Jelena Rascon

Professor Jelena Rascon graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Vilnius University in 1995. In 1998, she finished her pediatric haematology and oncology training at Vilnius University. In 2002, she established a pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplant program in Lithuania after receiving specialised training at the Children's Bone Marrow Transplant Unit of the Charité University Medicine in Berlin.

From 2002 to 2003 she studied the prognostic significance of chimerism after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in children at the Humboldt University of Berlin supported by the research grant of the German Academic Exchange Office. In 2009, she successfully defended her PhD thesis at Vilnius University. In 2014, she completed an observership at the Pediatric Bone Marrow Transplantation Unit of the Institute of Blood and Immune Diseases at Cincinnati Children's Hospital pursuing the development of stem cell transplantation services in the field of immune deficiencies in Lithuania.

From 2009 to 2015, prof. Rascon chaired the Lithuanian Society of Paediatric Oncology and Hematology. Since 2015 she has been heading the Center for Pediatric Oncology and Hematology at Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Clinics. She is a board member of the European Reference Network in Pediatric Oncology.

From 2019 to 2021 she was a member of the EU Cancer Mission Board Assembly that aimed to shape the direction of the Horizon 2021-2027 research program in cancer.

In 2021-2023 she coordinated the Horizon 2020 Twinning project focused on paediatric solid tumours including neurobastoma. Since 2022 she has been heading the Cancer Coordination Centre at Santaros Clinics.

Prof. Rascon is a co-author of over 59 peer-reviewed publications. She was honoured by the Lithuanian Ministry of Health in 2019, received the state award of Grand Duke of Lithuania in 2023, and was recognized by the city of Vilnius in 2024.