About WCA

Professor Mileshkin is a medical oncologist and a clinical researcher with a particular interest in the treatment of gynaecological cancers as well as Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP). She is the Director of Medical Oncology at the Peter MacCallum cancer Centre in Melbourne, Australia. She consults both at Peter Mac Melbourne and at the Mercy Hospital for Women in Heidelberg.

Professor Mileshkin is also the Clinical Trials Lead for Gynae-Oncology in the Parkville Cancer Clinical Trials Unit, and the Chair of the Gynaecological Oncology Group for the Clinical Oncology Group of Australia. She is also very involved in the Australia New Zealand Gynaecological Oncology Group (ANZGOG) as the chair of the Endometrial Cancer Research Initiative (EDEN) and a member of multiple sub-committees including the Research Advisory Committee. Professor Mileshkin also runs Australia’s only specialist clinic dedicated to the care of people affected by Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP). She is the tumour stream lead for CUP at Peter Mac and has been the clinical lead for the Solving Unknown Primary CancER (SUPER) national cohort study and team of CUP researchers in Australia. This group have been successful in obtaining significant grant finding and have been running multiple clinical and translational projects in CUP.

Sara Santarelli
Brand & Comms

Sara Santarelli is an Italian architect and visual designer, living in Ireland. She’s the founder and head designer of SNDE VISUAL Design & Communication. Expert in branding and communication strategy, Sara has been working alongside Tanya since the set up of the Sarah Jennifer Knott Foundation in 2016. Leading the comms team (publications, web design, social media), Sara has been involved in various projects with the foundation ever since, including World CUP Awareness Week 2021 & 2022. She’s been part of the core team of the World CUP Alliance (Cancer of Unknown Primary) since its foundation and recently graduated from the Wecan Academy (Working European Cancer Advocacy Network).

Alwin Krämer
Steering Committee

Born in Germany, Alwin began his career studying Medicine at the University of Mainz, Germany and Bern, Switzerland. His training took him international with a residency at University of Heidelberg, a postdoctoral fellow in Wisconsin, USA and a Heisenburg fellow at the Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen, Denmark. From 2005, Alwin has dedicated his time and research to Hematology, which has led him to be both the Co-chairman of the Steering Committee „CUP-Syndrome” of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Internistische Onkologie (AIO) within the German Cancer Society (DKG) and since 2022 the Chairman of the ESMO CUP-Practice Guidelines Committee. 

During his career, Alwin has been awarded the Heisenberg Stipend of the German Research Society (DFG), Vincenz-Czerny Award of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hämatologie und Onkologie (DGHO) and in 2010 the Science Award of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Internistische Onkologie (AIO) within the German Cancer Society (DKG).

Natalie Cook
Steering Committee

Dr Natalie Cook is a Senior Clinical Lecturer in Experimental Cancer Medicine at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust/Division of Cancer Sciences, University of Manchester. She is also the clinical lead for Manchester Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre. She previously trained in Medical Oncology in Cambridge, UK, where she completed a PhD, funded by a CRUK Clinical Training fellowship.

In 2012, she was awarded the Rothwell Jackson Postgraduate Travelling Fellowship and travelled to Canada to undertake a 2 year drug development research fellowship, based at the University of Toronto and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. In her current position she is co-investigator on a portfolio of over 50 early phase clinical trials, and is a Chief or Principal Investigator on over 20 trials. She has research interests in precision medicine, colorectal cancer and carcinoma of unknown primary site.

Warnyta Minnaard
Founder
Steering Committee

Warnyta Minnaard (1989) is one of the founders of ‘Missie Tumor Onbekend’, the Dutch advocacy organisation dedicated to improving care & survival for Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP) patients. After her partner Hederik passed away in early 2019 amidst an ongoing diagnostic trajectory with leptomenigial metastases from a CUP; Warnyta started on a mission to change the situation for future patients. Together with another grieving family of a young CUP patient, they started the advocacy organisation.

It’s her personal mission to expedite access to better personalised (molecular) diagnostics, improve knowledge and awareness of CUP, and enhance the care pathways and support opportunities for patients and their families. One of the biggest milestones to date has been Missie Tumor Onbekend pivotal role in obtaining Dutch Parliamentary approval in 2021 so that Whole Genome Sequencing became part of the insured diagnostic routine work-up for CUP patients in the Netherlands. Ever since 8 specialised CUP clinics have opened across the country.

Tanya Knott
Founder
Steering Committee

Tanya Knott is the Founder and Director of the Sarah Jennifer Knott Foundation and Co-Founder of the World CUP Alliance. A graduate of King’s College London and Trinity College Dublin, Tanya trained as a registered general nurse, specialising in cardiothoracic, intensive care, and emergency nursing. She also has extensive experience in market access within the pharmaceutical industry. In 2017, following the diagnosis of her sister Sarah with Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP), Tanya recognised a significant gap in awareness, research, and education in this disease area. In response, she established the Sarah Jennifer Knott Foundation to drive advocacy, research, and education for people affected by CUP. A passionate patient advocate and fundraiser, Tanya has authored published articles and a white paper on The Unmet Needs of Patients with Cancer of Unknown Primary and has presented at numerous international conferences.

The Sarah Jennifer Knott Foundation through its various fundraising events fund many CUP research projects and initiatives in Ireland and Europe. Tanya is a member of the Molecular Tumour Board Steering Committee at Cancer Trials Ireland and the Sarah Jennifer Knott Foundation is a proud charity member of Precision Oncology Ireland.