September 1, 2026: Earlier today, the European Society for Medical Oncology announced its list of recipients for its 2026 Fellowship Programme. The Programme recognizes 31 emerging oncology professionals who will pursue high-impact research projects with international collaborations.
BG Lab is proud to announce that we will be hosting Dr. Kleida Mati from American Hospital in Tirana, Albania as a recipient of the 2026 ESMO Leadership and Career Development Award.
As part of this year-long fellowship, Dr. Mati will join BG Lab at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada as an in-person Fellow under the guidance of mentor Prof. Bishal Gyawali. She will be conducting research related to cancer drug approval, reimbursement, and prioritization decisions in the Balkan region, among other projects.
Prof. Gyawali expresses his thanks to the ESMO fellowship committee for selecting BG Lab as the only host institution from Canada for this award program. “Dr. Mati is a stellar candidate with a genuine commitment to improving cancer care and research in Albania, and globally. We look forward to hosting her at BG Lab, mutually learning, and helping her achieve her dreams. This is the first time we are hosting an ESMO fellow, but I sincerely hope that we become a successful example for this fellowship.”
Dr. Mati is quite excited about this award and opportunity, and states, “I’m incredibly excited about what lies ahead. This feels like the beginning of something worth building, and I’m especially grateful to be doing it within the BG Lab, where so much of the thinking that shaped this project began.”
Dr. Mati will be formally recognized as a Fellow on October 26th at the 2026 ESMO Congress in Madrid, Spain.
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Media contact: gyawali.bishal@queensu.ca
Dr. Bishal Gyawali 
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