Speakers

Professor Ahmad Awada was born in Lebanon and studied Medicine at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium. He specialised in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology at Jules Bordet Institute, in Brussels, until 1992. During his specialisation, he also followed trainings in the clinical development of new anticancer drugs. As a research fellow, he stayed in the Netherlands (New Drug Development Office, Free University, Amsterdam) and in San Antonio, USA (Institute for Drug Development). He focused on the clinical development of new anticancer agents from cytotoxic and endocrine agents to molecular-targeted agents and more recently immunotherapies.

Back from the USA at the beginning of 1994, Dr Awada became Assistant Head of Medical Oncology Clinic, and Head of the New Drugs Development Unit at Jules Bordet Institute, Brussels. Since April 2005, he is the Head of the Medical Oncology Clinic. In addition, and from 1st March 2011, Dr Awada was held Associate Head of Medicine Department. More recently, on 7th July 2017, Dr Awada was appointed Head of the Oncology Medicine Department. He has an important clinical activity in the treatment of solid tumors and in particular breast cancer. Dr Awada took an active part in the development of new drugs in several solid tumors, some of them already widely used.

Dr. Awada is membership of several international scientific societies (ASCO, EORTC, ESMO), co-founder of Oncodistinct network for oncology research and Professor of Clinical Medicine and Medical Oncology at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

Dr Awada is author or co-author of 32 book chapters and 341 articles in international publications.

Alex De Caluwé, M.D., is a radiation oncologist at the Jules Bordet Institute and at AZ St Maarten.

Earning his medical degree and radiation oncology qualifications at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), he completed a fellowship in advanced radiotherapy techniques at the BC Cancer Agency in British Colombia (Canada) and joined the Jules Bordet Institute in 2015.

He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the field of innovative neo-adjuvant radiotherapy-immunotherapy combinations in breast cancer under direction of Prof. Piccart, Prof. Ignatiadis and Prof. Poortmans. As a radiation oncologist, he has a special interest in breast cancer, SBRT and gynecologic brachytherapy.

Hannelore Denys received her medical degree from the University of Ghent in 1997 and completed her training in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology in 2005. During this training, she worked 4 years in the lab of Human Genetics at the University of Leuven to obtain her PhD in January 2003. The subject of her thesis was the identification of beta-catenin target genes in desmoid tumors.

Hannelore is head of clinic at the Department of Medical Oncology of the University Hospital Gent. Her topic of expertise is treatment of breast and gynaecological cancers. She is actively involved in clinical and translational research in this field. She is promotor or co-promotor of several research grants from “Kom Op Tegen Kanker” and FWO. She is a (board)member of ESMO, ASCO, BSMO, ESGO, EORTC and BGOG. She has an active role in the Biomedical Commission of “Kom Op Tegen Kanker”.

From the beginning of 2021, Hannelore has also taken up the function of Academic Secretary at the Faculty of Medicine, University Ghent.

Caroline Duhem is Director of the Kriibszentrum, CHL Luxembourg. She earned her medical degrees and oncology qualifications at UCL.

She is member of the Société Luxembourgeoise d’Oncologie (SLO), SLO delegated member in Breast International Group (BIG), member of the Belgian Society of Medical Oncology (BSMO), board member of the Société Belge de Sénologie (SBS-BVS), member of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO), member of the Oncodistinct Network.

In parallel to her clinical and scientific activities, she is actively implicated in creation and development of supportive structures dedicated to patients quality of life: Integrative oncology to breast cancer patients, prehabilitation and rehabilitation programs , Oncofertility national network, Association des Groupes sportifs Oncologiques (ALGSO).

Francois P Duhoux is a Professor of Medicine at UCLouvain, where he lectures on the medical management of breast cancer and hereditary cancer predisposition syndromes.

He is a medical oncologist and clinical geneticist at Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc in Brussels, where he specializes in the care of patients with breast cancer and the management of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. He is head of the research section within the breast cancer clinic.

