Prof. Johann de Bono
Royal Marsden Hospital
Sutton, United Kingdom

The 2011 ESMO Award has been granted to Professor de Bono, who has dedicated his life to oncology translational and clinical research, innovative treatment, education and development of international guidelines for prostate cancer management. Prof. de Bono is internationally recognized for the advancement of prostate cancer management and renowned for his innovative ideas in translational and clinical research in early drug development. He is highly appreciated for his rigorous methodology and mentorship of many young oncologists and he has been a key contributor in the success of the joint ECCO - AACR - EORTC - ESMO Workshop on 'Methods in Clinical Cancer Research' held in Flims. Prof. de Bono deserves this award for his exceptional work in the development of a number of new innovative compounds for several new indications in oncology and his exceptional contribution to the development of new drugs in prostate cancer, particularly through excellence in translational research and study design. One of the recently approved drugs from this development pipeline is abiraterone acetate, intended for the treatment of aggressive and previously drug resistant prostate cancer. This is a major breakthrough advance in the treatment of medically resistant prostate cancer.

Prof. Rafael Rosell
Catalan Institute of Oncology                        
IOC Badalona
Badalona, Spain


The Hamilton Fairley Award will be given to Professor Rosell, a leading figure in the field of lung cancer for many years. He established a very productive group of clinical and laboratory investigators in the Medical Oncology Department at Hospital Trias i Pujol, which has grown and became one of the leading centres in lung cancer management. Prof. Rosell is the founder and the scientific leader of the Spanish Lung Cancer Group (SCLG), that has made major contributions impacting the treatment of lung cancer and the direction of future developments aiming to provide the best therapeutic options based on molecular tumour characteristics. Prof. Rosell has been the principal investigator in a number of clinical trials, he has demonstrated long-term commitment to clinical and translational research in the lung cancer field. Prof. Rosell’s contributions range from tumour biology to prognostic and treatment-predictive markers, clinical trials involving chemotherapy and targeted agents with careful dedication to personalized medicine.

Prof. Hans Jörg Senn
Tumor and Breast Center ZeTuP            
St. Gallen, Switzerland

Professor Senn deserves this award for his continuity in organizing educational activities, which set the standards of care in breast cancer, mainly in relation to adjuvant treatment, as well as bringing prevention strategies to Medical Oncologists in Europe. During his career he was actively involved in research activities and established organizationally several leading professional educational entities in Europe. His outstanding efforts through the organization of Consensus Conferences among breast cancer experts focused attention on addressing subtle questions in the adjuvant treatment of breast cancer,  which presented a dilemma for practicing physicians. His work internationally opened an interest in cancer prevention to medical oncology community in Europe.  Prof. Hans Jörg Senn has been the leader of the optimization treatment of early breast cancer and through the conference in St. Gallen has generated a state-of-art definition of therapy for patients with this disease. Thus, he has enormously contributed to the development of the treatment of early breast cancer. The Consensus statements generated at these events are established as very important standards in clinical practice worldwide.