ESHO2015 – the 30th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Hyperthermic Oncology, Co-organized by the IT'IS Foundation

The IT’IS Foundation for Research on Information Technologies in Society together with the Kantonsspital Aarau joined forces to organize the 30^th annual meeting of the European Society for Hyperthermic Oncology – ESHO2015 – the flagship event of the thermal cancer therapy community, held June 24 – 26, 2015 in Aarau and Zurich. The meeting started June 23 with the COST EMF-MED satellite meeing. The fist official day of ESHO was the educational day on June 24 at the Kantonsspital Aarau, followed by a visit to the Vetsuisse Faculty of the University of Zurich Animal Hospital. The conference continued on June 25 and 26 at Technopark in Zurich with plenary sessions on the biology and clinical applications of hyperthermia, and hyperthermia from physics and engineering perspectives, with emphasis on computational approaches to treatment planning and optimization.

In addition to the plenary lectures, the attendees were treated to selected oral presentations on the latest results from studies in clinics, basic research into the biology and physics of hyperthermia, and recent advances in nanotechnology. Young and upcoming hyperthermia investigators delivered 3-minute flash oral presentations in the mornings and afternoons of both days of plenary sessions. The meeting also featured a series of debates to explore controversial positions on the eventual acceptance of hyperthermia in the clinic as a pillar of standard care in oncology, as well as a public event entitled “Firing up Cancer”, intended to introduce the general population to the potential of hyperthermia as adjuvant care in oncology.

Three young investigators were singled out for their outstanding presentations of research results in the categories of biology, medicine, and physics. The award for the best paper in medicine, sponsored by ZMT Zurich MedTech AG, went to Arlene Leonie Oei, a MSc student in the Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, for her paper entitled "Hyperthermia: A targeted therapy in treating HPV-positive cervical carcinoma".

Spontaneous feedback from attendees indicates that the meeting organized by Davnah Payne and Priska Memminger was an unqualified success. The guests especially appreciated the convenience of the conference hotels to Technopark and the social events, which included Wednesday evening's congress opening apéro, the public event apéro on Thursday, and the social dinner on Friday at Restaurant Quai 61 on Lake Zurich.