EORTC announces new governance with new Board of Directors and President-Elect

The summer holidays are nearly here, and we are just concluding a series of important meetings at the EORTC, namely the Board and the Annual General Assembly. This year is a significant one for us; we have updated EORTC governance so that we can start a new three-year cycle with governing bodies that have clearer and well-delineated roles and responsibilities. Their methods of functioning and interaction have also been improved in order to enable enhanced communication between all parts of the organisation.

The reasons for the changes in governance are to give the organisation the capacity to gear up for the new decade and to meet its scientific, regulatory and economic challenges, whilst developing the means to optimise the capabilities of an organisation with the matchless assets of multi-disciplinarity, coverage of a large number of cancer types, and internationalism. This also gives us the opportunity to deliver a leaner organisation, with tight connections between its disease and technology groups and task forces as well as with the clinical and translational research infrastructures developed by the EORTC headquarters. This will also ensure improved relationships and the optimisation of knowledge and expertise between these groups and task forces in the interests of a more interactive network.

The new governance of the EORTC as set out below is re-enforced with the inauguration of a Scientific Chairs Council (SCC) that will establish our scientific strategy and its priorities. The SCC is the forum where the leadership of the EORTC groups and task forces can pull together all their expertise so that they are able to address the major oncological challenges to be resolved in the coming decade, as well as working collaboratively in an optimal manner across tumour types. The Board will ensure that the means to deliver the scientific strategy are addressed through the EORTC operational and financial policies. The added value of this reorganisation will be the optimal positioning of the role of the EORTC in the oncological landscape, which will support its partnerships with the non-commercial as well as commercial sectors. It will also raise the organisation to the next level in cancer policy activities and enable the organisation to enhance its role and interaction with policy makers and regulators.

EORTC’s governance structure

GA: General Assembly; AC/FC: Audit/Financial Cttee; NC: Nominating Cttee; ExCo: Executive Cttee; SAC: Scientific Audit Cttee; CEO: Chief Executive Officer; PRC/TRAC: Protocol Review Cttee/ Translational Research Advisory Cttee; IDMC: Independent Data Monitoring Cttee; G: Group; TF: Task Force

New EORTC President-Elect 2021-2024

With this in mind, the EORTC is pleased to announce that Professor Winette van der Graaf is the new EORTC President-Elect. In order to ensure a smooth transition to the new governance, Professor Bertrand Tombal will remain in charge until March 11, 2022 when the EORTC celebrates its 60^th anniversary allowing Professor van der Graaf to gradually take over the new organisation.

It is with great enthusiasm, that the EORTC management congratulates and welcomes Professor Winette van der Graaf as EORTC President-Elect. Professor van der Graaf is a Medical Oncologist based at The Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam with clinical and scientific international leadership in oncology and in cancer clinical research. Professor van der Graaf has been a longstanding member of the EORTC and most specifically of the Soft Tissue and Bone Sarcoma Group as well as the Quality of Life Group.  In addition, her skills and capacities to engage with people have been inspirational to many, positioning her as a mentor for the new generation of doctors. Last but not least, truly dedicated to patients, she is guiding the EORTC to working with patients and advocacy groups to ensure their contribution to the EORTC scientific programs.

Professor Winette van der Graaf will lead an outstanding Board of Directors.

EORTC Board of Directors (2021-2024)

FULL BOARD MEMBERS (Voting members)

President (until March 11, 2022)	Bertrand Tombal (Belgium)
President Elect (until March 11, 2022)	Winette van der Graaf (The Netherlands)
Past-President (until March 11, 2022)	Roger Stupp (USA)
Chair, Nominating Committee	The President in charge
Chair, Scientific Audit Committee	Elizabeth Eisenhauer (Canada)
Chair, Financial and Audit Committee	Guy Beniada (France)
Chair, Fundraising /ECRF	Diego du Monceau (Belgium)
Chair, Scientific Chairs Council	Benjamin Besse (France)
Vice Chair, Scientific Chairs Council	Michael Weller (Switzerland)
Member	Jean-Pierre Bizzari (USA)
Member	Mieke Van Hemelrijck (UK)
Member	Etienne Brain (France)

EX-OFFICIO BOARD MEMBERS (Non-voting)

Chair, Protocol Review Committee	Richard Schilsky (USA)
Chief Executive Officer	Denis Lacombe (Belgium)
Chief Financial Officer	Christian Brunet (Belgium)
Director HQ, Permanent Guest	Vassilis Golfinopoulos (Belgium)

 

EORTC General Assembly (2021-2024)

EFFECTIVE MEMBERS (Voting members)

The voting Members of the Board of Directors

The last 3 presidents:

