquaintance of a number of new contacts with whom I can work together and share resources.

The second session in the Patient Track that I feel deserves a mention was the debate on the (possible) role of patient representatives in the design and implementation of clinical trials. I was able to see both the positive and negative aspects of patient involvement in this process as well as what is needed to not only engage patients and parents but also how to empower them.

Finally, the overall theme of ‘personalised medicine’ was one that I believe will become increasingly topical in the field of paediatric oncology so it was great to get an overview of the current status.

To sum up, I can say that my attendance at the 2011 Stockholm Cancer Congress has benefitted me enormously both in terms of the information gained through networking and the discovery of new ideas, which I can utilise in my daily work. Education is an important tool for me in my work within ICCCPO so I would like to take this opportunity to extend my thanks to ECCO for awarding our organisation a Grant that covered my travel expenses, accommodation and registration fee.

Sabine Karner, Project Worker/ICCCPO, Österreichische Kinder-Krebs-Hilfe