Dr. Camilla Zimmermann is Head and Lederman Chair, Department of Supportive Care at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Head of the Division of Palliative Care at the University Health Network, and a Senior Scientist and Chair of Supportive Care Research at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre Research Institute in Toronto. She is also Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and the inaugural Director of the Division of Palliative Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Zimmermann completed her medical and internal medicine training at McGill University, her American Board exams in Internal Medicine and in Hospice and Palliative Medicine, and a Master’s in Public Health and a PhD in Palliative Medicine at the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto. She is internationally known for her research on palliative and supportive cancer care, particularly in the area of early palliative care. She has published more than 200 papers in peer-reviewed journals, is co-editor of the textbook Supportive Oncology, is a member of several journal editorial boards, and is an Associate Editor for BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care. She has received several research awards, including the William E. Rawls Prize by the Canadian Cancer Society. She co-chairs the Supportive Care committee of the Canadian Cancer Trials Group. Her research on early palliative care in patients with cancer is funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the Canadian Cancer Society.  

Geana Paula Kurita (BNSc, MNSc, PhD) is a Senior Researcher and as of 1st September 2021 Professor of Anaesthesiology with Special Focus on Nursing in Pain and Palliative Medicine at Rigshospitalet Copenhagen University Hospital and University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Her main scientific contributions have been within the field of chronic pain and palliative care, analysing patients with cancer and other chronic non-cancer diseases. Her scientific interests include assessment and prevalence of symptoms/risk factors, analgesic treatment effects, palliative interventions, and long-term consequences of opioid treatment. Currently she is vice-chair of EAPC Research Network.

Dr. David Hui is a tenured associate professor at the Department of Palliative Care, Rehabilitation and Integrative Medicine, with a joint appointment to the Department of General Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center. His research interests include symptom management clinical trials, prognostication, integration of supportive/palliative care into oncology and research methodology. He has authored and/or co-authored over 270 scientific papers and is leading several randomized controlled trials funded by the US National Institutes of Health.

Professor Christoph Ostgathe, President of the EAPC and Professor of Palliative Medicine at University of Erlangen, Germany. His research is focussing on palliative care for patients with a diagnosis other than cancer and in particular vulnerable situations for example when infected/colonised with multi-resistant pathogens such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA). Current health care research projects include the use of sedation and investigating the predictors of anxiety and depression. He is leading research on novel technologies in palliative care, for example, touchless radar-based biometry for presence and detection of vital signs at end-of-life.

Dr Tonje Lundeby is a researcher at the Oslo University Hospital in Norway and the manager of the European Palliative Care Research Centre. Her main research interests are clinical communication and patient-centred cancer care. She also develops and conducts communication skills training programmes for health care providers. 

Prof. Kenneth Chambaere is Interdisciplinary Professor of Public Health, Sociology & Ethics of the End of Life at the End-of-Life Care Research Group, Ghent University & Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium. Prof. Chambaere’s current research focusses on three main themes: (1) end-of-life practices, (2) palliative care in and by the community and (3) end-of-life care for people in vulnerable positions. He conducts and is involved in projects on following topics: assisted dying/euthanasia; palliative sedation; palliative care and end-of-life decision-making in the perinatal period; tiredness of life in older people; palliative care for difficult-to-reach groups (e.g. in psychiatry, prisons); Compassionate Communities; volunteerism in palliative care provision; palliative day care models. To date he has published more than 80 international peer-reviewed papers and contributed several book chapters, including a chapter on the ethics of end-of-life decisions in the Springer Textbook of Palliative Care.

Dr. Masanori Mori is a palliative care physician in the Palliative and Supportive Care Division at Seirei Mikatahara General Hospital in Hamamatsu, Japan. His research interests include symptoms in the last weeks to days of life, physician-patient communication, and advance care planning. He is the Principal Investigator of several domestic and international projects, focusing on terminal dyspnea, end-of-life care, and advance care planning.

Prof Julia Downing is an experienced educationalist and researcher and is the Chief Executive of the International Children’s Palliative Care Network. She undertook her PhD looking at the impact of palliative care education in rural Uganda, and has developed, run and participated in diplomas, degrees, MSc’s and PhDs in palliative care and related subjected, supervising research students at all levels. She has worked in Uganda, regionally and internationally for the past twenty years, working in partnership with colleagues to deliver education programmes and lead, participate in and supervise palliative care research. Her research experience has included qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods, including withing fragile settings, and covered a range of topics including health systems strengthening, rapid systems appraisals, the integration of palliative care into national health systems, the development of outcome tools for palliative care for adults and children, evaluating nurse prescribing, Covid-19 related studies, and participating in large multi-country studies such as the MyPal study utilsing palliative care digital platforms, the PRIMSA study reflecting Positive diversities of European priorities for research and measurement in end of life care, and Ensuring Core Outcomes and Measuring Palliation in sub-Saharan Africa (ENCOMMPASS). She holds various academic positions including Honorary Professor at Makerere University, Visiting Professor Edge Hill University, Visiting Professor University of Belgrade, Visiting Senior Research Fellow Kings College London, Honorary Fellow, University of Edinburgh and previously Visiting Professor at the University of South Wales. She has over 200 publications and is regularly invited to present at international conferences and has been the scientific Chair for conferences in Africa, Latin America and Europe.  She is committed to developing and building capacity for research and education, and developing leaders in palliative care and nursing globally.