Matti Aapro is running for the UICC Board of Directors

It is our honor to announce that the Chair of the Editorial Board of the OncoDaily Medical Journal Matti Aapro, the President of SPCC (Sharing Progress in Cancer Care), has been selected as a candidate for the Union for International Cancer Control’s Board of Directors (2024-26).

He has been in the Board for the term 2022-2024, and this year he’s running among other candidates including Eric Bouffet, Tsetsegsaikhan Batmunkh, Stella Aguinaga Bialous, Maira Caleffi, Hana Chaar Choueib, Todd Harper, Christopher Jackson, Dilyara Kaidarova, David Kerr, Purna Kurkure, Gilberto Lopes, Kenji Lopez-Cuevas, Asem Mansour, Miriam Mutebi, Omar Nimri, C S Pramesh, Kathleen Schmeler, and Naoto Ueno.

Matti Aapro is a member of the Board of Directors of the Cancer Center, Genolier, Switzerland and is the President of All.Can International.

Dr. Aapro has had an exceptional career in oncology. He previously served as the President of the Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC).  His past roles include serving as and as a Scientific Advisor for the European School of Oncology (ESO). He is the Past-President of the European Cancer Organisation (ECO) and is currently

• Executive Board Member of the International Society for Geriatric Oncology (SIOG). 
• Founding chair of the Medical and Radiation Therapy Department at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan.
• Board member of the French-speaking Society for Supportive Care (AFSOS)
• Member of the ECO International Committee.
• Advisor in the Japanese Association for Supportive Care in Cancer (JASCC)

Further expanding his impact in oncology, Dr. Aapro was the chair and organizer of the World Cancer Congress hosted by the UICC (Union for International Cancer Control) in 2008 and 2010.

He has also served as Deputy Editor for both the Annals of Oncology and the European Journal of Cancer.

Dr. Aapro is a member of the Swiss Medical Association (FMH) with a specialization in medical oncology and is an Honorary Member of the Russian Society of Clinical Oncology (RUSSCO).

His main areas of interest are breast cancer, supportive care and geriatric oncology. He has authored over 300 papers and received several prizes and honors.

Personal life and Education

Matti Aapro was born in Brazil, where his grandfather had gone from Finland. After secondary school in Switzerland, he got married to his wife who is Italian.

Matti Aapro received his medical degree from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland. He was a fellow at the Arizona Cancer Center in Tucson. It is not so surprising then that Matti Aapro speaks several languages including English, French, Italian, Spanish, Finnish and German.

Honors and Awards

Matti Aapro has been awarded by:

• Acta Oncologica.
• SIOG (International Society of Geriatric Oncology).
• MASCC (Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer).
• ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology), B.J. Kennedy award.

Interviews with Matti Aapro

The Comfort Corner #1: Dialogue with Matti Aapro., hosted by Martin Harutyunyan – OncoDaily 

In an interview with The Patient’s Channel, Matti Aapro emphasized, “Don’t rely solely on prescribing medication to support a patient. If you can’t provide psychological support yourself, ensure you have a team that can offer it.”

Furthermore, in an interview by VJ Oncology he stressed on the importance of lung cancer prevention saying, “One of the key factors in lung cancer is obviously to prevent. To prevent means stop tobacco.”

Quotes by Matti Aapro

“We all do something for our patients, call it whatever you want to call it, just do it well.”, Matti Aapro, OncoDaily.

“We have to collaborate with our colleagues if we don’t have the expertise to diagnose the patient and give the benefit of a better quality of life.”, Matti Aapro, ecancer.