Tanja Spanic

President, Europa Donna

Tanja Spanic is a professional patient advocate and currently the president of Europa Donna Slovenia and president of The European Breast Cancer Coalition Europa Donna. She was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 26. A year after her diagnosis, she joined Europa Donna Slovenia. Since then, she is an active breast cancer advocate nationally and internationally. Since 2010 until 2014, she was the head of young breast cancer patients group of ED Slovenia. At the time, this group was one of the few in Europe. Later she became the secretary general of Europa Donna Slovenia, and in April 2017 its president.

In 2010, she participated in the advocacy training in Milano and since then she has actively participated in numerus international meetings and workshops. In 2018 she became a member of Executive board of European coalition Europa Donna and in April 2020 its president.

Currently she has active roles as faculty member for BCY and EBCC, in steering committee of clinical trial OlympiA and in POSITIVE trial, as chair of ESMO Patient Advocates Working Group and member of ESMO policy making group, she is a member of EBCTCG at Oxford, and Lancet Oncology Breast Cancer Commission team. In Slovenia she is a member of Ethical committee of Institute of Oncology, and of steering committee for screening programs at Ministry of Health and a member of Health council (Zdravstveni svet) also at Ministry of Health.

She has a professional background in veterinary medicine, and she has a PhD in molecular and behavioral neuroscience.

Updated: October 2021