The Second Annual Meeting of the Prevention and Early Detection (P&ED) Cluster – Implementation Research recently took place in Barcelona, hosted by the Public Health Agency of Catalonia and organized by members of the PIECES Project, coordinated by the Tobacco Control Unit.
The event brought together representatives of the six projects that make up the Cluster — PIECES, ONCODIR, CPW (Cancer Prevention at Work), PREVENT and 4P-CAN — for an exchange of knowledge, progress and future directions. Throughout the meeting, participants reflected on the successes achieved during the last year as a cluster and explored opportunities to align efforts and strengthen collaboration between the different working groups.
The First P&ED Cluster Round Table
A major highlight of the event was the inaugural P&ED Cluster Round Table, titled: “From Research to Practice: Implementing Effective Cancer Prevention Strategies Across Europe”
This dynamic session fostered a debate between speakers and attendees, highlighting the urgent need to translate scientific research into practical strategies that have a real impact on cancer prevention across Europe.
The round table was moderated by Dr. Wolfgang Fecke, Executive Director of the Association of European Cancer Leagues (ECL), and featured expert panelists from across the Cluster:
- Anna Schneider-Kamp
Cancer Prevention at Work (CPW)
PhD, Associate Professor, University of Southern Denmark - Thanassis Mavropoulos
ONCODIR Project
Project Coordinator, Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute of Information Technologies (ITI), Hellas Center for Research and Technology - Bethany Hipple Walters
PIECES Project
PhD, senior researcher, Trimbos Institute for Mental Health - Joy Ngo
PREVENT EU Project
Researcher, IDIAPJGol (Jordi Gol Primary Health Care Research Institute) - Marius Geantă, MD
4P-CAN Project
Project coordinator, president and co-founder of the Center for Innovation in Medicine - Choni Donate Martinez
CO-CAPTAIN_EU
PhD, senior researcher, Polytechnic University of Valencia, Biomedical Data Science Laboratory
The roundtable highlighted the shared mission of these projects: to promote effective, scalable and evidence-based solutions for the prevention and early detection of cancer, and to support their implementation in various European healthcare systems.
As the P&ED Cluster continues to advance its work, this meeting represented an important step in building a collaborative foundation to help reduce the burden of cancer through innovation, cooperation, and impact-oriented research.
