This award is in commemoration of the European pioneer in cancer research and treatment, founding member and first President of ESMO, Prof. Georges Mathé.
It is presented to an individual internationally recognised for outstanding achievements in the area of Immuno-Oncology.
The ESMO Award for Immuno-Oncology is presented at the annual ESMO Immuno-Oncology Congress and the Award recipient is invited to give a keynote lecture during the Opening Ceremony.
2023 – Steven A. Rosenberg, USA
The 2023 ESMO Award for Immuno-Oncology was bestowed to Steven A. Rosenberg in recognition of his exceptional contributions to cancer immunology research, having also pioneered the first effective immunotherapies for patients with advanced cancer. In recent work Rosenberg established new approaches for the application of immunotherapy to patients with a variety of common solid epithelial cancers by targeting the unique mutations present in the patient’s cancer. Rosenberg is Chief of Surgery at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland (US) and Professor of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences and at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C. (US).
His award lecture will be delivered on Wednesday, 6 December 2023 during the ESMO Immuno-Oncology Congress 2023 Opening session.
Previous recipients of the ESMO Award for Immuno-Oncology
- Nina Bhardwaj (2022)
- Wolf Hervé Fridman (2021)
- Jedd D. Wolchok (2020)
- Thomas Gajewski (2019)
- Cornelis Melief (2018)
- Laurence Zitvogel (2017)
Georges Mathé was previously commemorated by the Georges Mathé Translational Research Fellowship (2012-2016). As of 2017, the fellowship has been replaced by the ESMO Award for Immuno-Oncology.
Nomination and selection process
The recipient is nominated by the ESMO Immuno-Oncology Congress Scientific Committee based on the following eligibility criteria.
The candidate must:
- be an individual who has made a significant impact in the field of immuno-oncology
- be an oncology professional, medical or clinical oncologist or researcher
- be an ESMO member
The candidate must not:
- be a current member of the ESMO Executive Board, the ESMO Council or the ESMO Nomination Committee, nor have served on these committees within the last two years
- be a past recipient of the ESMO Award for Immuno-Oncology
- have received any other Award from ESMO within the last five (5) years
- be a Scientific Co-Chair of the ESMO Immuno-oncology Congress
Members of the Scientific Committee are eligible however they may not nominate themselves. More than one nomination is allowed.
All nominations are evaluated and a final awardee is selected by the Selection Committee: the Scientific Committee Co-Chairs of the ESMO Immuno-Oncology Congress, the ESMO Nomination Committee Chair and the ESMO President.