Nancy Sobhy Bolous, Assistant Professor at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, shared on LinkedIn:
“Last week, I had the pleasure of returning to International Society of Paediatric Oncology – SIOP as an invited speaker for the second year in a row. Held this year in San Antonio, Texas, SIOP is the largest annual international pediatric oncology conference.
One highlight was being one of four speakers invited to present the two-hour President’s Lecture in the main ballroom.
I spoke about next-generation sequencing (NGS) in pediatric oncology, addressing the critical question of cost and how NGS can be incorporated into clinical practice in an affordable and sustainable way, not only in high-income countries, but also in low- and middle-income countries.
Thank you prof. dr. Rob Pieters for the invitation, Nickhill Bhakta for your pioneering work in this area and for moderating such an excellent session, and my fellow speakers Thomas Aexander, Javeria Aijaz, and Bastiaan Tops for your impactful work.
I also had the opportunity to give a 45-minute session for the Young SIOP Network on ‘How to Give a WOW Presentation.’
Presenting on presentation skills was a little intimidating, you really have to practice what you preach! Thank you to Ahmed Kamal Bayoumi for suggesting my name for this talk and to the YSN organizing committee for the opportunity.
This year, eight abstracts I contributed to or supervised were accepted, four oral presentations and four posters. It was very rewarding to support and cheer on my collaborators and mentees as they presented our work.
I am so glad to see a predominantly clinically oriented scientific community like SIOP showing growing interest in health economics research.
As new technologies become part of cancer care, considering cost, value, affordability, and equitable access is a necessity, not a luxury, and these considerations need to be part of the conversation from the start.
Grateful for the conversations, collaborations, and opportunities to contribute. Until next SIOP!”
You can also read:
Together for a World Where Every Child Can Access Cancer Care at SIOP 2026 – World Child Cancer
