ECCO – the European CanCer Organisation and EJC – European Journal of Cancer are pleased to announce the ECCO/EJC Young Investigator’s Award, to be presented at 18th ECCO – 40th ESMO European Cancer Congress. The Award is given to a young scientist or doctor in the field of basic, translational or clinical oncology research for recent original work in cancer research, treatment or care.

Award recipient: Maria Romina Girotti

Maria Romina Girotti obtained her B.Sc. in Biochemistry in Argentina in 2004. In 2010, she completed her Ph.D. at the Leloir Institute – University of Buenos Aires, where her research was focused on the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of the extracellular matrix protein SPARC in melanoma progression. In 2011 she joined as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow the Signal Transduction Team at The Institute of Cancer Research in London and in 2012 the Molecular Oncology Group at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute. During her postdoc Romina specialized in translational medicine in melanoma. Under the mentorship of Prof. Richard Marais, Dr Girotti achieved an outstanding track record of publications in high impact factor journals (Cell, Cancer Cell, Cancer Discovery, Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Communications, Science Signaling, among others). Her work has provided crucial insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying resistance to targeted therapies in melanoma (Girotti et al, Cancer Discovery 2013; Hirata et al, Cancer Cell 2015) and developing new therapeutics to treat resistant patients in collaboration with the Institute of Cancer Research (Girotti et al, Cancer Cell 2015). As a result of this research a Phase-I clinical trial started in April 2015 at the Royal Marsden Hospital and at The Christie Hospital in the UK. Dr. Girotti continues working in melanoma establishing new tools for personalized medicine in melanoma patients.

To view all the awards presented at #ECC2015 visit www.europeancancercongress.org/awards