International meeting on action against cancer for Queen Letizia

Queen Letizia was in Milan for a very important meeting on Thursday, marking World Cancer Research Day with a series of engagements in the city.

The royal marked World Cancer Research Day in the Italian city of Milan, chairing an international gathering of researchers. Queen Letizia is the Permanent Honorary President of the Spanish Association Against Cancer and the Scientific Foundation of the Spanish Association Against Cancer.

Upon her arrival in Milan, Queen Letizia travelled to the IFOM Institute of Molecular Oncology, where she was greeted by a group of Italian and Spanish government officials and cancer researchers.

The royal gave an opening speech at the event, thanking her hosts for ”giving me the opportunity to witness the extraordinary work done here. Well, I think it was crucial and I have to come back.”

She added: “All of us gathered here today share a strong commitment to promoting and advancing cancer research.”

World Cancer Research Day this year is held under the theme of ‘Innovation in Cancer Research Brings Us Closer to Equity’, which focused on innovative research and ways to expedite results, prevention and survival rates for cancer patients.  

Queen Letizia later received a tour of the IFOM Institute, where she saw the various research laboratories for colon cancer and microplastics; the effects of cancer during the gestational phase; and research on new instruments for histology, the study of biological tissues at the microscopic level.

The Institute shared on their social media platforms that “It was an intense day in which we had the great privilege of having Her Highness Queen Letizia of Spain in our laboratories, who demonstrated great human transport and sincere curiosity for our research projects, paying generous attention to the researchers and their stories.”

The Queen had a chance to meet with Spanish cancer researchers working in Italy following the main events of the day, hearing more about their day-to-day work.

Queen Letizia spoke of the importance of cancer research, telling those gathered that: “Our main objective is to ensure that the knowledge derived from this research reaches patients truly and effectively as quickly as possible. This year, as you know, the focus is on innovation. Innovation is trying to make the transfer of knowledge a reality in order to improve equity in access to treatments and, of course, improve both survival rates and, of course, the quality of life of patients.”

World Cancer Research Day was created in 2016 with the goal of a 70 percent cancer survival rate by 2030.