From 12 to 15 March, Maria Caiata Zufferey – Head of the Competence Centre for Health Practices and Policies (CPPS) – and Carla Pedrazzani – Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the CPPS and Head of the Bachelor Nursing – took part in the international workshop ‘Models of Genetic Care in Cancer’ at Monte Verità in Ascona. The event brought together about forty researchers and healthcare professionals from all over the world to discuss the best strategies for caring for individuals with a genetic predisposition to cancer.

Organised by Maria Katapodi from the University of Basel, in collaboration with Congressi Stefano Franscini (CSF) from ETH Zurich, the workshop aimed to improve care for people with hereditary cancer syndromes. The discussion touched on both the clinical and research fields, addressing the barriers and facilitators of family communication and cascade screening, as well as the challenges related to surveillance and follow-up.

During the workshop, there were a series of talks by experts from Singapore, Korea, Holland, England, Denmark, Sweden, Israel, the United States and Switzerland. The event represented an important opportunity for the exchange of knowledge and the creation of new collaborations at an international level.

Maria Caiata Zufferey presented a research project on the decision to undergo preventive mastectomy in healthy women with a genetic predisposition to breast and ovarian cancer. Her talk, entitled ‘Navigating complex choices through legitimation. A comprehensive exploration of decision-making for risk-reducing mastectomy (RRM) among unaffected women with genetic risk for breast cancer in Switzerland’, explored the factors that influence these complex choices and their social recognition.

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