Isobel Read shares her experience of ESMO 2025
My experience at European Society of Medical Oncology Conference 2025
Every year, the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) hosts a five-day congress that brings together clinicians, researchers, patient advocates and industry participants from around the world. This premier event in oncology attracts around 25000-30000 attendees, all eager share research and hear announcements of potentially practice-sharing data.
This year, I was fortunate enough to attend - thanks to Salivary Gland Cancer UK – and even more thrilled to present a poster on my research comparing adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) of the respiratory tract with ACC of the salivary glands. Early one morning, I carefully carried my A0-sized poster to the exhibition hall at Messe Berlin and set it up among hundreds of others. In the afternoon, during the designated poster session, I stood beside my poster for an hour as delegates stopped by to ask questions and share insights.
It was both intimidating and rewarding – speaking to experts in their field about my research and hearing their perspectives was an experience I’ll never forget.
The Congress itself was enormous. Messe Berlin was transformed into a hub for oncology, with exhibition spaces and lecture halls filled with some of the most inspiring minds in medicine. It was a refreshing change from my usual days as a resident doctor on the hospital wards in Manchester.
I left Berlin feeling energised and inspired – proud to have contributed, even in a small world, to the understanding of salivary gland cancers, and motivated to continue exploring the world of oncology research.
You can see Isobel's poster 'Clinical and genomic characterisation of adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) of the respiratory tract and the major salivary gland' here.
