On 22 and 23 June 2023, the MyPath consortium gathered in Valencia, Spain for its second General Assembly. Nearly 10 months after the project’s kick-off meeting in Oslo, Norway, all partners had the opportunity to meet in person again. Hosted by partner INCLIVA Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria, the meeting was attended by 49 MyPath team members based in 10 European countries.
On Thursday, 22 June, the meeting opened with warm words of welcome from MyPath coordinator Prof. Stein Kaasa (Oslo University Hospital) and scientific director of INCLIVA, Prof. Andrés Cervantes. Prof. Kaasa then gave a general update on the project’s status and the development of the digital patient-centred care pathways. While MyPath is a project of high complexity, it was highlighted that the team has already achieved a lot during the first ten months.
Following this introduction, the leading partners of work packages (WPs) 1-2 and 3-4 presented a status update, their methodology, and the planned next steps. While the work within WPs 1 and 2 focuses on the development of the pathways and the ICT solution through which these will be made available to the patient and healthcare provider, WPs 3 and 4 are dedicated to the implementation study, which will bring the MyPath solution into practice in nine cancer centres across Europe. All nine clinical sites updated the consortium on the progress within their centres, which showcased the diversity of implementation contexts in the project. As much as this aspect makes implementation particularly challenging during the study, it will contribute all the more to the significance of the successful implementation of MyPath.
The formal part of the day closed with a much-anticipated workshop organised by ICT partner DNV Imatis AS. After an introduction to the first prototype of the MyPath digital solution, partners had the opportunity to test the software on their laptops. This exercise generated highly valuable feedback on the prototype’s content and structure, which will be of vital importance to the further development of the digital solution.
After an informative day with thought-provoking discussions, Prof. Cervantes kindly guided the consortium on a walking tour through the beautiful old town of Valencia. The informal conversations continued during the multiple-course social dinner, a delightful wrap-up of day one of the General Assembly.
Work package updates and discussions recommenced on Friday morning, covering topics ranging from co-creation with end-users (WPs 3-4) and public outreach (WP6) to data management (WP5), project management (WP7), and health economics (WP3). In addition, WPs 3 and 4 held a special training session for social scientists from the clinical sites that will be participating in the pilot study. With a summary of the key takeaways and inspiring closing words from coordinator Prof. Kaasa and project co-lead Prof. Marie Fallon (University of Edinburgh), the meeting came to a close.
Overall speaking, the second MyPath General Assembly was a great success, bringing the team and their ideas closer together. The meeting has provided a wonderful opportunity to remind us of our common ambition to make integrated patient-centred cancer care a reality, of the progress we have made together so far and the steps we still need to take in order to achieve our goals in the four years to come.
We would like to thank all participants for their active engagement and our host INCLIVA for their hospitality and excellent organisation.
