5. The Oncology Workforce: We Must Act – and INTERACT – to Provide Effective and Equitable Cancer Care

Gilly Spurrier-Bernard is Vice-Chair, Patient Advisory Committee, European Cancer Organisation Member, European Cancer Organisation's Patient Advisory Committee, Chair, WECAN and Member, Melanoma Patient Network Europe. A Geologist/Environmental Scientist by training, she began in Advocacy when her husband became a stage 4 Melanoma Patient in 2008. 2014-Present - President of MelanomeFrance - a patient Association run by volunteer Patients/Carers that provides up to date information on Melanoma Disease, Treatments, Clinical trials, Health Systems, Side Effect management and survivorship, as well as support for patients and their families. Moderation of a Forum of >900 Francophone Patients/Carers. Contributions to HTA evaluations for the HAS (French Evaluator), Contribution to selection of INCa Funded Projects, Lobbying of Stakeholders for access to treatments and clinical research. Contribution to research projects into PROs, Microbiome, rare cancers. 2016-Present - Vice-present of Melanoma Patient Network Europe - Participation in several initiatives, (Horizon 2020, IMI Get real, PRO research, and several European Projects) Planning and running several Patient and Multi-stakeholder Congresses each year : European, Regional, National, special group (Rare Melanoma s and paediatric) and Pan-Cancer meetings. Meetings and Advisory boards with all stakeholders: Regulators, HTA, Industry, Clinicians and Health Economists. 2019-Present - Chair of WECAN - Co-ordinating and communicating the joint activities/initiatives of 22 Pan-Cancer umbrella Organizations – Planning and Contributing the annual WECAN Academy for Cancer Patient Advocates, In January 2020 planned and ran the first WECAN Science training for Cancer patient advocates EUPATI fellow, Member of the European Cancer Organisation's Patient Advisory Committee, Project Partner on 2 Horizon 2020 Projects, Speaker at ESMO, the European Cancer Summit, EHA, several European Patient Conferences on topics from Fertility and Cancer, Combatting Pseudoscience, Immunotherapy Side effects, Value Frameworks and many more. Contributing to several publications : The European Cancer Organisation Essential Requirement for Quality Cancer Care in Melanoma, ASCO Melanoma Treatment Guidelines, ESMO Patient Guide for Immunotherapy Side Effects. I am passionate about patient education because well-informed patients are best equipped to lead the decision making in their treatment and hence cope better with their life as a melanoma patient/carer. I believe that Patient Advocates can drive better Patient relevant research through direct access to the primary data source and collaboration with other useful stakeholders.

Markus Kosch, MD, is the head of Oncology Europe at Daiichi Sankyo. In this role, he leads the medical affairs, market access and commercial organization of Daiichi Sankyo in the European countries. Dr Kosch has over 15 years` experience in the pharmaceutical industry, starting in Medical Affairs at Wyeth Pharmaceutical introducing the first mTOR inhibitor in oncology therapy and later at Pfizer leading the European teams preparing launches in hematology and in personalized therapy in lung cancer with molecular-targeted medicines as well as introducing the first CDK4,6 inhibitor in metastatic breast cancer. Before joining Daiichi Sankyo he led the global Immunooncology, kidney and lung cancer franchise at Pfizer. After studies as medical student that took him to Kings College London and the UCSF in San Francisco he obtained his medical degree at the University of Münster, Germany. He is a boarded expert in internal medicine and nephrology and practiced in internal medicine, intensive care, and oncology at the University Hospital Münster until 2005. He has published many peer-reviewed papers, reviews and book chapters and still teaches as Professor of Internal Medicine at the Medical School Münster. He is also a founding member of the “Vision Zero” oncology prevention initiative and think tank.

Immediate Past-President, European Cancer Organisation (ECO) Matti Aapro is member of the Board of Directors of the Genolier Cancer Center, Genolier, Switzerland and Immediate Past-President of the European Cancer Organisation. He received his medical degree from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland and was a fellow at the Arizona Cancer Center in Tucson, Arizona, USA. He was the founding chair of the Medical and Radiation Therapy Department at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan. Dr. Aapro is presently Executive Board member of the European School of Oncology (ESO). He leads the Sharing Progress in Cancer Care (SPCC) not-for-profit association. He serves the International Society for Geriatric Oncology (SIOG) as Executive Board Member. He is past-President of the Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC). He is President of Honour of the French-speaking Society for Supportive Care (AFSOS), as well as Advisor to the Japanese Association for Supportive Care in Cancer (JASCC). He has been member of the Board of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and of the Board of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO). Dr. Aapro chaired the scientific and organizing committees of UICC’s (International Union against Cancer) World Cancer Congress of 2008 in Geneva, and 2010 in Shenzhen (China). He is a member of the ESMO Faculty and chaired the ESMO 2018 Supportive/Palliative Care track. Dr. Aapro is Honorary Editor of Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology, and editor of the Journal of Cancer Policy as well as Associate Editor for the geriatric section of the Oncologist. He is also founding editor of the Journal of Geriatric Oncology. He is past Associate Editor for Annals of Oncology, continuing on its editorial board, and member of several other editorial boards including CancerWorld. He has authored more than 350 publications and his major interests are new drug development, breast cancer, cancer in the elderly, and supportive care. Dr. Aapro is Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Tampere (2013) and Honorary Member of the Russian Society for Clinical Oncology (RUSSCO)(2016). He has received the 2010 Acta Oncologica Award, the 2012 ASCO B.J. Kennedy prize and the MASCC Distinguished Services Award (2016).

Dr Mirjam Crul is Board Member, European Cancer Organisation, Special Network on the Impact of COVID-19 on Cancer Co-Chair and Workforce Network Co-Chair. Shereceived her master in pharmacy in 1999. Subsequently, she worked as a research fellow at the Netherlands Cancer Institute studying clinical pharmacology of novel anticancer agents. This work resulted in a PhD in 2002. She trained to become a Hospital Pharmacist from 2002-2006. Currently she is employed in the Amsterdam University Medical Center, where she is the Head of the Aseptic Compounding Unit and has pharmaceutical responsibility for the Oncology Department. She served as a Board Member for the Dutch Hospital Pharmacists Association (NVZA) from 2016 to 2019. At present, she holds a chair in the European Cancer Organisation Board and is Vice-President of the European Society of Oncology Pharmacy (ESOP).