The European CanCer Organisation – European Journal of Cancer Young Investigators Award

The ECCO/EJC Young Investigators Award will be presented to Johan Dikken on the occasion of the European Multidisciplinary Congress, during the proffered session of Monday 26 September.

2011 Award: Johan Dikken

Johan Dikken was born in The Netherlands in 1983. After finishing high school in 2001 he started a bachelor in Pharmacy at Utrecht University, but switched to study Medicine at the University of Amsterdam as of 2003. During his internships at the Leiden University Medical (LUMC) in 2008 and 2009 he became interested in surgical oncology and started working as a research student at the LUMC Department of Surgical Oncology. He was involved in several projects, including quality assurance of the currently accruing CRITICS trial on peri-operative chemotherapy versus preoperative chemotherapy with postoperative chemo radiation in gastric cancer.

In 2010 Johan Dikken worked as a research fellow at the department of Surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York, under supervision of Dr Daniel Coit and Dr Murray Brennan. His research at MSKCC focused on staging and prognostication in gastric cancer.

Johan Dikken is presently a PhD student at the department of Surgical Oncology, LUMC, Leiden, and the departments of Radiation Oncology and Gastroenterology at the Netherlands Cancer Institute – Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital in Amsterdam, under supervision of Professor Cornelis van de Velde, Professor Marcel Verheij and Annemieke Cats. His current research is funded by the Dutch Cancer Society (KWF Kankerbestrijding) and focuses on quality assurance of oesophageal and gastric cancer treatment in the Netherlands. He is also involved in a quality of care project for gastric cancer patients in different European countries, instrumental for the development of a European upper GI cancer audit. He is aiming for a career in surgical oncology.

About the ECCO /EJC Young Investigators Award

The ECCO/EJC Young Investigators Award is open to young basic scientists and clinical oncologists of all disciplines relevant to cancer research.

The Award is to be 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.

Candidates should be junior (within 5 years of completion of PhD or specialist training) and have completed the submitted work in the two years preceding the European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress.

The Award consists of a prize of 4000 EUR, free registration, accommodation and travel to the European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress.

The Awardee is selected by the Congress Committee Chair and the Editor in Chief of EJC.