EpSSG Board

This is a group of between 7 and 11 individuals elected from the membership of EpSSG who are responsible for the general management of all EpSSG activities.The Chair of the Board is elected by the Assembly and the Board elects, from its own members, the Vice Chair and the Treasurer of EpSSG.
Board/8Hans Merks is Consultant Pediatric Oncologist, Principal Investigator and Clinical Lead of the Translational Sarcoma Research Program at the Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology in Utrecht. Prof. Hans Merks is one of the founding members of EpSSG, current Chair of the EpSSG, and Vice-Chair of the Executive Board of the EuroEwing Consortium (EEC), co-chair of the imaging committee of FOSTER, and member of the Clinical Research Councel of SIOPe. Hans Merks’ aim is to bring together European countries and collaborative groups in their efforts to improve cure and quality of life, and coordinate, design and implement international prospective clinical trials, including translational research, focused on sarcoma across the pediatric and young adult age range. His has authored and co-authored over 150 articles in peer reviewed journals.
Board/1Michela Casanova is a paediatric oncologist in Milano, Italy. She has been involved in the field of paediatric solid tumours with a special interest in Soft Tissue Sarcomas and New Drug Development. She is the chairman of the New Drug Group of the Italian Paediatric Haematology and Oncology Association; Member of the Executive Committee and Co-chair of Solid Tumour Committee of ITCC (Innovative Therapies for Children with Cancer); board member of the European paediatric Soft Tissue Sarcoma Study Group (EpSSG) since December 2018, chairman of the Phase I-II committee from 2016 to 2021. Author and co-author of more than 240 papers.
Board/2Henry Mandeville is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist at the Children’s and Young Person’s Unit, in The Royal Marsden. He is Primary Clinical Oncologist (Radiotherapy) at The Royal Marsden treating malignancies in children and young people since December 2011. He has joined EpSSG radiotherapy subgroup since March 2012 to present and was the chair of the Discipline Group until 2020. He was elected as Board member in December 2018. Author and co-author of more than 50 papers.
Board/3Véronique Minard-Colin, MD PhD Gustave Roussy, France is Senior Medical Oncologist in the Children and Adolescent Oncology Department at Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France, a large cancer center with 11,000 new patients annually, including 350 children and adolescents. For the last 10 years, Pr. Minard-Colin has dedicated her research, clinical, and training activities to soft-tissue sarcoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and immunotherapy for children and adolescents with cancer. She is the national coordinator for France of the next FaR-RMS EpSSG trial and is part of the Trial Management Group. Pr. Minard-Colin is a current member of the phase I/II EpSSG committee and an EpSSG board member since December 2018. She has authored and co-authored more than130 articles referenced in MEDLINE and 35 in major peer-reviewed journals.
Board/4Nadege Corradini is a full-time specialist assistant at the Institute of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (IHOPe) department of Leon Berard Center in Lyon, FRANCE, Nadège Corradini, MD, is also associated research worker in the “Cell death & Paediatric cancers” (Marie Castets, PhD and Jean-Yves Blay, PhD) and “Genetics, epigenetics and biology of sarcomas” (F Tirode, PhD) teams of the Cancer Research Center of Lyon. Her topics in pediatric oncology field are sarcomas & mesenchymatous tumors, oncogenetics, and new drugs development. She is a board member since December 2019.
Board/5Andrea Ferrari has been working at the Pediatric Oncology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori since 1994, where he is responsible for the Outpatient Service. He has a demonstrated record of successful and productive research projects and accomplishment in the fields of pediatric oncology with main interest for clinical assistance for soft tissue sarcomas. He has a huge experience in working in strategical committees and boards of various national and international scientific societies and working groups, including EpSSG, EXPeRT, SIOPE Clinical Research Council, and many others. He also cooperate with adult medical oncology groups. He is one of the founding members of the EpSSG and a board member since December 2019. He authored and co-authored about 400 scientific papers and several books.
Board/6Dr. Gabriela Guillén is a paediatric surgeon, full-time consultant and head of section of the Paediatric Surgical Oncology Unit of the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital (Barcelona, Spain). Vall d´Hebron is a comprehensive cancer center (adult and paediatric) that treats more than 120 children and adolescents newly diagnosed annually. Since 2012 she has been a member of the Surgical Subcommittee of the EpSSG, and also collaborates with other SIOP groups and SEHOP (Spanish Society of Paediatric Oncohematology) groups. She develops clinical research in paediatric cancer and other areas of paediatric surgery, and also participates in programmes of personalized medicine and PDX model generation. She is a board member since December 2019.
Board/7Lisa Hjalgrim is paediatric oncologist, working at Rigshopitalet, Copenhagen and daily leader of the Department of Paediatric Hematology and Oncology. Her clinical responsibilities are lymphoma and sarcoma patients with a special focus on the AYA patient group. In her hospital they treat approximately 110 newly diagnosed patients with paediatric cancer. She is involved in a large number of clinical trials and national PI on 3 phase 3 paediatric international trials at the moment – specifically she is the national PI on the FaR-RMS trial. She has been a member of the EpSSG community since 2015 and a board member since December 2020.
Board/9Timothy is a full-time NHS consultant in Paediatric Surgery and has worked in this role for the past 14 years. He works collaboratively both locally and nationally to deliver and improve high quality surgical care to children. His job includes a major commitment to the surgery of childhood cancer, neonatal surgery, and minimally invasive surgery. He takes an active role in clinical research with a specific interest in paediatric rhabdomyosarcoma. These responsibilities include being a Board member of EpSSG (European pediatric Soft tissue sarcoma Study Group) and surgical lead for the International FaR-RMS (Frontline and Relapsed Rhabdomyosarcoma) trial. He is also an active surgical member of the INSTRUCT (International Soft Tissue Sarcoma) Consortium. He is the paediatric surgical lead for the SW SIC ODN (Southwest Surgery in Children Operational Delivery Network) that strives to co-ordinate delivery of general surgery of childhood and specialist paediatric surgery for Southwest England. He is an examiner for the exit Intercollegiate examinations of the Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS paed).