Martine J. Piccart-gebhart MD, PhD

Martine J. Piccart, MD, Ph.D., is an Honorary Professor of Oncology at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and a Scientific Director at the Jules Bordet Institute (Brussels/Belgium). Earning her medical degrees at ULB and oncology qualifications in New York and London, she is also a member of the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine. Prof. Piccart held presidencies of the European CanCer Organisation (ECCO), the European Organisation for the Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and served on the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Board. Presently, she is a member of the Board of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), which nominated her as a fellow of the AACR Academy in 2013.

A strong advocate for and leader of international research collaborations, Prof. Piccart, together with Prof. Aron Goldhirsch, created the Breast International Group (BIG) in 1996 to foster collaboration and accelerate the development of better breast cancer treatments. The organization, chaired by Prof. Piccart, became an international not-for-profit organization in 1999, and today unites 59 academic breast cancer research groups from around the world. BIG has more than 30 clinical trials under its umbrella at any one time, and several of BIG's past studies are considered landmark and practice-changing.

Prof. Piccart's relentless drive for results has made her an international leader who has forged collaborations all over the world and has successfully managed a number of high-profile, phase III clinical trials that have involved multiple international investigators and institutions. Those clinical trials include HERA (Herceptin Adjuvant), MINDACT (Microarray In Node-Negative and 1 to 3 Positive Lymph Node Disease May Avoid Chemotherapy), and ALTTO (Adjuvant Lapatinib and/or Trastuzumab Treatment Optimisation).

In 2014, BIG launched AURORA, an innovative molecular screening program aiming to understand the molecular aberrations driving breast cancer metastasis and why tumors respond differently to therapy. Over 80 hospitals associated with ten BIG research groups in eleven countries are taking part. Prof. Piccart believes this type of research will enable much more effective treatment of metastatic breast cancer in the future.