Executive Committee

Head Medical Oncology Dept. / Medical and Scientific Director, Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland (IOSI)

Professor Silke Gillessen is a Medical Oncologist with focus on genitourinary cancer. Since 2020, she is the director of the IOSI (Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland) and Head of Department of Medical Oncology and still works part time as a Senior Consultant in the Department of Oncology and Haematology at the Kantonsspital St. Gallen in Switzerland, where she had worked almost 20 years. Prof Gillessen completed her specialist training in Medical Oncology at the University Hospital of Basel and the Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen in Switzerland. From 1997 – 2000, she was a clinical research fellow at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA. After returning to Switzerland, Prof. Gillessen built up the medical oncology unit for genitourinary cancer in the Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen and served for two terms as president of the SAKK GU group. She then chaired the EORTC Genito Urinary Cancers Group. Together with Dr. Omlin she initiated the Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference, which was held first in March 2015 and again in 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022.

Consultant Physician, Department of Oncology/Haematology, Kantonsspital St. Gallen, Switzerland

Thomas Cerny is Prof. med. for Medical Oncology at the University of Bern, Switzerland. From 1998 to 2017, he served as Chief of the Department of Oncology-Haematology at the Kantonsspital St. Gallen. Prof. Cerny received his medical training in Switzerland (Inselspital, University Hospital of Bern) and the United Kingdom (Christie Hospital and Patterson Institute, Manchester). His research focuses on clinical pharma-oncology, especially developing and exploring new drugs and improving therapies for patients with rare cancers such as sarcomas. Prof. Cerny has decades of experience conducting and participating in national and international clinical studies for patients with lung cancer, malignant lymphoma, and many other types of malignancies. He has more than 250 peer-reviewed publications.

Additionally, Prof. Cerny is a national leader in the political aspects of improving patient care, quality of life, and equal access to diagnostic and therapeutic progress in oncology. He is a former president of Oncosuisse, which houses the federal National Strategy against Cancer (NSK), and of the Swiss Cancer League (KLS), which leads this project. Prof. Cerny also is acting president of the best-known foundation in Cancer Research in Switzerland (KFS) and serves on the board of the Human Medicine Expert Committee (HMEC) of Swissmedic.

Senior Physician, Oncologist specialized in genitourinary oncology, Onkonzentrum Zurich, Switzerland

Dr. Omlin is Medical Oncologist specialized in genitourinary oncology working at the Onkonzentrum Zurich in Switzerland. During his career, Dr. Omlin has been involved in clinical trials (phase I to phase III), translational research and genitourinary oncology. He completed his medical oncology training at the University Hospital of Berne, the regional hospital in Thun and the Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen. Dr Omlin has completed a clinical research fellowship from 2010 to 2013 at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust under Professor Johann de Bono. The work was focused on early clinical trials (phase I and II), translational research and genitourinary oncology. After returning back to Switzerland Dr. Omlin worked as a consultant for GU-oncology and phase I clinical trials in St. Gallen from 2013 – to 2022. As of May 2022 Dr. Omlin works as a GU cancer specialist at the Onkozentrum Zurich.

Dr. Omlin is a member of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and currently the president of the genitourinary project group of the Swiss Working Group on Clinical Cancer Research (SAKK). Together with Prof. Gillessen he initiated the biennial Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC) in 2015.

Dr. Ruth Lyner is a lawyer working as a designer and distributor for sports fashion since 25 years. She founded her own company together with her husband who was diagnosed with prostate cancer. For APC, Ruth Lyner represents patients and their family members.