A joint venture between ESMO Women for Oncology and Young Oncologist Committees, the forum focused on building a future where the entire oncology workforce has the same career opportunities, independently from factors such as gender, race or age.
Gender-related issues are not only of interest to female professionals, but the whole oncology community would benefit from ensuring a level playing field.
The forum explored the steps necessary to bring fairness and equal opportunities in oncology to the next level. Participants had the chance to get updates on gender-related data from the oncology field presented by the Committee Chair 2015-2019, Solange Peters.
To follow, the keynote speaker Sabine Oertelt-Prigione, Strategic Chair for Gender in Primary and Transmural Care at the Radboud University in The Netherlands, shared the inspiring story of her atypical career and the five personal lessons she learnt along the way.
Best practices in introducing gender balance in the workplace were discussed by Michelle McIsaac, economist at the Health Workforce Department at WHO in Switzerland.
View the programme of the W4O-YOC joint Forum at ESMO 2019
Interactive Talk – Exploring the Topic of Gender From a Different Angle
The importance of sex and gender differences and their interaction with disease biology and treatments is currently a hot topic in the healthcare sector. Similarly, the need for their inclusion in research and experimental design is a matter of debate.
At the centre of the talk lay the question “Sex and gender-sensitive medicine: are we ready to switch paradigm?”. This was discussed by participants and a team of multidisciplinary panellists. including Susanna Grego, cardiologist at Cardiocentro Ticino in Switzerland; Sabine Oertelt-Prigione, Strategic Chair for Gender in Primary and Transmural Care at the Radboud University in The Netherlands, Solange Peters, ESMO Women for Oncology Committee Chair 2015-2019 and Anna Dorothea Wagner, medical oncologist at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois in Switzerland.
Find out more about the discussion here on the ESMO Daily Reporter.