Dr. Bettina Ryll is the founder of the Melanoma Patient Network Europe and was member of the first EU Cancer Mission Board. A physician by training and with a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from University College London, she became a patient advocate after losing her husband to cancer.

Her work focuses on patient-centric innovation, covering the full spectrum from basic research over successful translation and clinical trials to timely and equitable implementation. Most recently and trigged by her work on the EU Cancer Mission Board, her particular interest has been how to best leverage the potential of personalised medicine for patients and society through novel forms of collaboration and the support of health policy and governance.

Dr. Ryll currently works as strategist for Vision Zero Cancer, a mission-driven innovation ecosystem in health and TestBed Sweden for Precision Health in Cancer, both financed by Sweden’s Innovation Agency Vinnova. She is involved in numerous European initiatives on Precision Medicine implementation, notably PCM4EU and PRIME-ROSE.

From 2015 - 2018 Dr. Ryll chaired the ESMO Patient Advocates Working Group, the first time this position has been held by a non-oncologist. She was also a member of the ESMO Quality of Care Task Force from 2015 – 2018 and is currently a member of the ESMO Investigational Immunotherapy Faculty Group.