06 December 2025
Athens 3-5 December, 2025
The EpSSG Winter Meeting was held in Athens, Greece, from December 3–5. The local organization was led by Dr. Apostolos Pourtsidis.
The discipline-specific panel groups met on Wednesday, prior to the main Winter Meeting, at Elpida Hospital and at the meeting room of the Floga Parents’ Association of Children with Cancer. The main meeting took place at the Royal Olympic Hotel and was attended by 133 international delegates.
The meeting venue and social event were located at a historic site close to the Acropolis, overlooking the Temple of Zeus and the National Garden.
Highly productive sessions were held on refractory and relapsed rhabdomyosarcoma, genetic predisposition in soft tissue sarcomas, and a non-rhabdomyosarcoma soft tissue sarcoma (NRSTS) session focused on the management of ultra-rare sarcomas in childhood, drawing on adult experience. The Biology Young Investigator Session addressed rare entities. Updates on ongoing clinical trials were presented, including FaR-RMS (with both a dedicated TMG meeting and an open meeting), MyKIDS, and OCTOPUS. We are grateful to our COG colleague, Aaron Weiss, who provided an update on North American soft tissue sarcoma trials conducted by the Children’s Oncology Group.
Prof. Georgios Nasioulas delivered an outstanding keynote lecture on the applications of liquid biopsy for the diagnosis and monitoring of pediatric sarcomas.
During the General Assembly, elections were held and the Board was renewed with four new members: Max van Noesel, Sheila Terwisscha van Scheltinga, Federica De Corti, and Janet Shipley. Andrea Ferrari was elected as the new Chair of EpSSG.
During the social event—held under dramatic thunderstorms over the Acropolis—we bid farewell to Meriel Jenney upon her retirement, as well as to former Board colleagues Michela Casanova, Henry Mandeville, Véronique Minard-Colin, Timothy Rogers, Gabriela Guillen, and Nadège Corradini, all of whom will undoubtedly continue to collaborate within the association. We warmly welcome the new Board members and wish our Chair, Andrea Ferrari, every success.
We are deeply grateful to Hans Merks for great 6-fruitful years as a chair in the EpSSG and special thanks to Apostolos for the outstanding and warm organization of the meeting in Athens. Without his dedication and support, the meeting would not have been such a success.
The discipline-specific panel groups met on Wednesday, prior to the main Winter Meeting, at Elpida Hospital and at the meeting room of the Floga Parents’ Association of Children with Cancer. The main meeting took place at the Royal Olympic Hotel and was attended by 133 international delegates.
The meeting venue and social event were located at a historic site close to the Acropolis, overlooking the Temple of Zeus and the National Garden.
Highly productive sessions were held on refractory and relapsed rhabdomyosarcoma, genetic predisposition in soft tissue sarcomas, and a non-rhabdomyosarcoma soft tissue sarcoma (NRSTS) session focused on the management of ultra-rare sarcomas in childhood, drawing on adult experience. The Biology Young Investigator Session addressed rare entities. Updates on ongoing clinical trials were presented, including FaR-RMS (with both a dedicated TMG meeting and an open meeting), MyKIDS, and OCTOPUS. We are grateful to our COG colleague, Aaron Weiss, who provided an update on North American soft tissue sarcoma trials conducted by the Children’s Oncology Group.
Prof. Georgios Nasioulas delivered an outstanding keynote lecture on the applications of liquid biopsy for the diagnosis and monitoring of pediatric sarcomas.
During the General Assembly, elections were held and the Board was renewed with four new members: Max van Noesel, Sheila Terwisscha van Scheltinga, Federica De Corti, and Janet Shipley. Andrea Ferrari was elected as the new Chair of EpSSG.
During the social event—held under dramatic thunderstorms over the Acropolis—we bid farewell to Meriel Jenney upon her retirement, as well as to former Board colleagues Michela Casanova, Henry Mandeville, Véronique Minard-Colin, Timothy Rogers, Gabriela Guillen, and Nadège Corradini, all of whom will undoubtedly continue to collaborate within the association. We warmly welcome the new Board members and wish our Chair, Andrea Ferrari, every success.
We are deeply grateful to Hans Merks for great 6-fruitful years as a chair in the EpSSG and special thanks to Apostolos for the outstanding and warm organization of the meeting in Athens. Without his dedication and support, the meeting would not have been such a success.