Professor Duhoux completed his medical education from UCLouvain in 2004, followed by numerous specialty training posts in internal medicine and medical oncology in Belgium and in France (Institut Curie in Paris), between 2004 and 2012. He also holds a degree in oncogenetics from University Paris 7, obtained in 2011. Professor Duhoux completed his PhD in medical genetics at UCLouvain. He also obtained the Belgian Society of Human Genetics (BeSHG) Interuniversity Certificate in Human Genetics in 2012 and has expertise in hereditary cancer predisposition syndromes.

Professor Duhoux is currently the principal investigator for over 30 phase I, II, and III clinical trials in breast cancer. He is the president of the Belgian Society of Senology (SBS/BVS) and a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), European Society for Medical Oncology, Belgian Society of Medical Oncology (BSMO), American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), and Belgian Society of Human Genetics (BeSHG). Professor Duhoux authored over 50 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, and has presented at numerous international congresses, including the ASCO Annual Meeting and the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS).

Michail Ignatiadis, MD PhD is senior attending physician at the Medical Oncology Department, Jules Bordet Institute (IJB) and associate professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. Since January 2021 is the chair of the breast cancer group of the EORTC. He is also leading the Academic Trials Promoting Team (ATPT) and he is member of the Executive and Research Boards of IJB since October 2016. He participates in developing the IJB research strategy. He works with his team and members of the Executive and Research Boards to promote high-quality, innovative, academic research at the institutional level. From June 2018 to January 2021, he served in the Board of Directors of the EORTC as the chair of the clinical research division. He has been involved in many investigator initiated trials (IITs) sponsored by IJB at different stages of their development. He has been member of the Independent data monitoring committees for international trials and study chair of several IITs. He served as IJB principal investigator for many industry sponsored trials. Currently, he is the study chair of the Alexandra/Impassion030 registration trial. He is particularly interested in drug and biomarker development in breast cancer. His work in the field of blood-based biomarkers is widely recognized at the international level. He has published more than 100 articles in peer reviewed journals including several papers in high impact factor journals such as Journal of Clinical Oncology, Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, Jama Oncology, Journal of National Cancer Institute, Lancet Oncology as well as several book chapters; he is editor of a book on minimal residual disease. He has served as reviewer for several national and international organizations including the French National Cancer Institute (INCA), the Technology Foundation STW in the Netherlands, the Marie-Curie Fellowships, the European Research Council (ERC) and the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI). He has served as Chair or Co-Chair of symposia in high visibility international conferences, organized by ESMO, ECCO and ASCO. He has served as faculty in the prestigious workshop ‘Methods in Clinical Cancer Research’ every year from 2014 until 2019. He has obtained independent research funding over the last 6 years.

Guy Jerusalem, MD, PhD, is head of Medical Oncology and Director of the Breast Clinic at the Sart-Tilman University Hospital, and head of the Clinical Research Unit of the Department of Medical Oncology at the Liège University Hospital, Belgium. He is Professor in Medical Oncology at the University of Liège, where he completed his medical and doctoral degrees.

Professor Jerusalem is a member of the Scientific Executive Committee of the International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG).
He holds certification in Medical Oncology with the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), ESMO and the Belgian Society of Medical Oncology.

Professor Jerusalem has co-authored 11 book chapters and has published widely in journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA Oncology, Nature, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Annals of Oncology, and the European Journal of Cancer. He is a member of the writing committee of the CONFIRM trial and member of the steering committee of several large international trials including SOLE, BOLERO-3/-6, APHINITY, SNAP, MONALEESA-3, PALLAS, ALEXANDRA/IMpassion030 and DESTINY Breast 12.

Patrick Neven is currently Professor at the department of Gynaecological Oncology at the University Hospitals, Leuven, Belgium. He is involved in breast cancer care and a member of the Multidisciplinary Breast Centre in Leuven University Hospitals.

