Ana Amariutei Archives - Youth Cancer Europe (YCE)

Patients and patient advocates are increasingly involved in decision-making in healthcare and the setting of research agenda. Knowing how to access scientific literature, correctly analyse and interpret data, hold a scientific argument and to effectively and correctly communicate scientific content have therefore become essential advocacy skills.

Ana Amariutei, 22, is a cancer survivor and patient advocate and studies Biomedical Science in year 3 at the University of Sheffield. She is also a member of YCE and participated at the 13-15 October ESMO Workshop “Science for Advocates” in Munich.

“I am really happy I had the opportunity to participate at the science workshop organised by the European Society for Medical Oncology.

During the workshop we were provided with a lot of useful information about ways in which scientific literature can be accessed, interpreted and communicated accurately. The lectures and group work allowed us to understand better how data is interpreted, we had presentations that described basic statistical concepts and we had exercises during which we read and analysed scientific papers using the ESMO-MCBS (Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale).

The workshop was a successful event and it surely provided us with a lot of useful and detailed information.” said Ana. “We look forward to put into practice what we learned during this weekend.”

“We’ve seen through the enthusiastic faces in the room, through the outcomes that we managed to achieve in 8 hours with no structure but with everyone bringing up similar topics, sharing the similar visions that there are so many things that we can do jointly.”

Sarunas Narbutas – Lithuania

  • Advisor to the President of the Republic of Lithuania
  • Lecturer on EU and International Law at Vilnius University
  • PhD Candidate (Networked Governance)
  • President of the Lithuanian Cancer Patient Society
  • Cancer survivor

“I believe meetings like this are important because it helps us get together with survivors from other countries and we can find out what issues other people face and what would be the solution on a European level.”

Floin Barnea – Romania

  • Business owner and lead designer of Digital Etiquette
  • Student at the Faculty of Philosophy and Political Sciences, Iasi
  • Cancer survivor

“I think it’s very helpful to bring people together from across Europe to try and discuss the issues they are facing with cancer despite the differences we face in funding and medical care. And I think this really has helped and we have something we can hopefully build on.”

Mathew J. Cooke – United Kingdom

  • Phd Candidate (Politics), University of Cambridge
  • Member, NHS England’s Teenage and Young People Cancer Clinical Reference Group
  • Member, NCRI Teenage and Young Adult Clinical Studies Group
  • Cancer survivor

“Being in different groups through the meeting, I managed to talk with almost all the participants from the conference and this way we were able to see the problems that are around the whole of Europe Recommended Site. ”

Ana Amariutei – Romania

  • 12th grade student at Emil Racovita National College, Iasi
  • Patient support Volunteer with Little People Romania at the Sf. Maria Children’s
  • Emergency Hospital, Iasi
  • Cancer survivor

“I liked the fact that it was an open space summit and we had freedom to speak, freedom to what meeting we wanted. We could also raise our own issues and it was a very good way to get people together.”

Floin Barnea – Romania

  • Business owner and lead designer of Digital Etiquette
  • Student at the Faculty of Philosophy and Political Sciences, Iasi
  • Cancer survivor

“Probably the most intriguing thing about this meeting was that it was an open summit, I never joined or participated in that king of meetings ever, so that was pretty impressive.”

Tomaz Dezelak – Slovenia

  • History and Theology Student at the University of Ljubljana
  • Author, The Other Me
  • Cancer survivor

“All the ideas were flowing, everybody was talking, everybody was discussing their own problems and their own issues and everybody was giving an opinion so it was a very productive day.”

Emanuel Schipor – Romania

  • Student at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Cluj-Napoca
  • Patient Support Volunteer
  • Assistant to Little People hospital psychologist, Institute of Oncology in Cluj-Napoca
  • Cancer survivor

“I was very impressed by the level of knowledge and the ability to communicate it in a second language to most people. I couldn’t have done that in a foreign language, so I was very much blown away by that. But also the enthusiasm and the engagement everyone had throughout the day, despite the fact we all had very little sleep and too little coffee.”

Mathew J. Cooke – United Kingdom

  • Phd Candidate (Politics), University of Cambridge
  • Member, NHS England’s Teenage and Young People Cancer Clinical Reference Group
  • Member, NCRI Teenage and Young Adult Clinical Studies Group
  • Cancer survivor

“My first reaction was not knowing what exactly was going to happen, I was a little bit afraid of the themes that were going to come up, what everybody is going to talk about, if they were really going to answer to my questions, what I was asking myself about, and I was pretty impressed to see that many people had the same questions as I had. Same themes came up that I was interested in and I was pretty impressed, I really liked it and I think it was really worthwhile coming.”

Francisco Mateos – Spain

  • Cofounder and board member of AAA – Asocoacion Espanola de Adolescentes y
  • Adultos jovenes con cancer
  • Volunteer Coordinator
  • Bachelor in Philosophy and student of Pedagogy
  • Cancer survivor

“I’m excited! For me it was a great experience, I’m grateful for being here, for being invited first of all and for being here amongst all of you, very proud for that.”

George Seremetakis – Greece

  • Double major graduate in Computer Science and Football Coaching
  • Vice-President of Kyttaro, Greek Organization of Adult Cancer Survivors
  • Cancer survivor

“I’m excited! For me it was a great experience, I’m grateful for being here, for being invited first of all and for being here amongst all of you, very proud for that.”

Mathew J. Cooke – United Kingdom

  • Phd Candidate (Politics), University of Cambridge
  • Member, NHS England’s Teenage and Young People Cancer Clinical Reference Group
  • Member, NCRI Teenage and Young Adult Clinical Studies Group
  • Cancer survivor