Brussels, 28-30/04/2023.
On April 28th-30th 2023, 89 Melanoma patients, carers and patient advocates from 24 countries within and outside the European Union met for the first full post-Covid annual MPNE conference by the iToBoS project partner.
The majority of the participants had cutaneous Melanoma, but we had participants with ocular, mucosal, acral and paediatric Melanoma despite the focus of the meeting being on cutaneous Melanoma. 22% of the participants had early Melanoma (Stage 1 and 2), 78% late Stage Melanoma (Stage 3 and Stage 4), the proportion of Stage 4 patients was 55%.
EDGE remained MPNE's annual conference theme, with sessions on the latest therapeutic and scientific developments in Melanoma but also topics like data, early access and novel models for drug development. Quality of life was a thread running through the entire meeting- just as it is relevant for all stages of Melanoma.
New were the increased presence and involvement from the diverse European projects MPNE is involved in, with a dedicated session with our iToBoS colleagues Rafael Garcia and Lennart Juette.
Rafael provided insights into the origin of the iToBoS project- amazing to see how learnings from monitoring surfaces under water can turn into innovation for Melanoma! And Lennart presented his latest project Melasome, a project turning dermoscopic Melanoma images into artwork- providing a great accessible demonstration of what Artificial Intelligence can do.
Friday had already started with a joint satellite workshop with PMC4EU, a European project funded under the EU4Health program on access to precision diagnostics, followed by the kick-off of MELCAYA, a Horizon Europe Cancer Mission project on Melanoma in children and young adults.
We in MPNE consider participation in research projects, in particular at European level as an important part of our activities- as we have seen how the close interaction between research and patient communities generates new ideas and different perspectives. So a big thank you to all consortium partners who made their way to Brussels, it was a pleasure to have you and hope to see you again soon!
The full conference program is available at www.mpneurope.org/program-mpne2023.
The MPNE2023 was made possible thanks to the support of Bristol Myers Squibb, Roche, Novartis Oncology and three projects funded by the European Union: PCM4EU, MELCAYA and iToBoS.
More details at iToBoS project coordinator supported the MPNE 2023 Conference and Melanoma, art and AI: A New Age Approach.