ESTRO 2025 Congress Report
We asked Jesús Rojo-Santiago, a Spanish medical physicist currently doing his PhD in the Netherlands, to share his highlights from ESTRO 2025. As a returning participant in and active member of the young track, he offered valuable insights on mentorship, connection, and ways to increase confidence in the field.
What made ESTRO 2025 special for you this year?
This ESTRO conference was the fourth I have attended and my second visit to Vienna. This year, I joined not only sessions in my field of expertise, within which I had a mini-oral talk about my research in proton therapy, but also the joint sessions from the young ESTRO track.
Can you tell us more about your experience in the yESTRO mentorship programme? One of the highlights of my ESTRO conference experience was taking part in the fifth edition of the yESTRO mentorship programme as a mentee. I was matched with Serena Psoroulas as my mentor, and I couldn’t be happier with the pairing. We've already had a couple of mentoring sessions, and she has been wonderfully supportive. She has already helped me to reflect on my career goals and to identify potential opportunities that can be the next steps in my professional development. Sometimes I wonder how predictable I am when I have good synergy with someone; she asks the right questions and is able to recognise the needs I hadn’t even realised myself!
What was it like to be part of the buddy system?
I joined the buddy system to support newcomers to the ESTRO congress. I was paired with Rory, and during the conference, we had several coffee catch-ups to exchange impressions, experiences, and thoughts. The ESTRO annual meeting can sometimes feel overwhelming, so having these informal moments made it easier to connect and reflect. Being someone’s buddy also made me realise that I’d like to take on a mentorship role in the future.
Was there a session, topic or speaker that stood out?
The session I found most valuable was "From self-doubt to self-confidence: Confronting impostor syndrome". I truly appreciated hearing senior researchers openly share their feelings about still experiencing impostor syndrome, just as I do. It was reassuring to realise that these feelings are not unique to me, but rather something that many of us go through. This session helped me to feel more at home at the ESTRO congress. One key takeaway of this session was the importance of recognising not only our professional achievements, e.g., publishing an article, but also accepting that failure is a natural and acceptable part of the journey.
How did it feel to connect with peers and more experienced professionals?
At first, it felt a bit like stepping out of my comfort zone. However, I’ve come to really enjoy it. In particular, I appreciated the opportunity to reconnect with colleagues (and friends) whom I had met at previous ESTRO conferences. I’m also grateful to the yESTRO committee for organising social events at which we could meet new people, e.g., the young ESTRO dinner. I especially liked the idea of the photo booth and the challenge to take pictures with people who came from outside my cluster. I had such a great time there, as you can see in the picture.
How did it feel to present your research?
This year, I presented a mini-oral talk on probabilistic planning for oesophageal cancer patients who had been treated with proton therapy. I presented it in the session “Improving accuracy of particle therapy”. It was a great opportunity to put myself out there, to other young professionals and more senior researchers. Thanks to previous talks in past ESTRO conferences, I’ve been able to engage with other centres where similar research in the field is conducted and to take part in smaller conferences. For example, as a Spanish medical physicist working in the Netherlands, I was invited this May to speak at a symposium organised by the Spanish Society of Medical Physics (SEFM) in Toledo, Spain, where I presented my PhD topic on probabilistic planning. I believe this occurred due to the open environment fostered by ESTRO.
What advice would you give to others considering the young ESTRO track? I would definitely recommend taking part in the young ESTRO track. For those who might hesitate to join, take it step by step. You can start by simply attending some of the sessions that are organised during the conference. I’m sure you’ll identify with some of the personal/professional challenges that are discussed during the sessions, and you'll definitely feel less alone 😉. Over time, you’ll gradually build the self-confidence to engage more and more. I can only speak from personal experience, as I was in the same position a couple of years ago 😊.
- yESTRO dinner
- Mini-oral presentation at ESTRO 2025 in the session ¨Improving accuracy of particle therapy¨
Jesús Rojo-Santiago PhD
j.rojosantiago@erasmusmc.nl
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jes%C3%BAs-rojo-santiago-723a76154/
Medical physicist in training
1Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Department of Radiotherapy, The Netherlands
2HollandPTC, Delft, The Netherlands