Partnerships with Other Organisations

Europa Donna is an active member or partner in European patient and cancer organisations with representatives sitting on organisation committees and participating in regular meetings and conferences. This involvement is key to the exchange of ideas and furthers the cause by uniting voices of patients, clinicians and scientists.

ABC Global Alliance

Europa Donna is an active member in this organisation aimed to globally improve and extend the lives of people with advanced breast cancer (ABC). Europa Donna participates in its biennial Advanced Breast Cancer Conference, where guidelines for this disease stage are regularly updated. This is in keeping with ED’s educational initiatives and advocacy work for and on behalf of women with metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

European Cancer Organisation (ECO)

Europa Donna is a member of the ECO Prevention, Early Detection and Screening Network alongside scientific organisations and other patient organisations. It aims to promote cancer prevention through modifiable risk factors such as lifestyle, as well as through screening and early diagnosis. ED representatives are co-chairs of the patient advisory group and sit on a number of ECO networking groups.

European Patients’ Forum (EPF)

Europa Donna is an active member of this coalition which acts as an intermediary between the patient community, representing some 150 million patients across Europe, and EU policymakers. Europa Donna is a regular participant in EPF activities.

During decades of collaboration, Europa Donna has been an equal partner and co-organiser of the biennial EBCC alongside the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and the European Society of Breast Cancer Specialists (EUSOMA) since its inception in 1998. It is the first conference to include a patient advocacy organisation as a partner. The ED president serves on the EBCC Organising Committee and acts as conference co-chair. Many ED Executive Board members, National Representatives, and other ED members chair conference sessions and give presentations.

ED is also a member of the EBCC Manifesto Committee which develops and publishes a manifesto as a form of guidance on a current “hot topic”. This then becomes a crux for advocacy.

European School of Oncology (ESO)

The European School of Oncology is non-profit organisation dedicated to providing quality education and training to ensure that all patients receive equal access to competent cancer care. There is continuous collaboration between ESO and Europa Donna as members of both organisations regularly participate and speak at each other’s educational events. The collaboration goes back to ED’s inception, as Dr Umberto Veronesi was the founder of both ESO and Europa Donna. ESO’s current CEO, Dr Alberto Costa, is also a co-founder of Europa Donna, and participates regularly in ED events and training courses.

European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO)

ESMO is an organisation of oncology professionals which provides education and information on the latest scientific developments in oncology. ED is a regular participant in the ESMO annual conference, and in meeting and webinars of this professional organisation and Europa Donna’s current President is chair of the Patient Advisory Group of ESMO whose main task is to prepare Patient Track for the ESMO Congress.

European Breast Surgical Oncology Certification (BRESO)

Europa Donna is a partner society in BRESO, which was founded in 2019 to raise and harmonise the quality and standards of breast surgical oncology across Europe by providing training and certification in breast surgery. The ED CEO served as the patient advocate representative on the BRESO organisational/management structure working group during the development of the BRESO curriculum.

Resources