Françoise Meunier: Next Thursday, key European stakeholders will take stock of the progress made at the EU level to protect cancer survivors from financial discrimination

Françoise Meunier shared on LinkedIn:

“Next Thursday, key European stakeholders will take stock of the progress made at the EU level to protect cancer survivors from financial discrimination to devise a European framework that protects cancer survivors no matter their country of residence.

We will have the honour of hearing from Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides and Finance Commissioner Mairead McGuinness who will share their commitment to the ‘right to be forgotten’ and present the European Commission’s current initiatives on the matter.

MEPs Deirdre Clune MEP, Kateřina Konečná, Tilly Metz, Dolors Montserrat, Tomislav Sokol and former MEP and now Health Minister of Health of Portugal, Manuel Pizarro will also take the stage. Together, they will discuss the importance of protecting European cancer survivors and how they managed to get the right to be forgotten into key pieces of legislation, namely Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and the Consumer Credit Directive.

Finally, Christine Chomienne and Penilla Gunther will present the role and contributions of the EU Cancer Mission.

If you wish to attend this conference and hear what these European stakeholders have to say about the progress of the right to be forgotten, join us at the High-Level Conference on Ending Financial Discrimination Against Cancer Survivors to take place on 15 February in Brussels. Find out more and register here.”

Source: Françoise Meunier/LinkedIn

Françoise Meunier dedicated her professional life to improving the survival and QoL of cancer patients. Prof. Meunier served as Director-General of the European organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (1991-2015), where she remained active until 2018 as Director of Special Projects, being the driving force behind cancer survivorship activities. Since 2014, she has been pursuing activities on the Right to be Forgotten for cancer survivors, advocating for the creation of a harmonised legal framework to tackle discrimination against cancer survivors.

Prior to joining the EORTC, Françoise Meunier was Head of Infectious Diseases Department at Institute Jules Bordet. Prof. Meunier was awarded the Belgian Laureate Prix Femmes d’Europe 2004-2005, conferred the title of Baroness by His Majesty, King Albert II of Belgium in 2007, received the Pezcoller Foundation award in 2009, became a Fellow of the European Academy of Cancer Sciences in 2011, joined the Scientific Committee of the Innovative Medicine Initiative of the European Union in 2012, received the ECCO Life time achievement award in 2013, awarded a Ben de Pauw Medal for her dedication to Medical Mycology in 2013, appointed council member of the Federation of European Academies of Medicine in 2014, appointed Chair of Accreditation Council of Oncology in Europe and Member of Alliance for Biomedical Research in Europe in 2015, and has been a member of the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine since 2006.