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Martine J. Piccart, MD, PhD
Member, PLATO Foundation Board of Directors
Martine J. Piccart, MD, PhD, is professor of oncology at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and director of the Medicine Department at the Institut Jules Bordet, in Brussels, Belgium.
Dr Piccart earned her MD and PhD at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, and received her oncology qualifications in New York and London. She is a member of the Académie Royale de Médecine de Belgique.
With a primary interest in breast cancer and drug development, Dr Piccart has a strong interest in international research collaboration, and is the principal or co-principal investigator of many clinical trials, including HERA, MINDACT, and ALTTO. She is co-founder and chair of the Brussels-based Breast International Group (BIG), created in 1996 to facilitate international breast cancer clinical trials, and TRANSBIG, a European Commission–supported translational research consortium to complement BIG’s clinical research network. BIG brings together 44 collaborative groups from around the world and has over 30 trials under its umbrella; TRANSBIG represents 39 institutions in 21 countries; and BIG has recently launched an innovative biomarker and drug development program focused on neoadjuvant trials, called NeoBIG.
Dr Piccart is an active member of many professional organizations, currently serving as president-elect of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO). She is immediate past-president of the European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and recently served on the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Board.
She is author or co-author of more than 300 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals and has received numerous prestigious awards for her contribution to research in oncology, including the ESMO Award for Exceptional Contribution to the Advancement of Medical Oncology in Europe (1997), a Jacqueline Seroussi Memorial Foundation for Cancer Research Award for "International leadership in translational and clinical research that has improved treatment outcomes for women with early-stage and advanced breast cancer" (2005), the 14th Claude Jacquillat Award for achievements in clinical oncology (2006), and the ESMO-GSK Lifetime Achievement Award in Breast Cancer Research (to the Breast International Group in 2006). She was awarded the Miami Breast Cancer Conference Award of Excellence for 2007 and the Jill Rose Award for distinguished biomedical research in October 2009 in New York. More recently, Dr Piccart received the William L. McGuire Award in recognition of her contribution in breast cancer research in December 2009 in San Antonio.