In Memoriam of Martine Van Glabbeke (1951-2026)

It is with deep regret and profound sadness that we report the death of Martine Van Glabbeke at the age of 74.

Martine worked at EORTC from 1975 until 2011. She started working at the EORTC Data Center as a computer analyst in 1975 and became a biostatistician in 1978. In 1989, she was nominated Assistant Director of the EORTC Data Center. She has been the biostatistician of several EORTC groups since 1978 (Early Clinical Trials Group, Clinical Screening Group, Radiotherapy Group) and was biostatistician of the EORTC Lymphoma Group and the EORTC Soft Tissue and Bone Sarcoma Group, that she joined in 1983. Martine was a senior statistician; she worked 36 years at EORTC.

Her expertise has been invaluable for our community pushing the boundaries of methodological research in oncology with transformative ideas. Her contribution to the development and implementation of criteria for assessing tumour responses is recognised by the wide community of cancer clinical trialists. The developed methodology is now a world-wide standard for oncology clinical trials. Martine was also instrumental as a Director of the Methods in Clinical Cancer Research Workshop where she has guided so many young oncologists and statisticians in mastering the techniques of protocol development, statistical analysis and interpretation of clinical results. More specifically, as a statistician of specific disease-oriented groups such as the EORTC Sarcoma group, Martine has designed and analysed practice changing clinical trials, which truly made a difference for cancer patients.

We will remember Martine as a natural leader with the ability to inspire those working with her, a skilled scientist and statistician who leaves a legacy that touches everyone in our field and a very kind and loveable colleague.

The EORTC Sarcoma group joins the full EORTC honouring Martine’s contribution to the field: “We are sorry to report that Martine van Glabekke, for many years statistician to the EORTC Soft Tissue and Bone Sarcoma Group, died on 12 April 2026. Martine was the bedrock of the Group’s clinical trials, teaching us how to make trials meaningful, ensuring scientific rigour and guiding our publications. She was an innovator, and her contribution to defining meaningful endpoints for the study of treatment effects in rare cancers such as sarcoma had a massive impact on clinical trial design worldwide. Her seminal paper on the use of progression-free rate to predict the activity of a drug when given first or second line in the treatment of different sarcomas led to the adoption of this endpoint in clinical trials across the globe. She was also instrumental in ensuring that the seminal clinical trials with imatinib for gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) taking place in Europe and North America were conducted in such a way that the data could be combined in a meta-analysis, which she carried out. In characteristically modest fashion her name only appears on the manuscript as corresponding author. The meta-analysis demonstrated the clinical benefit of higher dose imatinib for patients with KIT exon 9 mutant GIST and the prognostic significance of mutational status. Apart from all her scientific achievements Martine will be remembered fondly as a kind, helpful person and with great respect.” 

We want to thank Martine for her commitment to EORTC research work, and we would like to express our deepest condolences to her family.