Posts by author
Anna Wagstaff
Cancer and the immune system: turning insights into treatments
The vision of harnessing our immune systems to fight cancer has been tantalising scientists and doctors for more than a century. The idea had a strong scientific rationale: over millions of years our immune systems have evolved intricate and multi-layered…
Peter Boyle: a high-impact epidemiologist with contagious dreams
Peter Boyle, an outstanding epidemiologist who used the power of statistics to help inform and influence policy at European and global levels, died on July 23 after a long illness, at the age of 71. In an era when Europe…
Begging for imatinib: why do so many patients still lack access to this lifesaver?
Following doctor’s orders doesn’t usually mean making a two-hour round trip to visit your hospital twice a week to beg for any spare medication on the off-chance that someone has had to change to a different drug, or was able…
Long-term health: is it time to update the priorities of cancer research?
“I was told that cancer was a temporary condition ‒ just get through treatment and things will go back to normal. I quickly realised that this is not true.” Gregory Aune was treated for Hodgkin’s disease when he was 17.…
The invisible cure. Should we be talking more about cancer surgery?
The best chance of being cured of cancer is through surgery by expert surgeons with a deep knowledge of oncology. Why then are the public, patients and policy makers so focused on drugs, and does it matter? Mass media have…
On being a woman in oncology: in their own words
Over the past two decades, Cancer World has had the privilege of publishing profiles of many women who have been leading efforts to improve the quality of cancer care. Coming from all corners of Europe, working in all areas of…
Beating the odds in colorectal cancer
Stefan Gijssels beat the odds in colorectal cancer. Diagnosed with a cancer of the colon in 2015, a laparoscopic surgery intended to remove what was thought to be a locally contained tumour revealed something much nastier. The cancer had pierced…
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 meet that need. This was the key message…
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 September 8th, they set out seven recommendations they…
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 successful clinician scientists who choose to look beyond…