Francesco de Lorenzo
President
What this (really) means:
The new Board will be mainly involved in the governance, sustainability, unity of purposes and credibility of ECPC, based on the transparent participation of ECPC members in the activities of the Organization.
Board will empower ECPC members through training, dissemination on scientific information, educational tools and will foster cooperation and strengthen collaboration across Europe through Joint Action activities in order to develop a community spirit.
In accordance to the principle “Science with and for Society”, patient-centred cancer research has to become the standard in Europe in the long term, becoming even more closely aligned to the needs of patients. We need a change of culture in research towards greater participation. These new principles call for the systematic involvement of patients in cancer research.
ECPC, through the new board, will be mainly devoted to the Beating Cancer Plan implementation and its monitoring, as well as the Cancer Mission Europe in order to achieve 75% survival rate by 2030 by focusing on cancer prevention, treatment, survivorship care, social innovation and ensuring the reduction of existing inequalities in all Member States. The main tool to carry out all these, will be the “Challenge Cancer Intergroup”, the first EU parliamentary intergroup on cancer which Secretariat is leaded by ECPC. This informal group of cross-party Members will help us to bridge the gap between European institutions, national governments and stakeholders as well as European citizens to address the growing cancer burden in EU
Background:
I am a colon cancer survivor with 25 years of experience in patient advocacy, capacity building, research, networking building, policy, partnership and project design and management. In ECPC since 2004 (co-Founder): from 2013 to 2019 as President and re-elected in 2022. I am also President of the Italian Federation of Cancer Patients Organisation (FAVO), President of the Italian Association for Cancer Patients (Aimac). Involved in several European research projects and collaborating in the past with the consortium Cancer Core Europe in the Board of Directors. Board member of the European Academy of Cancer Science (EACS) and of the Cancer Drug Development Forum (CDDF). I have been Member of the European Commission Expert Group on Cancer Control (2014/2018) and co-author of the European Cancer Patients’ Bill of Rights. Author and Co-Author of more than 50 publications on cancer research and advocacy, 6 of them on Molecular Oncology in the last 3 years.
I am an MD and I have been full Professor of Biochemistry in the Medical School of the Federico II University, Naples, Italy.
Why Cancer?
Being a colon cancer patient (since 1997), I experienced the fears of diagnosis, surgeries, treatments, collateral effects and family’s burden. As medical doctor involved in research on cancergenesis and mutagenesis, as well as a politician of the Italian Parliament, I clearly understood the need to establish an alliance between patients and medical doctors and I discovered the sanitary, economic and social barriers that cancer survivors encounter during their life cancer pathway, also with regards to cancer stigma.
The mix of the above mentioned experiences brought me to dedicate my life to cancer patients and their families, putting my skills and my knowledge at their service.
