NKI at ESMO 2025

17-10-2025

This weekend, thousands of researchers, physicians, and nurses from around the world are gathering in Berlin for ESMO 2025; Europe’s leading congress on cancer research and treatment. Each year, the conference attracts 25,000 oncology professionals from more than 160 countries. It’s where the latest research findings and key developments in cancer care are shared. As always, our oncologists are well represented, from session chairs and speakers to discussants. But what actually happens at a conference like this? And what exactly are our researchers doing there?

A look behind the scenes

ESMO is the place where new research findings are shared and the future of cancer care is discussed. “It’s remarkable that so many colleagues from the NKI are actively involved,” says Myriam Chalabi, one of the scientific co-chairs of ESMO 2025. “It shows that we’re not only conducting groundbreaking research, but also helping shape the direction of the field. That international visibility is important for our institute.” As a scientific co-chair, Myriam helps shape the conference program and decides which new insights will take the stage.

Marleen Kok, medical oncologist and group leader, serves as chair of the Early Breast Cancer Track and is responsible for the scientific program on breast cancer. “Together with the members of our track, we’ve designed eight sessions, ranging from educational updates to abstract presentations,” Marleen explains. “For the educational sessions, we invite international experts to discuss new treatment strategies. For the abstract program, we reviewed more than 200 submissions on early-stage breast cancer.” About fifteen studies were selected for oral or mini-oral presentations, and more than a hundred for poster presentations. “We also invite experts to act as discussants,” says Marleen. “They put new findings into perspective, what the results mean for science, and for patients now and in the future.”

From research to discussion

Several of our researchers are presenting their latest findings, for example, Jos Jonkers, who shares new insights into genetic instability and how cancer develops. Yara Verschoor presents research on colorectal cancer, aiming to understand why some tumors do respond to immunotherapy and how that knowledge can help tailor treatments for future patients. Femke Burgers presents the NESCIO study on immunotherapy for patients with locally advanced kidney cancer, and Carolien Schröder discusses the latest developments in male breast cancer.

Others are leading discussions on the clinical application of new treatments, such as Winette van der Graaf, who as a discussant helps interpret new research findings in sarcoma.

Not only doctors and researchers

It’s not just doctors and researchers who play a role at ESMO, oncology nurses are also actively involved. Merel van Klinken, oncology nurse and board member of the European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS), co-organizes EONS’ dedicated program for oncology nurses in collaboration with ESMO. EONS has long been the international professional association for oncology nurses and works closely with ESMO on the Nursing Track.

This year, Merel is speaking at the Young Oncologists Mentorship Session, where early-career professionals discuss how to sustain compassion in such a demanding field. “We’ll talk about how to take care of yourself while caring for others,” she says, “and how nurses can make their voices heard, within their own organizations and at the political level. She is also chairing another session within the Nursing Track. “Oncology nurses have long been fighting for a seat at the table,” Merel says. “At EONS, we’re working hard to make sure nurses across Europe are heard. Our collaboration with ESMO helps amplify that voice.”

Proud of our visibility

More than 25 researchers, physicians, and nurses from the NKI have a role at ESMO 2025, as speakers, chairs, or discussants.
Check out the full overview of our sessions below.

