Neel Parikh, SURGhub Ambassador of The Global Surgery Foundation, shared on LinkedIn:
” ‘Why are so many people going to IFEMA MADRID?’ My Uber driver asked me this out of curiosity.
‘I’ve been coming here for the last few days and I keep seeing so many people going to IFEMA. What’s happening there?’
So, with my broken Spanish, I tried my best to explain.
I told him that thousands of doctors, researchers and oncology professionals from around the world had come together in Madrid for ESMO – European Society for Medical Oncology Congress 2026, one of the biggest meetings in cancer care and research.
And somehow, that small conversation became one of my favourite memories from Madrid.
I was really happy to be there to present our work on AI Diagnostics in Oncology. It was even more special because this marked my 30th contribution to oncology research this year.
It has been a year of reading, research, discussions, revisions and a lot of learning. Seeing the work finally presented at ESMO was definitely a proud moment. But ESMO was more than just presenting a poster. Being surrounded by people working every day to understand cancer better was a reminder of why I want to pursue Hematology & Oncology.
And Spain made the experience even better. Spaniards are incredibly welcoming and friendly, and I genuinely loved the little conversations I had along the way, even with my very broken Spanish!
A big thank you to ESMO – European Society for Medical Oncology and especially the International Cancer Foundation (ICF), Daria H. and Affy Degbé for supporting me and helping make this experience possible. Truly grateful.
A random Uber conversation, a poster at ESMO and a lot of memories from Madrid.
30 contributions down. The journey in oncology has only just begun.”
You can also read other articles from ESMO Congress 2026 on OncoDaily and watch ESMO 2026 Madrid Highlights on OncoDaily TV.
