EORTC Structure

The EORTC is comprised of the General Assembly, the Board, several committees, a network of scientists and clinical investigators, and the Headquarters staff.


The General Assembly is the legislative body of the EORTC. Policies, proposals, and strategies are discussed and approved by the General Assembly. The General Assembly delegates specific functions to the Board, Committees or appointed persons.


The EORTC Network is organised into groups of scientists and/or clinicians, each with a specific area of interest in cancer research. These groups conduct, on a voluntary basis, translational research and/ or clinical trials on all types of cancers using a multidisciplinary approach. All Groups have a voting representative (the Chairman) within the General Assembly. In June 2005, the EORTC statutes were amended to include representatives from the 15 top accruing institutions as full members of the General Assembly. The General Assembly meets at least once a year and elects a new EORTC Board once every three years.


The Board is the steering and executive body, which advises the General Assembly on new activities and formulates proposals to be ratified by the General Assembly. The Board meets at least twice a year. The Board consists of 21 elected (voting) members and several ex-officio members. The voting members select among themselves the President, the Vice-President, the Treasurer and the Secretary General.


The Executive Committee was created by Emmanuel van der Schueren in 1991. This initiative provides support to the President in the decision making and strategy planning process. The Executive Committee consists of several voting members of the Board plus the Director General who is an exofficio (non-voting) member of the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee meets as often as needed (once every six weeks on average), and communicates via phone and e-mail on a weekly basis. The Executive Committee reports to the Board.


The Director General coordinates all administrative, legal and financial management activities of the organisation; and implements the strategies and policies as defined by the Board. Additional responsibilities include EU project coordination, information dissemination and logistic support for EORTC courses and conferences.

 

EORTC COMMITTEES:
 MC: Membership Committee
IRB: Institutional Review Committee
SAC: Scientific Advisory Committee
QAC: Quality Assurance Committee
PRC: Protocol Review Committee
NDAC: New Drug Development Committee
TRAC: Translational Research Advisory Committee
IDMC: Independent Data Monitoring Committee

EORTC Network

All EORTC scientific activities are conducted by the Network within multidisciplinary groups divided into the Laboratory Research and Clinical Research Divisions. Scientists and clinicians participate in EORTC research within EORTC Groups (or Task Forces) specific to their area of interest and expertise. More recently, emphasis has been placed on translational research and cooperation between EORTC Groups and the EORTC Task Forces.


EORTC research offers an integrated approach to the evaluation of innovative agents, a comprehensive broad clinical trial programme, multimodality therapeutic strategic evaluaion and special research projects including the study of quality of life.


In cooperation with the clinical groups, the EORTC Laboratory Division focuses on pre-clinical testing of new anticancer agents, on receptors and tumor markers. It also provides support for translational research projects conducted within the EORTC as well as on functional imaging, pharmacology and pathology.


The EORTC Clinical Research Division is mainly involved in the conduct of clinical trials through either disease (GI, GU, Breast, Lung, Sarcoma, Leukaemia, etc) or modality-oriented cooperative groups, such as the Radiation Oncology Group.


A new EORTC Group can be formed through one of two routes, of which the first step involves establishing a Task Force with a 2-year probationary period.


1. Individuals interested in forming a Group should contact the EORTC Headquarters to obtain guidance as to where they would best fit into the EORTC structure and also how to establish the statutes to become a Task Force. The EORTC will thereafter allocate an appropriate amount of financial support and human resources to the individuals.


2. Alternatively, a member of the Board or the Executive Committee may discover a niche within the EORTC structure and propose the formation of a Task Force.


Any Task Force may submit project proposals to the Protocol Review Committee or other relevant Committees, such as the New Drug Advisory or Translational Research Committees. Following a one year period, the Chairman of the Task Force is required to submit a report to the EORTC Board.


After two years, the Scientific Advisory Committee issues a full evaluation of the Task Force activities which then serves to advise the Board whether the Task Force Chairman is entitled to voting rights at the General Assembly.