• Bertrand Tombal (as of March 11, 2022) Belgium
  Martine Piccart (until March 11, 2022) Belgium
• Roger Stupp USA
• Jean-Yves Blay France

Chairs of the EORTC Groups and task Forces
Representatives of the 15 top recruiting centers

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS (Non-voting)

Chair, Protocol Review Committee	Richard Schilsky (USA)
Chief Executive Officer	Denis Lacombe (Belgium)
Chief Financial Officer	Christian Brunet (Belgium)
Director HQ, Permanent Guest	Vassilis Golfinopoulos (Belgium)

 

EORTC Groups and Task Forces (Chairs, Secretaries & Treasurers)

Group / TF	Chair	Secretary	Treasurer
Brain	Preusser M. (AT)	Le Rhun E. (CH)	Minniti G. (IT)
Breast	Ignatiadis M. (BE)	van Duijnhoven F. (NL)	Arnedos M. (FR)
Cancer in the Elderly  TF	Dal Lago L. (BE)	Luciani A. (IT)	Brunello A. (IT)
Cutan. Lymphoma  TF	Scarisbrick J. (UK)	Papadavid E. (GR)	Guenova E. (CH)
Endocrine Tumor	Locati L (IT)	De la Fouchardière C. (FR)	Dedecjus M. (PL)
Gastrointestinal Tract Cancer	Moehler M. (DE)	Fontana E. (UK)	Lutz M. (DE)
Genito-Urinary Cancers	Bex A. (NL)	Maroto P. (ES)	Oldenburg J. (NO)
Gynecological Cancer	Herrera F. (CH)	Kroep J. (NL)	Casado A. (ES)
Head & Neck	Machiels JP. (BE)	Oosting-Lenstra S. (NL)	Andry G. (BE)
Imaging	Deroose C. (BE)	de Geus-Oei LF. (NL)	Caramella C. (FR)
Leukaemia	Lübbert M. (DE)	Becker H. (DE)	Griskevicius L. (LT)
Lung	Dingemans A.M. (NL)	Remon Masip J. (ES)	Berghmans T. (BE)
Lymphoma	Plattel W. (NL)	Maraldo M. (DK)	Paszkiewicz-Kozik E. (PL)
Melanoma	Lorigan P. (UK)	Mandala M. (IT)	Ghanem G. (BE)
PAMM	Giovannetti E. (NL)	Ciccolini J. (FR)	Larsen A. (FR)
Pathobiology	Skvortsova I. (AT)	Oliveira-Ferrer L. (DE)	Callari M. (UK)
Quality of Life	Darlington AS (UK) until mid-Sep 21 Reijneveld J. (NL) as of mid-Sep 21	Kuljanic Vlasic K. (HR)	Van Hemelrijck M. (UK)
STBSG	Kasper B. (D)	Van Houdt W. (NL)	Blay JY. (FR)

 

List of EORTC top 15 recruiting institutions (2021-2024)

Rank	INSTITUTION	Name of the representative at EORTC GA (2021-2024)
1	U.Z. LEUVEN	Clément Paul
2	GUSTAVE ROUSSY	Ducreux Michel
3	INSTITUT JULES BORDET-HOPITAL UNIVERSITAIRE ULB	Ignatiadis Michail
4	CHU-UCL NAMUR	Vanhaudenarde Vincent
5	INSTITUT CATALA D’ONCOLOGIA	Salazar Ramon
6	CENTRE LEON BERARD	Dufresne Armelle
7	CHU DE LYON	Ducray François
8	UNIVERSITAETSSPITAL ZURICH	Roth Patrick
9	THE CHRISTIE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST	Faivre-Finn Corinne
10	HOSPITAL UNIVERSITARIO 12 DE OCTUBRE	Paz Ares Luis
11	CLINIQUES UNIVERSITAIRES SAINT-LUC	Machiels Jean-Pascal
12	RADBOUDUMC	Kaanders Johann
13	ASSISTANCE PUBLIQUE – HOPITAUX DE MARSEILLE	Greillier Laurent
14	ASSISTANCE PUBLIQUE HOPITAUX PARIS	Touat Mehdi
15	NORTH ESTONIA MEDICAL CENTRE	Elme Anneli

 

About European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer

European Organisation for the Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) is an academic clinical research organisation which unites clinical cancer research experts across the globe to define better treatments for cancer patients to prolong survival and improve quality of life. Both international and multidisciplinary, EORTC’s Network comprises over 2800 collaborators involved in cancer treatment and research in more than 740 institutions across 30 countries. Conducting translational research, phase 2 and 3 trials, EORTC offers an integrated approach to therapeutic strategies and quality of life. EORTC Headquarters, a unique international clinical research infrastructure, is based in Brussels, Belgium, from where its various activities are coordinated and run.

For further information, please visit the EORTC website: www.eortc.org