Filipe Santos Silva elected president of the European Association for Cancer Education

Researcher Filipe Santos Silva was recently elected president of the European Association for Cancer Education (EACE) and will also join the executive board of the American Association for Cancer Education. The election took place during the 34th Annual Scientific Meeting of this European association, which took place in Wroclaw, Poland.

At this meeting, the i3S researcher participated in the panel of speakers of a masterclass on Career Advancement through Leadership Development in Cancer Education and presented an oral communication entitled “The Serious Play of bringing Start-Ups to Pediatric Cancer Care”, which reflects his recent work on the co-creation of living labs for the RESOLVE - Health 2.0 program.

The election comes after four years in the EACE vice-presidency and a consistent contribution to the area of cancer literacy, whether in the organization of leadership training for health professionals, or in the development of methodologies for characterization and impact assessment or in the design and implementation of innovative educational models, first in the context of the Ipatimup Public Awareness of Cancer Unit and, more recently, in the i3S Communication Unit.

Cancer, given its significant economic and psychosocial impact, represents a public health priority for the coming decades in the European Union. In this scenario, EACE, argues Filipe Santos Silva, “is a relevant stakeholder in the development of training and leadership programs for health professionals, and in the implementation of innovative educational strategies focused on increasing the cancer literacy of patients, families and communities”.

Created almost four decades ago (1987) by a small group of doctors and educators in the field of oncology, the association today has a global reach, integrating members from European countries and associated countries such as Brazil, Canada, USA, Israel or Australia and a solid networking activity, mentoring, and promoting the sharing of best practices based on scientific evidence.