Małgorzata Krawczyk, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc. from the Department of Paediatrics, Haematology & Oncology of the Medical University of Gdańsk represented the University at the International Symposium on Paediatric Neuro-Oncology ISPNO 2026, held on 28th June–1st July 2026 in Sydney. It is the world’s largest and most important scientific event dedicated to tumours of the central nervous system in children, bringing together specialists involved in the diagnosis and treatment of CNS tumours. This year’s edition gathered more than 1,000 experts from 56 countries.
Małgorzata Krawczyk, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc. was the only congress participant representing Poland. During the event, she presented two scientific papers devoted to contemporary challenges in paediatric neuro-oncology.
The first presentation addressed the role of international, interdisciplinary expert teams, known as international tumour boards, in optimising the diagnosis and treatment of children with central nervous system tumours. It presented the four-year experience of the Polish–WashU Paediatric Neuro-Oncology Tumour Board, an initiative led by Małgorzata Krawczyk, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc. in cooperation with Prof. Mohamed S. Abdelbaki from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Monthly multidisciplinary online meetings, as well as in-person consultations organised at least once a year, enable the most complex clinical cases of children from across Poland to be discussed with the participation of international experts.
The second paper focused on an extremely rare central nervous system tumour with a rearrangement of the PATZ1 gene. The research highlights the importance of advanced molecular diagnostics and international scientific collaboration in understanding the biology of the rarest childhood cancers and developing more effective treatment strategies.
