Dr Vaia Mentesidou - the Greek heritage

Her debuts in oncology 

Born in Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece, Dr Mentesidou grew up in a family of doctors. 

She began her medical oncology training at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki: the first two years of general medical training, followed by four years of specialized oncology. 

After her training, she chose to continue her specialization to southern Germany (Baden Württemberg), where she spent five months. 

Shortly after, she returned to Thessaloniki in the middle of the COVID 19 pandemic. Like many physicians at that time, she found herself on the front line. For two months, she worked in COVID units, at a time when vaccines were not yet available. That period interrupted her oncology training but responded to the urgent needs of that moment. 

“The experience I gained as a doctor reshaped me a lot, my priorities in life and what truly matters.” Those months marked a period of rapid personal and professional maturation. 

Once the pandemic eased, she was finally able to finish her oncology training. In 2022, encouraged by her mentor, she attended her first ESMO Congress in Paris. 

“As young doctors, we should be grateful to our mentors, the people who see our potential before we can see it ourselves.” 

Alongside her clinical work, Dr. Mentesidou pursued two Master’s degrees in Greece: one in oncology and another focusing on female fertility. Interestingly, before entering oncology, she had considered becoming an endocrinologist, yet oncology never left her mind. 

Dr Mentesidou spent 6 months of residency training at the Sarcoma and Rare Cancers Unit of the Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori in Milan Italy, a time which was linked to a EURACAN fellowship (the European Reference Network for Rare Tumors).

After completing her training, she began working with Dr Ioannis Boukovinas, President of the Greek Sarcoma Group and member of the Gustave Roussy Alumni network. Sharing a common interest in sarcoma and rare tumors, they developed a collaboration rooted in patient-centered care. 

“Our patients come to us not only for the best medical treatment, but also for psychological support.” 

Dr. Boukovinas has been an inspirational figure in her career and encouraged her to apply the DUERTECC program at Gustave Roussy. Vaia has been working for Gustave Roussy since november 2025, where she is currently mentored by Dr. Anna Patrikidou. 

Her scientific motivation is deeply rooted in personalization of care : “No rare disease is rare enough not to care.” 

She chose to specialize in head and neck cancers, where she sees a lot of similarities with sarcomas and rare tumors, particularly in terms of biological complexity and the need for personalized approaches. 

Her daily work today  

Currently, her research focuses on minimal residual disease in localized and locally advanced head and neck cancers. She investigates whether liquid biopsy biomarkers, such as circulating tumor DNA, as well as viral DNA markers (HPV and EBV), can help identify patients at higher risk of relapse—and allow better adaptation of follow up and treatment strategies. 

In parallel, she is also working on the genomic landscape of prostate cancer, studying the role of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in the development of the disease. The goal is to understand which mutations are involved and how they contribute, through the creation of a large database including Gustave Roussy patients and others. 

A few weeks ago, Vaia started her PhD, focusing on the creation of a decision support model for rare tumors, based on clinical genomics registries and explainable artificial intelligence. 

Her strong connection with Greece 

She continues to collaborate with mentors in her home country, aiming to improve access to care for patients with rare cancers. One of her ambitions is to help develop a rare cancer portal, offering expert guidance to patients living in remote areas—an important challenge in Greece, with its many islands and geographically isolated regions—and to improve access to clinical trials. 

Her passions beyond medicine  

Dr Mentesidou loves everything art related. She particularly loves learning new languages. Vaia speaks greek, english, german, italian and she is currently learning french.  

She loves music and played the piano when she was younger. She is also a big fan of movie soundtracks, which she enjoys listening to independently. In addition, she is an opera enthusiast and particularly enjoys attending performances at the Opéra Garnier in Paris.