PEZCOLLER FOUNDATION – ECCO Recognition for Contribution to Oncology

The Pezcoller Foundation – ECCO Recognition for Contribution to Oncology rewards one single individual for his/her professional life dedication to the improvement of cancer treatment, care and research.

2011 Award: Jens Overgaard

In 2011, the Pezcoller Foundation – ECCO Recognition for Contribution to Oncology is presented to Professor Jens Overgaard from Aarhus, Denmark, in recognition of his leading role in experimental oncology and translational research in radiation oncology as well as his outstanding contribution to promote multidisciplinarity and evidence based approaches in oncology and more specifically innovative treatments for Head and neck and Breast cancer, as well as the establishment of new therapeutic standards.

The award consists of a prize of 30.000 EUR and a commemorative plaque.

The Award will be presented to Professor Overgaard on the occasion of a ceremony in Rovereto (Italy) on Friday 9^th September. The Award lecture will be delivered at the European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress in Stockholm, during the Presidential Session of Sunday 25 September 2011.

Professor Jens Overgaard is currently the head of the Department of Experimental Clinical Oncology at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark. He has forged a stellar career marked by groundbreaking clinical research that has altered standards of cancer care around the world.

Professor Overgaard has made enormous contributions to the field of cancer, as he was the first to show clinically that the experimental radiation sensitizer Misonidazole is beneficial in head and neck cancer, thus validating the importance of hypoxia as a radioresistance agent. He is also recognised as one of the first international investigators to show that hyperthermia is a useful adjunct to radiation and chemotherapy.

Professor Overgaard earned his medical degree from the University of Aarhus in 1971. He then served as assistant professor in the university’s Department of Cell Biology from 1972 to 1975. The following year he completed his residency in radiation medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and served as a clinical research fellow at Harvard Medical School. He returned to the University of Aarhus in 1977 and worked as a clinical research fellow in radiotherapy until 1980, when he became a senior research fellow in experimental radiotherapy and oncology at the Institute of Cancer Research. In 1982 he earned his doctorate of medical science from the University of Aarhus, and also became the head of the experimental radiotherapy and oncology section of the Danish Cancer Society in Aarhus.

He has been Head of the Department of Experimental Clinical Oncology at Aarhus University Hospital since 1987.

Previous Recipients

Pezcoller Foundation – ESO Recognition for Contribution to Oncology

1994: Franco Cavalli (IT)

1996: Guido Venosta (IT)

1997: Henry Lynch (USA)

Pezcoller Foundation – FECS Recognition for Contribution to Oncology

1999: Jean-Claude Horiot (FR)

2001: Umberto Veronesi (IT)

2003: Hans-Jörg Senn (CH)

2005: René Bernards (NL)

2007: Luigi Chieco Bianchi (IT)

2009: Françoise Meunier (FR)

About the Pezcoller Foundation

The Pezcoller Foundation was established in 1980 through a most generous donation from Professor Alessio Pezcoller, a dedicated Italian surgeon, who devoted his life to his profession. Professor Pezcoller not only made important contributions to medicine but through his generosity and foresight, provided his lifetime’s savings for others to do likewise.

Formerly, until 1997, the Pezcoller Foundation presented an award in collaboration with the European School of Oncology (ESO). The Pezcoller Foundation-ECCO Recognition for Contribution to Oncology builds on this tradition.