Professor Neven graduated in medicine at Leuven Medical School in 1986. He then specialized in Obstetrics and Gynaecology (1991) followed by additional training in gynaecological oncology in London, UK. In 1992 and 1993 he worked as a Clinical Research Fellow at the Royal Marsden and St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, UK. He became Full Professor at the University Hospitals of Leuven in 2001 following 8 years in private practice at St. John’s Hospital, Brussels, Belgium. He recently completed the Global Health Training Network course for The International Council for Harmonisation (ICH) E6 good clinical practice (GCP) (R2).

Professor Neven’s research interests include several fields of breast oncology, in particular endocrine therapy and quality of life issues. He has been and is currently the Principal Investigator in several clinical trials on endocrine therapy. He has published more than 300 original papers in peer-reviewed journals, more than 300 abstracts and has given numerous lectures at national and international meetings. Professor Neven is involved in many scientific societies and is also a reviewer for many peer-reviewed journals.

Martine J. Piccart, M.D., Ph.D., is honorary professor of oncology at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and scientific director at the Institut Jules Bordet (Brussels/Belgium). Earning her medical degrees at ULB and oncology qualifications in New York and London, she is also a member of the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine. She held presidencies of the European CanCer Organisation (ECCO), the European Organisation for the Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO). She served on the American Society of Clinical Oncology Board (ASCO) as well as on the Board of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) which nominated her as fellow of the AACR Academy in 2013.

A strong advocate for and leader of international research collaborations, Prof. Martine Piccart, together with Prof. Aron Goldhirsch, created the Breast International Group (BIG) in 1996, which today unites 56 academic breast cancer research groups from around the world.
Prof. Piccart’s has successfully managed a number of high-profile, Phase 3 clinical trials such as HERA (HERceptin Adjuvant), MINDACT (Microarray In Node-Negative and 1 to 3 Positive Lymph Node Disease May Avoid Chemotherapy), ALTTO (Adjuvant Lapatinib and/or Trastuzumab Treatment Optimisation), and APHINITY (Adjuvant Pertuzumab and Herceptin in Initial Therapy in Breast Cancer).

An accomplished clinician and scientist, Prof. Piccart is author or co-author of over 650 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

In 1986 I completed my medical studies at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. I was trained as a radiation oncologist at the Middelheim and Vincentius Hospitals in Antwerp.
In 1991 I started as a radiation oncologist in Tilburg, The Netherlands. After chairing for 2.5 years the department of radiation oncology of the Radboud umc, Nijmegen, I took the same position at Institut Curie, Paris, France, in March 2017, which I left in November 2019. On the 150th birthdate of Marie Curie I was nominated Marie Curie Professor Paris Science & Lettres – Institut Curie. In April 2020 I started a part-time medical advisory function for Sordina IORT Technologies spa. In July 2020, I started as radiation oncologist at Iridium Netwerk. Since October 2020, I am associate professor at the University of Antwerp, Belgium.
Special interests: breast cancer, FLASH radiation therapy, IOeRT, malignant lymphoma and rare tumours.
In 2005: PhD thesis on quality assurance in clinical trials in breast cancer at the University of Maastricht.
Since 1992 active in the EORTC, currently member of the Lymphoma and Breast Groups; secretary Radiation Oncology Group (2006-2015); Quality Assurance Committee of the EORTC (2003-2015).
2005 – 2008: councillor of the board of ESTRO.
2007 – 2010: representative for radiation oncology in the Multidisciplinary Oncology Committee of ESMO.
2013 – 2014: President-Elect, 2014-2016 President and 2016-2018 Past-President of ESTRO.
2016 – 2017: Chair of the ECCO Oncopolicy Committee.
2017: President-Elect, 2018-2019 President and 2020 Past-President of ECCO.
ESTRO School of Radiotherapy and Oncology (currently):
- Course director of the teaching courses “Multidisciplinary Management of Breast Cancer” and “Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation”;
- Liaison person for the multidisciplinary courses;

Publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Poortmans+P
On top, I contributed to numerous book chapters and co-edited 2 books.
Honorary membership of BVRO/ABRO since 2012, of ESSO since 2014, of SEOR since 2015, of AROI from 2016, of BIGOSA from 2016 and of JASTRO from 2017 on. 2011 and 2012 nominated as “Toparts” (Outstanding doctor) by the Dutch radiation oncologists. In 2016, I gave the Cridlan lecture during the meeting of the Association of Breast Surgery in Manchester, UK. I received the Jens Overgaard Award from ESTRO in 2019 and the Klaas Breur Award from ESTRO in 2020. On 17 March 2021, I received the St.Gallen Breast Cancer Award.

Mattia Rediti, MD, is a medical oncologist who earned his specialization in Italy (University of Florence) and joined in 2018 the Breast Cancer Translational Research Laboratory at the Jules Bordet Institute to pursue a Ph.D. under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Christos Sotiriou (Université libre de Bruxelles).
Currently, he is conducting translational research in breast cancer with a particular focus on HER2-positive tumors. His main areas of interest are represented by the application and integration of "omics" approaches, as well as by the characterization of tumor microenvironment and heterogeneity, with the aim of identifying novel biomarkers for treatment optimization strategies.

Graduated in medicine in 1993, Vincent Remouchamps completed 3 years of specialization in internal medicine before specializing in Radiotherapy -Oncology at UCL with Professor Scalliet (3 years) and in Ghent with Professor De Neve (1 year), followed by 2 years of fellowship in the United States in William Beaumont Hospital, a pioneering center for several domains of Radiotherapy such as breathing control and Image Guided Radiotherapy.

Full-time radiotherapist-oncologist in Namur since 2003, he focuses on the field of breast, lung and hematological cancers. Besides his career as mainly a clinician, he maintains interest in academic activities, with the (co) -publication of 35 peer-reviewed articles, more congress abstracts, the pursuit of collaborative developments and the interest in the collaboration of national and international multicenter studies, in parallel with the current management of the department and the supervision of trainees.

Ann Smeets is assistant professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the KU Leuven. She earned her medical and surgical degree at KU Leuven in 1996 and 2002. She continued her training in breast surgery through a fellowship under supervision of Professor Umberto Veronesi at the EIO in Milan and obtained her master in Senology at the University of Milan in 2003. Since 2004 she is working as breast surgeon at the Multidisciplinary Breast Centre of the University Hospitals Leuven.

As surgeon, she is specifically interested in innovative surgical techniques. Scientifically, she is active in clinical and translational breast cancer research (h-index Web of Science: 30) with a focus on biomarkers of immunotherapy.

She is an active member of the Belgian Society of Breast Surgeons and President of the biomedical committee of Kom op tegen Kanker.

Marian Vanhoeij is guest professor of surgery at VUB (Vrije Universiteit Brussel). She earned her medical and surgical degree at VUB in 2000 en 2006. In 2019 she became the Breast Clinic Coördinator as well as the coordinating surgical trainer for VUB/UZ Brussel.

As surgeon, she is specifically interested in oncoplastic surgery as well as surgical de-escalation by avoiding unnecessary surgery.  Scientifically, her research domain is the use of immunotherapy in early breast cancer. 

She is an active member of the Belgian Society of Breast Surgeons. 

Hans Wildiers is a medical oncologist dedicated to breast cancer research. He is staff member at the department of medical oncology in the University Hospital Leuven, Belgium since 2004. He coordinates the Leuven multidisciplinary breast center since 2015.

He has been coordinator of several academic studies in the field of breast cancer and geriatric oncology, and author of more than 250 peer reviewed papers.

He has been active within the board of SIOG, the international society of geriatric oncology, for many years, and served this organization as president from 11-2018 till 10-2020. From 2009 till 2015, he has chaired the elderly task force cancer of the European Organization of Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC).