News

Ending cancer service delays and backlogs: voices from the frontline

Pandemic-related delays and backlogs in cancer diagnosis, screening and treatments can be rapidly addressed if health services invest now in data systems that monitor needs and resources, together with innovative ways to…

News

Guiding principles for developing European comprehensive cancer networks proposed

The European Cancer Organisation and Organisation of European Cancer Institutes have put forward key principles to guide the development of a European Network of Comprehensive Cancer Centres. In a position paper published on…

Obituaries

Michael Peckham – the artist-oncologist who helped shape our world

Not all clinicians choose to look beyond doing their best for their patients to learn about the science behind the disease and play a role in progressing treatments. Fewer still are the…

Obituaries

Bella Kaufman: a rare combination of humanity and morality

Bella Kaufman had great compassion for all cancer patients – but on one in particular she was a bit tough. “Why am I so extra strict with myself?” she asked. “I have…

Obituaries

Angelo Di Leo leaves a living legacy of quality care and research excellence

Future generations of trials must abandon [the traditional] method of patient selection and define eligibility by tumor biology… The era of breast cancer as a homogenous disease is no more. (Ode to a…

Articles

Beating cancer is complex – our messaging must be clear

A window of opportunity is opening up across Europe to reverse the ever-rising trend of new cancers and improve outcomes for patients everywhere. It’s been brought about in part by a major…

Articles

Delivering cancer care during the pandemic: lessons from the ‘first wave’

“My partner had to be admitted to hospital with neutropenia earlier on in her treatment cycle, and she and I are constantly discussing what to do: whether we should ask about suspending treatment, how the risk/benefit equation adds up, whether we should call the consultant. But I think the fact is no one, not even […]

Articles

Guiding career paths from trainee doctor to oncology leader

“If you want to be an oncologist you have to go through some struggles. First become a medical doctor and then enter a residents’ training in internal medicine and then medical oncology. If you want to do more, you have to organise your own training.” “When you start, for every young doctor it is not […]

Articles

How to make precision drugs that work better

Six lessons from the development of the first targeted anti-cancer therapy Tamoxifen famously started life as a failed contraceptive, developed by ICI (now Astra Zeneca), but with the fatal flaw that it increased ovulation rather than suppressing it. It’s a story sometimes told to show how discoveries can come from unexpected quarters and that scientific […]