What is the GUIDE.MRD Patient Advisory Board?
The GUIDE.MRD Patient Advisory Board (PAB) has been established to facilitate patient engagement and co-creation across all project Work Packages, namely, to understand patients’ needs and experiences along the care pathway, and particularly post-surgery and prior to (possible) relapse.
The PAB consists of eleven members from across Europe, including patient representatives, representatives of EU patient organisations, carers and individuals living with cancer, representing lung, colorectal, and pancreatic cancers. The PAB is co-led by Digestive Cancers Europe (DiCE) and The Synergist, with support from Lung Cancer Europe (LuCE), and with the participation of all GUIDE.MRD consortium members.
The role of the GUIDE.MRD PAB is to provide patient community insights and advice and contribute to co-creation across the project. The PAB will ensure that patients’ interests and priorities are considered and that the outcomes of GUIDE.MRD will provide benefits to patients, patient communities, and society as a whole.
The contributions of the PAB members are valuable and are not limited to tasks within the GUIDE.MRD project itself. Involvement throughout the project will ensure the conduct of patient-centred research and will empower PAB members as advocates for ctDNA testing and thought leaders on liquid biopsies in their respective organisations and networks.
Alexandre has been a member of the LuCE association since December 2023. He
Eva Backman is the current chairman of the Swedish Cancerföreningen (Cancer Association) PALEMA – an umbrella organization that covers upper gastrointestinal cancers. She is a 5-year locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC) survivor and two times cancer caregiver having lost two husbands to cancer.
Dr Karl Smith-Byrne is a Research Fellow at Green Templeton College and Senior Molecular Epidemiologist at the Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford. In this role, he co-leads the metabolomics and proteomics research programme into the aetiology of prostate cancer, among others, using an integrative multi-omits approach. 
Lasma is an early-onset rectal cancer patient. She was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2019 at the age of 33. She is a cancer patient with basic medical training; she has a tertiary education in nursing. Her other qualifications are master’s degrees in philology and environmental sciences.
Lisbeth Søbæk Hansen is 62 years old and a relative to a lung cancer patient. 
Merel Hennink, wife and mother of 2, was diagnosed with stage IV NSCLC in November 2014. She
Nicoline is a patient advocate who was diagnosed with NSCLC in 2018. Her ALK+ 
Patrycja Rzadkowska is a psychologist and works professionally as a Customer Relationship Manager
Piero Rivizzigno, Laurea in Electronics Engineering at Padua University, Applied Mathematics and
Stephen Rowley is an interdisciplinary scientist and artist, who worked on internet security in the
Vincent de Jong lives in The Netherlands and has a professional career in the Finance Industry as Risk
Maria Luisa Pagano is the Secretariat Coordinator of Pancreatic Cancer Europe (PCE) since 2020. She is in charge of the daily management of the association and supports the PCE Board of Directors in implementing the work programme and in defining the strategies for the association’s development. In her position as Secretariat Coordinator, she supports the participation of patients and patient advocates in all European initiatives, where PCE is involved in. She represents PCE in several networks, advisory boards and steering committees. She has an extensive experience in managing international projects, in developing educational activities and tools.
