The Unseen Dimensions of Oncology
Sentinel choices: the unseen dimensions of oncology
Sentinel Choices
April 18th 2026
Oncology moves between fear, choice and care. Can we edit risk without erasing who we are? Can we support children and families with comfort and dignity? Can we turn anxiety into a shared and fair decision?
In the module Sentinel Choices: The Unseen Dimensions of Oncology, we address psycho-oncology, pediatric palliative care, and the ethics of gene editing for onco-prevention, with attention to consent, communication, justice, and to what, in practice, improves lives.
Speaker
Beàta Laki, PhD
Dr. Beàta Laki is a bioethicist and lecturer at the University of Pécs, where she teaches compulsory and elective courses in medical ethics and bioethics in both Hungarian and English. Her research focuses on the ethical implications of genetic interventions, particularly the challenges introduced by advanced biotechnologies such as CRISPR. She actively contributes to academic and professional discussions on the role of ethics in genetic editing and its potential applications in areas like cancer therapies, promoting responsible and ethically grounded scientific progress.
Speaker
Ulrika Kreicbergs, PhD
Professor at University College London and affiliated researcher at Karolinska Institutet, Dr. Ulrika Kreicbergs teaches and conducts research in pediatric palliative care, with a focus on reducing suffering for seriously ill children and supporting their families. A registered nurse since 1987, she earned her PhD in 2004 with a landmark national study on parents who lost a child to cancer, followed by postdoctoral work at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
She has combined clinical practice, teaching, and research throughout her career, securing major national funding to establish her own research group and becoming, in 2014, the first professor of pediatric palliative care for children and youth in the Nordic countries. She founded the Swedish Association for Paediatric Palliative Care, contributed to the Swedish National Guidelines for Paediatric Palliative Care, and serves on multiple research committees, including the SMA Europe Scientific Advisory Board.
