Governance

Alberto Costa

Dr Alberto Costa, a breast cancer surgeon from Milan with previous research activity in the field of cancer chemoprevention, was appointed ESO’s Director in 1982. He took on the task of establishing the School, its offices and its first activities and has managed ESO ever since.

For over 30 years, Dr Costa single handedly designed ESO’s annual programme of activities whilst reporting to the Board of Directors and the Scientific Committee. In 2017 the Board confirmed his position as CEO. He is responsible for the scientific content of ESO’s activities.

He was editor in chief of the journal The Breast from 2003 to 2015 and a member of the editorial board of Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology. He has also been the Editor, from 2015 to 2019, of the ESO magazine, CancerWorld.

Co-founder of ABC, Advanced Breast Cancer conference, Europa Donna, the European Breast Cancer Coalition, he also founded Europa Uomo, the patient advocacy movement on prostate cancer. He has served as Secretary General of the European Organisation for the Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and the Federation of European Cancer Societies (FECS), both in Brussels. He actively contributed to the establishment and development of the American Italian Cancer Foundation (AICF) in New York, of which is member of the Advisory Board.

Since 2021 he serves as special advisor of the EU Commissioner for Health, Mrs Stella Kyriakides, for cancer policy.

Rossella Blasi

From January 2023 Mrs Rossella Blasi, senior manager in human resources and finances, joined the CEO office, with the task of coordinating the Milan and Bellinzona offices and to support the CEO in his multiple activities.

Rossella Blasi has over 20 years of experience in the charity in the management and coordination of nonprofit organisations, with a particular focus on Human and Financial Resources.

She joined ESO with the role of Director of the CEO Office, supporting the CEO in coordinating the offices located in Milan, Italy and Bellinzona, Switzerland.

Later on, she was appointed the position of Executive Director to encourage the growth of the School in its mission of promoting oncology training, implementing strategies aimed at improving processes and bringing attention to the context and the concreteness of the results in each project.

Rossella has contributed to the internal reorganisation of the activities, reviewing some of the agreements signed with our main partners. She has also began the corporate restructuring of internal skills with a view to strengthening the services offered by the School and reopening the traditional Venetian venue of San Servolo island.

Nicholas Pavlidis

After many years ESO decided to replace the Scientific Committee with an Advisory Board including representatives of the civil society, universities and experts in communication, artificial intelligence (AI) and health economics.
Prof. Nicholas Pavlidis served as Senior Oncologist at the Cancer Institute in Athens before moving to the University of Ioannina where he was elected as Professor of Medical Oncology and held the position of Head of the Department of Medical Oncology at Ioannina University Hospital from 1988 to 2016.
Since 1989, Prof. Pavlidis has served the European School of Oncology as the Chair of Eastern European and Balkan activities, member of the Scientific Committee, Masterclass Coordinator and he is currently the Co-Chair of the Advisory Board. Among his research activities, cancer of unknown primary and cancer during pregnancy were the two topics where he mainly dedicated his scientific interest for many years.

Stella Kyriakydes

Stella Kyriakides is a Cypriot politician and health advocate who served as the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety from December 2019 to November 2024. Before this role, she was a member of the Cyprus House of Representatives from 2006 to 2019. In 2017, she made history as the first Cypriot and fourth woman to be President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Kyriakides has held leadership positions such as President of the Human Rights Committee and Vice President of the Health Committee in Cyprus Parliament. She also chaired the Health and Social Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly and led the European Breast Cancer Coalition. A strong advocate for patient rights, Kyriakides founded Europa Donna, Cyprus’ first breast cancer association, and served as its president for 15 years.