The Masterclass was organized by OOA coordinator Esther Ruhé in collaboration with high school biology teacher Annemieke Wicherink as part of a new OOA initiative that aims to introduce the nature of performing cancer research to pre-university students in an accessible manner.
Iris and Margarida took the students into ‘the world of an oncology PhD student’ in an interactive way and taught them about the different types of projects (from fundamental to clinical) in cancer research.
The students were very enthusiastic about the Masterclass: 'I thought it was very interesting that they talked about their own career and especially about their current research. It gave a very clear picture'. 'At first it didn't seem interesting to me to do cancer research, but through this masterclass I realized that I really liked it more than expected’. Almost all of the high school students indicated that the Masterclass gave them a better idea of what is involved in doing cancer research. Given the success of the Masterclass, OOA is aiming to expand the introductory cancer research program to include more pre-university students at several other secondary schools in the region.
