INFORMATION PORTAL OF THE MARSHAL'S OFFICE OF THE KUJAWSKO-POMORSKIE Region IN TORUŃ

Today and tomorrow (January 9-10), Bydgoszcz is hosting the first congress of the Polish Neuro-Oncology Society – a newly established organization bringing together specialists from the country’s leading neuro-oncology centers. The society of scientists and clinicians was founded and is headquartered at our regional Oncology Center (CO). The event is attended by Marshal Piotr Całbecki, who has also granted it his honorary patronage.

“In this most challenging area of medicine – neuro-oncology and oncological neurosurgery – beyond the highest level of skills, competence, and precision, the most important thing is the hope you give patients. I am pleased that neuro-oncologists and oncological neurosurgeons from our region are at the global forefront of scientific research seeking new and better treatment methods,” said Marshal Piotr Całbecki during the opening session of the congress. In his address, he emphasized the importance of our Oncology Center within the regional and national hospital network. He also mentioned the region self-government’s support for establishing a proton therapy facility at the Center – an advanced, precise, and tissue-sparing form of radiotherapy that uses a beam of hydrogen nuclei to accurately irradiate cancerous tumors.

The initiative to establish the Polish Neuro-Oncology Society came from a community of scientists and physicians associated with the marshal’s Oncology Center. The founding meeting, attended by eminent specialists from across Poland, took place in Bydgoszcz in May 2025.

“The Polish Neuro-Oncology Society was established on the initiative of outstanding Polish scientists and clinicians in response to the need to create a shared, interdisciplinary platform for cooperation. The Society brings together, among others, neurosurgeons, oncologists, radiotherapists, molecular biologists, geneticists, immunologists, pathologists, radiologists, and specialists in molecular diagnostics. ‘We want to be (…) a platform where basic science meets clinical practice, where research is jointly planned that can genuinely improve the lives of patients with brain tumors,’ emphasizes the Society’s president, Prof. Marek Harat, a neurosurgeon and clinical consultant in the Department of Neuro-Oncology and Radiosurgery at the Oncology Center,” reads the statement sent by the institution.

The congress program includes, among other items, presentations on the current state of research and clinical practice in Poland, as well as discussions on new national and international research projects in this field. In addition to researchers and clinicians from Poland’s leading centers, participants include prominent Polish scientists working at top neuro-oncology institutions worldwide, including the U.S.-based Anderson Cancer Center and Mayo Clinic, and Canada’s McGill University.

The Bydgoszcz Oncology Center – where preparations are currently underway for an experimental clinical trial involving patients with recurrent glioblastoma – is emerging as an important national center for neuro-oncology and oncological neurosurgery. The program is funded by a grant from the state Medical Research Agency. The head of the team conducting the study is Prof. Maciej Harat, coordinator of the Department of Neuro-Oncology and Radiosurgery and the Radiotherapy Department at the Bydgoszcz oncology hospital, and a recipient of the Marshal of the Region Award 2024 in the field of healthcare.

Beata Krzemińska
Spokesperson of the Marshal’s Office

January 9, 2026