Faculty Biographies

Prof Nadia Harbeck is director of the Breast Center and holds the chair for conservative oncology in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) Hospital, Munich, Germany. She received her medical degree from LMU, then obtained her specialist training in obstetrics and gynecology at the Technical University of Munich.

Prof Harbeck is a member of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) executive board, the ESMO director of education (2023–2025), and subject editor of the ESMO Breast Cancer Guidelines (since 2022). She is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting educational committee (2022–2025) and a member of the expert panel issuing the German Gynecological Oncology Group (AGO) recommendations for breast cancer therapy. She is co-director of the West German Study Group. From 2009–2015, she served on the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) executive board as chair of the Translational Research Division. Prof Harbeck is principal investigator or steering committee member of numerous breast cancer trials, particularly with novel targeted compounds and individualized treatment strategies. She has a strong interest in eHealth and is a co-developer of the international digital patient diary CANKADO.

Prof Harbeck is one of the most frequently cited clinical researchers worldwide (Highly Cited Researcher 2021, 2022, 2023). She has authored more than 665 papers in peer-reviewed journals (h–index 97) and is coordinating editor in chief of Breast Care. She is the ESMO co-director of the annual EORTC-ESMO-AACR (American Association for Cancer Research) Methods in Clinical Cancer Research Workshop and a panel member of several international breast cancer consensus conferences.

Prof Harbeck is the recipient of the 2023 German Cancer Award and the 2020 ESMO Lifetime Achievement Award. She has also received several additional recognitions for her clinical and translational research, such as the 2021 UPO Award for Women in Academy and Research, the 2015 Bavarian Cancer Patient Award, the 2012 Claudia von Schilling Award, the 2008 European Breast Cancer Conference Award, the 2002 AGO Schmidt-Matthiesen Award, a 2001 AACR Award, and the 2001 ASCO Fellowship Merit Award for the highest-ranking abstract.

Prof Giuseppe Curigliano is a full professor of medical oncology at the University of Milan, Italy, and director of the Early Drug Development Division at the European Institute of Oncology. He received his MD from Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Gemelli University Hospital, in Rome, and his PhD in clinical pharmacology from the University of Pisa.

Prof Curigliano is an expert in the field of advanced drug development in solid tumors, with specific interest in breast cancer. He contributed to the development of many anticancer therapies that are now standard of care in the treatment of multiple solid tumors. His translational research focuses on the field of biomarkers and personalized therapies, development of targeted agents, and implementation of personalized medicine. Since 2001, he has been a tenure-track and full-time cancer specialist at the European Institute of Oncology, one of the world’s leading cancer research institutes and the premier cancer center in Italy, the third in Europe, and 12th globally.

Prof Curigliano is a member of the Italian Higher Health Council, serving as an advisor of the Ministry of Health for cancer policy issues. He has served as chair of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Nomination Committee and the Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee. He was one of the founding members and served as scientific co-chair of the ESMO Breast Cancer Congress. He was awarded the first European School of Oncology Umberto Veronesi Memorial Award in Vienna in 2017, and in the same year, a Fellowship of the European Academy of Cancer Sciences in Paris. In 2022 and 2023, he was identified as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate. Prof Curigliano has contributed to over 800 peer-reviewed publications and many book chapters. He has served as editorial board member for international journals in oncology including European Journal of Cancer, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Annals of Oncology.

Prof Joseph Gligorov is professor of medical oncology at Sorbonne University and medical practitioner in the Department of Medical Oncology at Tenon Hospital (AP-HP), Paris, France. He is currently director of the University Institute of Cancerology AP-HP Sorbonne University, which groups treatment, education, and research within a network of 7 university hospitals and the Science and Humanities Departments of Sorbonne University.

Regarding Prof Gligorov’s clinical activity, he co-chairs the Breast Cancer Expert Center at Tenon Hospital, where his clinical and translational research activity focuses on breast cancer predictive and prognostic measures. He is a member of several steering committees and independent data monitoring committees, as well as part of the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) U938 team for cancer biology and treatments, mainly involved in the field of breast cancer and its endocrine dependence.

Prof Gligorov is vice president of the French National College of Cancerology Education, and his educational activity focuses on student and resident oncology education. Moreover, he is involved in developing new educational programs at Sorbonne University for specialized nurses in oncology and for patients in partnership with the “patient’s university.” He leads the Nice-Saint-Paul de Vence breast cancer conference and treatment guidelines, and is a member of various national working groups devoted to cancer treatment strategies. Prof Gligorov is also co-founder and president of the Mediterranean Association for Radiotherapy Oncology and Medical Oncology (AROMe), devoted to improving cancer patient care and access to innovations and oncology education in emerging countries around the Mediterranean area. He is a member of several editorial boards, advisory committees, and national and international scientific societies. He is a core faculty member of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and European School of Oncology (ESO), as well as a member of the ESO-ESMO Metastatic Breast Cancer Task Force. Prof Gligorov has published more than 300 journal articles and participated in the writing and editing of several books.

Prof Peter Schmid is internationally recognized for his research and education leadership in breast cancer. He is the clinical director of the Breast Cancer Centre and an honorary consultant medical oncologist at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. He was appointed in 2013 as chair in cancer medicine at Barts Cancer Institute (BCI), Queen Mary University, London. Prof Schmid is also lead of the Centre of Experimental Cancer Medicine at BCI, overseeing the conduct of early phase trials at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and BCI, with a particular interest in immunotherapy, innovative trial designs, and circulating biomarkers. He leads the academic breast cancer program and the cancer immune therapy group at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and BCI.

Prof Schmid graduated from the Technical University of Munich medical school in 1997, gaining a MD in clinical chemistry in 1998 from the University of Munich and a clinical research PhD in 2005 from Charité University in Berlin. He trained at the University Hospital Charité in Berlin in internal medicine, hematology, and oncology, before he became a senior clinical lecturer and director of the Hammersmith Early Clinical Trials Unit at Imperial College London in 2005. He was appointed as foundation chair in cancer medicine at the University of Sussex in 2010 before taking on his current role at Barts in 2013.

Prof Schmid’s primary research interest is in clinical research in breast cancer with the goal of improving the treatment of women with breast cancer by defining more effective and less toxic approaches. Specific research areas include cancer immune therapy, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), endocrine resistance, and innovative biomarker-driven trial concepts. Prof Schmid runs an international collaborative clinical and translational research program. He is the principal investigator of several pivotal breast cancer studies, including the IMpassion130 trial that evaluated atezolizumab for advanced TNBC and led to the regulatory approval of the first immunotherapy strategy for patients with breast cancer in North America and Europe. His work has been published in many journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Lancet Oncology, JAMA Oncology, Nature Communications, and the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Prof Schmid is a member of several national and international cancer organisations and research groups and has been involved in international consensus meetings on the management of breast cancer. He is a member of the European Society for Medical Oncology breast cancer faculty.