Why ESMO Breast Belongs on Every MBC Advocate’s Radar

This guest post is the second in a series of reports back from patient advocates who attended cancer conferences in 2025 with the help of a scholarship from the MBC Alliance. Read the first post here.

By Kelly Shanahan | Individual Advocate Member & PACS Scholarship Recipient

This May, fellow Patient Advocate Conference Scholarship recipient Janice Cowden and I attended the ESMO Breast Cancer 2025 conference in Munich, Germany. Janice has written a wonderful piece highlighting her key scientific takeaways from the meeting. I’m taking a different approach—here are my top five reasons why I believe this conference should be on every breast cancer advocate’s radar. You can also find my real-time impressions and highlights on Twitter (@stage4kelly).

1. It has a laser focus on breast cancer. Like SABCS, the mother of all breast cancer conferences, ESMO is all breast cancer, all the time. There is always a session that is pertinent to our community, unlike at the big general oncology conferences like ASCO where, yes, important advances are reported, but we can often feel overlooked and alone. At ESMO, every person you meet wants to improve the lives of people living with breast cancer.
2. It’s smaller, and participants are more approachable. You won’t get your 10,000 steps in at this conference, but you will get a chance to meet and mingle with the people doing the science and giving the talks. It is so much easier to go up to a rockstar oncologist after their presentation when there are 3,000 attendees rather than 30,000. The scale of this conference makes it more human, accessible, and conducive to meaningful conversations.
3. High-quality science is presented. This was my third time attending ESMO Breast, and the quality and impact of the presentations have grown exponentially each year. While it’s true that some of the major pharma-sponsored trials may save their big reveals for splashy podium presentations at larger conferences, ESMO Breast offers early hints, and you may even encounter interesting subgroup analyses or other data that could be lost amid the “practice changing” announcements at other conferences.
4. Advocates are included. Many panels at ESMO include an advocate to provide the patient perspective. I was honored to serve on a panel last year. Is there room for growth? Of course, just like at the US conferences like ASCO and SABCS. I believe patients should be included whenever clinical trial results are presented, to give commentary on side effects—and in the increasingly popular debate-style sessions, too.
5. It will expand your perspective. ESMO Breast is a European meeting, usually held in Germany, and draws many European oncologists, researchers and advocates. Connecting with our counterparts across the Atlantic can both lead to lasting friendships, and teach us ways to improve our efforts here at home. It can also be a reminder that despite all the flaws in the American healthcare system, we are still very lucky to have access to so many treatments that others around the world lack.

So, dust off your passport—or apply for your first one—and consider expanding your advocacy horizons by attending an international meeting. If you are an individual member of the MBC Alliance and qualify for a Patient Advocate Conference Scholarship, it will help defray the costs. Even if travel isn’t an option now, becoming a member of ESMO could be a worthwhile investment. It’s more affordable than an ASCO membership, and comes with lots of benefits. One final pro tip: if you do go to ESMO, plan to arrive a little early or stay a little longer if you can, to enjoy some well-earned vacation time!

The application period for patient advocate conference scholarships generally opens in January, with a deadline of four to six weeks to apply. If you are a patient advocate member of the MBC Alliance, watch your inbox to be notified when the 2026 PACS Program opens.