Date & time	Name	Title	Role	Session type
Friday 17 oct
12:08	Myriam Chalabi	ESMO Scientific address	Presenter	Opening session
14:00	Daniela Thommen	Investigational immunotherapy	Chair	Mini Oral session
14:00	Marleen Kok	Breast cancer, early stage	Chair	Proffered Paper session
14:15	Sebastian Klobuch	Adoptive cell therapy	Presenter	Special Symposium
15:15	Daniela Thommen	Innvestigational immunotherapy	Invited discussent	Mini Oral session
16:00	Jos Jonkers	The hallmarks of pre-cancer	Chair	Educational session
16:00	Jos Jonkers	Genome instability and mutation	Presenter	Educational session
16:00	Michiel Van Der Heijden	3069MO - Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) outcomes from the NIAGARA trial of perioperative durvalumab (D) plus neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC)	Presenter	Mini Oral session
16:00	Merel van Klinken	Resilience and advocacy in practice: An EONS toolkit for early career cancer nurses	Presenter	Young Oncologists session
16:00	Yara Verschoor (Chalabi)	Charting the future of gastroesophageal cancer: Advancements in biomarker selection, breakthrough therapies and overcoming therapeutic resistance	Chair	Special Symposium
18:40	Gerina Ruiter	Selectively targeting HER2 in NSCLC	Presenter	Industry Satellite Symposium
19:00	Gerina Ruiter	Selectively Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH - Emerging therapies in clinical practice: what are the patient perspectives on the future of lung cancer treatment? HER2 in NSCLC	Discussent	Industry Satellite Symposium
Saturday 18 Oct
08:30	John Haanen	TIL/TCR therapy in 2025	Presenter	Educational session
08:30	Karen Bolhuis	2025: Facing a new colorectal cancer landscape	Chair	Educational session
09:00	Marleen Kok	Continuing ICIs beyond 2 years	Presenter	Young Oncologists session
09:30	Femke Burgers (Haanen)	LBA95 - Neoadjuvant immunotherapy in locally advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma at risk for recurrence or distant metastases: the randomized phase II NESCIO trial	Presenter	Proffered Paper session
10:15	Merel van Klinken	Health promotion, prevention and screening	Chair	EONS session
10:25	Judith Quik (Van Sandick)	2096MO - Systemic Therapy, Gastrectomy and CRS/HIPEC vs Systemic Therapy Alone for Gastric Cancer with Limited Peritoneal Dissemination: Results of the Randomised PERISCOPE II Trial.	Presenter	Mini Oral session
12:00	Myriam Chalabi	The arrival of ADCs: combination development	Chair	Keynote Lecture
16:30	Arthur Braat	Radioligang Therapeutics	Discussant	Proferred Paper Session
17:30	Michiel Van Der Heijden	Optimizing frontline therapy after perioperative	Presenter	Educational session
Sunday 19 Oct
12:00	Michiel Vermeulen	What oncologists should know about molecular mechanisms of cancer - Epigenetics	Presenter	Educational session
15:30	Francine Voncken	Radiation between organ preservation and toxicity	Presenter	Multidisciplinary session
15:40	Yara Verschoor (Chalabi)	BA31 - Neoadjuvant immunotherapy induces immune activation and responses in MMRproficient colon cancers	Presenter	Proffered Paper session
16:30	Carolien Schröder	Tailoring breast cancer care for special populations	Chair	Educational session
16:30	Carolien Schröder	Male breast cancer	Presenter	Educational session
Monday 20 Oct
08:30	Olga Husson	Living with an uncertain prognosis	Presenter	Multidisciplinary session
08:30	Winan Van Houdt	Therapeutic innovation to improve outcome in sarcomas	Chair	Special Symposium
08:40	Minke Lucas (Blank)	LBA57 - Two-year clinical update and first biomarker analyses of the phase 3 NADINA trial comparing neoadjuvant nivolumab plus ipilimumab versus adjuvant nivolumab in resectable stage III melanoma	Presenter	Proffered Paper session
09:15	Winan Van Houdt	Retroperitoneal sarcoma: The STRASS programme	Presenter	Special Symposium
10:15	Noor Wortelboer (Sonke)	Update SONIA study	Presenter	Mini Oral session
10:15	Winette Van Der Graaf	Mini Oral session 2 : Policy	Chair	Mini Oral session
11:00	Winette Van Der Graaf	Mini Oral session 2 : Policy	Invited discussent	Mini Oral session
12:00	Marleen Kok	Myeloid Mayhem: how inflammation may link the environment and ageing with cancer	Chair	Keynote Lecture
13:20	Winan Van Houdt	Determination of Resectability from a Surgeon's Point of View	Presenter	Industry Satellite Symposium
14:05	Winan Van Houdt	Regeneron Pharmaceutials - Overcoming Therapeutic Challenges in High-risk Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Multidisciplinary Approach	Discussent	Industry Satellite Symposium
14:50	Rob de Mann	Screening and detection	Presenter	Special Symposium
16:30	Myriam Chalabi	Presidential Symposium III	Chair	Proffered Paper session
16:30	Pedro Batista Tan (Chalabi)	112O - Pan cancer biomarkers for immunotherapy response: a pooled analysis of neoadjuvant trials	Presenter	Proffered Paper session
17:26	John Haanen	Presidential Symposium III	Invited discussant	Proffered Paper session
Tuesday 21 Oct
09:00	Myriam Chalabi	Scientific Congress Highlights	Chair	Congress Highlights 1

POSTER sessions
Developmental therapeutics	Neeltje Steeghs	956P - Encouraging antitumor activity of PDL1V (PF-08046054) monotherapy, an ADC targeting PD-L1, correlates with antigen expression in patients with NSCLC	Author	Poster
Investigational immunotherapy	Neeltje Steeghs	1549P - EXPAND-1, a phase I/II study of ANV600, a PD-1 targeted IL-2R-βγ agonist, in monotherapy and in combination with pembrolizumab, in advanced solid tumors	Author	Poster
Breast cancer, metastatic	Pauline Buitelaar (Steeghs, Huitema)	Quantification of total trastuzumab (TTM) concentrations in blood samples from patients treated with trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) and trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-Dxd)	Presenter	Poster
Breast cancer, metastatic	Rianne Rolfes (groep Kok)	421 TiP OPTimaL" Optimisation of treatment for patients with low stage TNBC with high TIL	Presenter	Poster

Official ESMO roles

Myriam Chalabi	Scientific co-chair
Marleen Kok	Track chair - Early breast cancer track
Daniela Thommen	Track member: Investigational Immunotherapy
Christian Blank	Track member: Melanoma and other skin tumors
Winette Van Der Graaf	Track member: Policy
Winan Van Houdt	Track member: Sarcoma
Francine Voncken	track member: Upper GI malignancies

With so many contributions, our researchers and professionals once again show how excellent, collaborative, and pioneering the NKI truly is, not only in Amsterdam, but worldwide.

NKI at ESMO 2025

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