Consultant
Department of Oncology, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland., Switzerland
My name is Antonia Digklia and I am the head of sarcoma and pancreatic-hepatobiliary unit at the Department of Oncology in the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) in Switzerland. I graduated from the Athens University School of Medicine. Then I started her specialization in Internal Medicine-Gastroenterology in Strasbourg (France), where I came in contact with patients suffering from gastrointestinal cancer and I decide to change orientation. In this context, I moved to Switzerland, where, interested in perfecting my skills as an MD, I continued my specialization in internal medicine. As at April 2010, I joined the Medical Oncology Department of the University Hospital of Lausanne where I realized the emerging role of molecular biology in the clinical world and decided to undertake a Master degree in Molecular and Cellular Pathology at the University of Strasbourg (France) which gave me the opportunity to understand the molecular mechanisms that control the cell growth and differentiation better. In June 2012, I returned to the clinics in order to complete my clinical training and in December 2013, I successfully passed the board examination of oncology of Switzerland. In the meantime, I had the opportunity to participate in 15 ECCO- AACR-EORTC workshop ‘Methods in clinical cancer research’ and to learn how to develop protocols.
Upon completion of my training and up to now, I actively participated in the work for the creation of a sarcoma center at our hospital.I designed the first national clinical trial for Advanced Soft Tissue Sarcoma in 2015. Since 2019, I am also the head of pancreatic-hepatobiliary cancer unit and although it seems like treating different pathologies, I believe that they have something in common: they need multidisclipinary approach and no breakthrough has been achieved so far.
Currently,my lab activity is focusing on next-generation CAR-T cells for improved treatment of sarcoma patients.
