eCAN Plus launches “Europe Talks Cancer” podcast during the European Week Against Cancer
eCAN Plus has officially launched its new podcast series, Europe Talks Cancer, with the release of its first two episodes during the European Week Against Cancer (EWAC).
The podcast explores how digital health is transforming cancer prevention and care across Europe. In each episode, researchers, healthcare professionals and innovators come together to discuss emerging digital solutions, cross-border collaboration and the future of cancer care in an increasingly connected healthcare landscape.
Through expert conversations and practical experiences, the series highlights the role of telemedicine, health data exchange and digital infrastructures in creating more accessible, connected and patient-centred cancer care systems across Europe.
The first two episodes are already available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Episode 1: How Joint Actions Are Shaping the Future of Cancer Care
In this first episode, Robbe Saesen and Marie Delnord from the eCAN Plus coordination team at Sciensano discuss why cross-border collaboration and digital transformation have become essential pillars of modern cancer care.
The episode explores how eCAN Plus supports cancer centres across Europe in implementing telemedicine solutions, virtual tumour boards and secure health data exchange systems. The guests explain how lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of remote healthcare and why initiatives such as the European Health Data Space are creating new opportunities for patients, clinicians, researchers and policymakers alike.
Listeners will discover how digital tools can:
- Improve access to specialised cancer care regardless of geography
- Support clinicians in complex decision-making
- Enable remote consultations and home monitoring
- Facilitate collaboration between healthcare professionals across countries
- Strengthen survivorship care and cancer prevention efforts
The conversation also addresses one of the major challenges facing Europe today: inequalities in cancer care between countries and regions. With more than 40 centres and close to 400 patients involved, eCAN Plus aims to reduce disparities by supporting capacity building, training and knowledge sharing — particularly in countries where digital health infrastructure is still developing.
Robbe and Marie also discuss the importance of balancing innovation with patient safety, ethical data use, privacy protection and compliance with European regulations.
The episode concludes by looking ahead to the long-term vision of eCAN Plus: a future where cancer patients across Europe can access high-quality, multidisciplinary care more quickly and more easily, regardless of where they live.
Together, the first two episodes of Europe Talks Cancer offer an accessible introduction to how European collaboration, digital health and data-driven innovation are helping shape the future of cancer care.
Episode 2: Europe Against Cancer: Are We Stronger Together?
The second episode takes listeners behind the scenes of European collaboration in cancer care, exploring what it takes to coordinate large-scale international health initiatives such as eCAN Plus. Featuring Chlöe Mbarushimana and Pablo Suriol from the coordination team at Sciensano (Belgium), the episode examines how cooperation, stakeholder engagement and knowledge sharing are essential to making digital transformation in cancer care work across Europe.
As part of the eCAN Plus Joint Action, the conversation focuses on the often-unseen work of coordination: identifying synergies between projects, avoiding duplication of efforts, managing data governance, and ensuring that countries and institutions with very different levels of digital maturity and healthcare infrastructure can collaborate effectively.
The episode also introduces listeners to the broader European ecosystem surrounding eCAN Plus, including initiatives connected to the European Beating Cancer Plan and the EU4Health Programme. Rather than competing, European initiatives increasingly rely on collaboration, shared expertise and coordinated policy development to improve cancer care across the entire patient pathway.
Several concrete examples of collaboration are discussed throughout the episode, including synergies with projects focused on electronic health records, digital oncology training, personalised cancer care, virtual molecular tumour boards, teleconsultation and telemonitoring solutions, and digital health literacy.
The discussion also highlights the complexity of coordinating a consortium made up of 81 partners across 23 countries, as well as the importance of involving clinicians, researchers, policymakers, cybersecurity experts, interoperability specialists and patient organisations in the digital transformation of cancer care.
Another key topic is the need to align innovation with European legislation and policy frameworks such as GDPR, the AI Act, medical device regulations and the future European Health Data Space.
The episode concludes with reflections on what successful coordination means in practice: not only meeting project milestones and deliverables, but also creating an environment where all partners can contribute meaningfully and understand how their work fits into the broader vision of improving cancer care across Europe.
Stay tuned for new episodes!
