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Medical Knowledge Institute presents third Bob Pinedo Prize to Professor Bob Löwenberg at annual Oncology Symposium
 

Oostvoorne, the Netherlands, 6 October 2008 - On Thursday the 30th of October the Third Translational Oncology Symposium will be held in Amsterdam. During this symposium the third Bob Pinedo Prize will be awarded by the Medical Knowledge Institute (MKI), a young, international non-profit organization that considers healthcare to be a fundamental human right. The prize has been initiated two years ago by the MKI to honor Bob Pinedo’s work as founder of the VU University Medical Center (VUmc) Cancer Center Amsterdam (CCA) and his efforts in cancer research, patient care and education. Professor Dr. H.M. (Bob) Pinedo has been closely associated to the MKI concerning cancer programs in emerging and transitional countries.

During a festive session, the Medical Knowledge Institute will award the ‘Bob Pinedo Cancer Care Prize’ to Professor Bob Löwenberg for his exceptional contribution to improved care for cancer patients. Bob Löwenberg is Professor of Haematology and since 1990 he is Department Chair at Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Between 1982-1990 he was scientific director of the Daniel den Hoed Cancer Centre, Rotterdam, and The Netherlands. After graduating as an MD at Groningen University, he received his PhD, cum laude, from Erasmus University. In 1978 he has spent an Eleanor Roosevelt fellowship at UCLA, Los Angeles. Professor Löwenberg’s research activities are in the treatment and the pathobiology of leukaemia, lymphoma and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. He has extensively published in the area of developmental diagnostics and therapeutics in leading scientific journals.

Bob Löwenberg is on the editorial board of several international journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine. He is one of the founders of the Dutch-Belgian Cooperative Group on Hemato-Oncology in Adults (HOVON Cooperative Group) and has been the chair of the HOVON leukaemia trial group. Professor Löwenberg was one of the founders and has served as President of the European Haematology Association (EHA). He has also served as president of the International Society of Experimental Haematology and the International Society of Haematology. He is an elected member of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of The Netherlands, and between 2002-2008 he was the chairman of the Medical Advisory Council of the Dutch Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences. Bob Löwenberg was awarded the Dr P Muntendam Dutch Cancer Prize (2004) and the Jacqueline Seroussi Memorial Cancer Research Award (Tel Aviv, 2006) for his scientific achievements in leukemia. In 2008 at the 50th annual meeting of the American Society of Haematology (San Francisco) he has been invited to present the Ham Wassermann Lecture.

The Prize consists of an amount of 50,000 Euro (about $ 64,000) and a bronze statue in the form of one of Pinedo’s hands, symbolizing strength and hope of healing.

This year’s symposium program will feature keynote presentations by leading cancer experts including Dr. Andrea Biondi, Dr. Peter Boyle, Dr. Manuel Hidalgo, Dr. Terry Jones, Dr. George Vande Woude, Dr. Dirk Verellen en Dr. Magnus von Knebel Doeberitz. In addition, several European researchers – including experts from the VU Medical Centre CCA- will give scientific contributions from their own research programs.

The symposium and award ceremony will be yearly events. For more information and to register for Symposium please visit: www.cancercenteramsterdam.nl.

Nominations for the Bob Pinedo Prize 2009 can be sent to PinedoPrize@infomki.org. Deadline for submitting nominations is: 23 May 2009. All nominees will be evaluated by an international ‘nominating committee’ that will also select the winner.