Undergraduate training in oncology: an ESO continuing challenge for medical students

During the last six years the European School of Oncology (ESO) opened an undergraduate programme for European medical students, aiming to further improve their oncology knowledge and clinical skills. In this endeavour a 5-day course is organized every summer at the University of Ioannina, Greece, where distinguished European oncologists introduce preselected medical students to cancer medicine. The programme includes teaching of several oncological topic regarding diagnosis and treatment of the most common tumours; interactive case presentations and discussions were also incorporated. An overall of 229 medical students, mostly from European medical schools, have been taking part to this intensive summer course, from 2004 to 2009. This article presents the detailed educational programme, the evaluation results and the outcome of the last six ESO courses; an assessment of the oncological curricula available across European faculties is also presented.