About WCA

Tanya Knott has worked in the healthcare industry for over 25 years. A King’s College London and Trinity College Dublin graduate, Tanya has worked as a registered general nurse specialising in cardiothoracic, intensive care and emergency nursing. Tanya also has years of experience in market access in the pharmaceutical industry. When Sarah was diagnosed with Cancer of Unknown Primary (2015), Tanya realised there was a huge gap in knowledge and research in this disease area and set up the foundation with the aim of promoting improved awareness, research and education into Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP). Tanya is also the co-founder of the WCA, World CUP Alliance (Cancer of Unknown Primary) www.worldcupalliance.org
Working together with global experts, patients, health care professionals, researchers and industry to promote education, awareness and research into CUP. The WCA are proud members of WECAN (Working European Cancer Advocacy Network) Tanya has written published articles and a white paper on the ‘Unmet needs of patients with Cancer of Unknown Primary” and has presented at many international conferences. Tanya is a former board member of ‘From Testing to Targeted Treatments’. FT3 is a global initiative to help ensure access to precision medicine for all patients who need it www.fromtestingtotargetedtreatments.org; she is also a member of the PPI and the national molecular tumour board steering committee at Cancer Trials Ireland.

Warnyta Minnaard (1989) is one of the founders of ‘Missie Tumor Onbekend’, the Dutch advocacy organisation dedicated to improving care & survival for Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP) patients. After her partner Hederik passed away in early 2019 amidst an ongoing diagnostic trajectory with leptomenigial metastases from a CUP; Warnyta started on a mission to change the situation for future patients. Together with another grieving family of a young CUP patient, they started the advocacy organisation. It’s her personal mission to expedite access to better personalised (molecular) diagnostics, improve knowledge and awareness of CUP, and enhance the care pathways and support opportunities for patients and their families. One of the biggest milestones to date has been Missie Tumor Onbekend pivotal role in obtaining Dutch Parliamentary approval in 2021 so that Whole Genome Sequencing became part of the insured diagnostic routine work-up for CUP patients in the Netherlands. Ever since 8 specialised CUP clinics have opened across the country.

Dr Natalie Cook is a Senior Clinical Lecturer in Experimental Cancer Medicine at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust/Division of Cancer Sciences, University of Manchester. She is also the clinical lead for Manchester Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre. She previously trained in Medical Oncology in Cambridge, UK, where she completed a PhD, funded by a CRUK Clinical Training fellowship. In 2012, she was awarded the Rothwell Jackson Postgraduate Travelling Fellowship and travelled to Canada to undertake a 2 year drug development research fellowship, based at the University of Toronto and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. In her current position she is co-investigator on a portfolio of over 50 early phase clinical trials, and is a Chief or Principal Investigator on over 20 trials. She has research interests in precision medicine, colorectal cancer and carcinoma of unknown primary site.

Prof. Dr. med. Alwin Krämer
Clinical Cooperation Unit Molecular Hematology/Oncology
German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and
Dept. of Internal Medicine V, University of Heidelberg
Born in Germany, Alwin began his career studying Medicine at the University of Mainz, Germany and Bern, Switzerland. His training took him international with a residency at University of Heidelberg, a postdoctoral fellow in Wisconsin, USA and a Heisenburg fellow at the Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen, Denmark.
From 2005, Alwin has dedicated his time and research to Hematology, which has led him to be both the Co-chairman of the Steering Committee „CUP-Syndrome” of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Internistische Onkologie (AIO) within the German Cancer Society (DKG) and since 2022 the Chairman of the ESMO CUP-Practice Guidelines Committee.
During his career, Alwin has been awarded the Heisenberg Stipend of the German Research Society (DFG), Vincenz-Czerny Award of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hämatologie und Onkologie (DGHO) and in 2010 the Science Award of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Internistische Onkologie (AIO) within the German Cancer Society (DKG).

Sara Santarelli is an Italian architect and visual designer, living in Ireland. She’s the founder and head designer of SNDE VISUAL Design & Communication. Expert in branding and communication strategy, Sara has been working alongside Tanya since the set up of the Sarah Jennifer Knott Foundation in 2016. Leading the comms team (publications, web design, social media), Sara has been involved in various projects with the foundation ever since, including World CUP Awareness Week 2021 & 2022. She’s been part of the core team of the World CUP Alliance (Cancer of Unknown Primary) since its foundation and recently graduated from the Wecan Academy (Working European Cancer Advocacy Network).