Final Scientific Programme Now available

Dear all,

we have organized EMSOS before, in 2011 in Ghent, and we are happy to organize this wonderful congress again in 2023 in Brussels! This organization is a joint effort of all Belgian University Hospitals and all professions are represented in our organizing committee, as well as the Belgian patient advocacy group, Cum Cura.

We are fully aware that many things have changed and continue changing in society, as well as in our profession since 2011: expectations of patients have changed, their role changing from a more passive ‘informed consent’ toward an active ‘true shared decision making’ during their disease course. Patients evolve towards full partners both in treatment and in research, looking for peer support in patient advocacy groups. Parallel to this evolution, the expectations of our younger generation co-workers have also changed, sometimes leading to mutual incomprehension and sputtering collaboration between age groups and profession groups.

In this EMSOS edition we would like to address these trends by introducing dedicated transdisciplinary sessions, directed at all stakeholders including patient advocacy groups, nurse practitioners, physiotherapists, dieticians, social workers, physicians, researchers, industry and regulatory organs. These transdisciplinary sessions revolve around a common theme ‘How far do we go?’. As patients and caretakers we are repeatedly confronted with this question, and answering it requires true transdisciplinary discussion. This may concern diagnostic workup of for instance an octogenarian, decisions on (surgical) treatment of oligometastatic disease in a young mother, long survivor psychosocial support in times of nurse shortage, intensity of follow-up for tumors with late metastatic potential or reimbursement of patient-specific implants. We also pose the question: ‘How can we go further?’ in collaborating with each other in order to find answers to the long-standing questions that remain unresolved due to the rareness of the disease and the notorious tumor diversity between and within individual patients. Fundamental, clinical and translational research requires a more structured way of collaborating amongst our clinical centers, actively involving patients and advocacy groups, directing the focus and funding towards common goals for improving the patient’s outcome. In this area we are planning a tantalizing moderated plenary ethical session on the ownership of samples and data.

During the training day we will address the generational trends next to the usual technical education, focusing on communication, collaboration, psychological safety and intrinsic motivators. Thanks to the ‘older’ generations and the groundbreaking work they have already accomplished we are now able to stand on their shoulders and reach further. We will talk about changing expectations through the generations, about how different generations experience different demands within their individual careers over time. Parallel to the basic training we are organizing a PhD research day to allow exchange of experiences and dissemination of early results. This edition explicitly invites the younger generation to express their ideas, opinions and needs in abstracts, short poster pitches as well as keynote lectures. We are welcoming all suggestions, pitfalls and experiences on establishing structural collaborations between all stakeholders.

We hope you enjoy this novel approach!

On behalf of the organizing committee,

Ramses Forsyth and Gwen Sys