image: Professor Fatima Cardoso. view more
Credit: Champalimaud Clinical Centre, Lisbon, Portugal
The European School of Oncology (ESO), together with the Advanced Breast Cancer Global Alliance, will be awarding their 2019 Advanced Breast Cancer Award to Professor Fatima Cardoso, Director of the Breast Unit of the Champalimaud Clinical Centre in Lisbon, Portugal, "in recognition of her foresight in understanding the importance of advanced breast cancer and for launching a Global Alliance against it".
Professor Larry Norton, Medical Director of the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) in New York City (USA), will present Prof Cardoso with the award on Thursday 14 November at the start of the Advanced Breast Cancer Fifth International Consensus Conference (ABC5) in Lisbon. [1]
Recognising that advanced breast cancer was a disease that was often neglected in favour of finding new treatments for early breast cancer, Prof Cardoso was instrumental in establishing the biennial ABC conferences, the first of which took place in 2011 in Lisbon. In 2016 she launched the ABC Global Alliance in Paris to continue the work of the conferences. Since then membership has grown; currently there are 177 members (scientific institutions, patient advocacy organisations, individuals and companies) in 84 countries around the world, and in 2020 it will move from being an ESO initiative to becoming an independent organisation, with ESO remaining an important member. The Alliance's mission is:
- to improve and extend the lives of women and men living with ABC in all countries worldwide and to fight for a cure
- to raise awareness of advanced breast cancer and lobby worldwide for the improvement of the lives of ABC patients.
Prof Cardoso said: "I am deeply honoured to receive this award, not on my behalf but on behalf of the ABC Global Alliance and on behalf of all patients with advanced breast cancer around the world. It is for them and with them that we work. Every day I am humbled and inspired by their strength, courage and dedication."
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[1] ABC5 Award and lecture: "Making a difference for advanced breast cancer patients," by Fatima Cardoso, 14.20 hrs CET, Thursday 14 November.