Editorial introductions.

Abstract

Current Opinion in Oncology was launched in 1989. It is one of a successful series of review journals whose unique format is designed to provide a systematic and critical assessment of the literature as presented in the many primary journals. The field of psychiatry is divided into 15 sections that are reviewed once a year. Each section is assigned a Section Editor, a leading authority in the area, who identifies the most important topics at that time. Here we are pleased to introduce the Journal's Section Editors for this issue. SECTION EDITORS Dominique BronDominique BronDominique Bron is Professor of Hematology at the Free University of Brussels (ULB) and former Head of the department of clinical and experimental hematology at the Institut Jules Bordet, Cancer center of the ULB, in Brussels, Belgium. Professor Bron graduated in internal medicine/hematology in 1984 and received her PhD in 1990. During her training in internal medicine, she acquired particular expertise in onco-hematology and transplantation after two postgraduate fellowships with Professor H. Kaplan, Stanford University, California, USA, and Professor D. Thomas, director of the Transplant Unit of Seattle, Washington, USA. Professor Bron contributed to the development of the research in the field of chronic lymphoid leukemia and marrow microenvironment. Professor Bron is a member of the American Society of Hematology, the International Society of Experimental Hematology, the EBMT, the EORTC, and past board member of the EHA. She was the president of the BHS (Belgian Hematology Society) for three years. During that period, she organized the national course of excellence in Hematology and was involved in a unique program concerning harmonization of teaching hematology (H-NET/EU Program). She is also member of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Belgium. Professor Bron is the author of more than 250 scientific publications, and more than 500 communications in national and international congresses. She launched the EHA scientific working group on “Aging and Hematology” and works as an Honorary Professor at the University of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. She is deeply involved in outreach programs for education and research in Vietnam. Professor Bron is also member of the National Committee on Bioethics, concerned with ethical issues related to older patients, cancer patients, Stem Cells treatments… Professor Bron is, with her team, involved in several clinical trials (phase II, III, IV) in hematologic malignancies. Frédéric AmantFrédéric AmantFrédéric Amant (MD, PhD) (°1967) received his medical degree from the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium, in 1992 and completed his specialty training in Obstetrics and Gynecology in Leuven, Pretoria (South Africa) and Concepción (Chile) in 1998. He completed his subspecialty training in Gynecologic Oncology in Pretoria and Leuven in 2000. He pioneered the sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer and the nerve sparing radical hysterectomy at UZ Leuven. He is professor at the KU Leuven, and at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, visiting professor at the University of Bergen, Norway, and honorary professor at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He is specialist at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam. Frédéric Amant heads the Gynecologic Oncology research section at the University of Leuven and at the Netherlands Cancer Institute. In 2005, he founded the ESGO taskforce on Cancer in Pregnancy, now the “International Network on Cancer, Infertility and Pregnancy” (INCIP), and chairs this network up until now. Since 2014, INCIP also registers young women who aim to preserve their fertility. At the KU Leuven, he founded the fund for Innovative Cancer Research, a platform that funds oncologic projects for teams at this institution. In addition, Frédéric Amant founded TRACE, the tumor xenograft platform at the KU Leuven, which bridges basic research closer and the clinic. He co-founded ENITEC, the European Network on Individualized Treatment of Endometrial Cancer. He has authored 484 PubMed publications, in journals such as NEJM, Nature, the Lancet journals, JAMA Oncology and the Journal of Clinical Oncology, which add to his H-index of 63. Christianne LokChristianne LokDr Christianne Lok is a MD, PhD and a staff member of the department of gynecologic oncology of the Center for Gynecologic Oncology, Amsterdam since 2013. She works as a gynecologic oncologist at Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital - The Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam. She is trained in minimally invasive surgery including robotic surgery and also focusses on cytoreductive surgery. Her scientific research work delves into biomarkers for ovarian cancer and into the development of peritoneal metastases in ovarian cancer. Her clinical and research interests also include Gestational Trophoblastic Disease (GTD). She is the chair of the Dutch Working Party on Trophoblastic Disease and in June 2021 she will become president of the European Organization for the Treatment of Trophoblastic Disease (EOTTD). She also actively involved in the care and research on Cancer & Pregnancy. She is the chair of the Dutch Advisory Board on Cancer in pregnancy and currently actively involved in the establishment of the international advisory board on cancer in pregnancy (ABCIP). She co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications. She is an associate editor of the journal Gynecologic and Obstetric Investigation. Ahmad AwadaAhmad AwadaProfessor Ahmad Awada studied medicine at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium. He specialized in internal medicine and medical oncology at Jules Bordet Institute, in Brussels, until 1992 (“La plus grande distinction”). During his specialization, he also undertook training in the clinical development of new therapies and new anticancer drugs. To deepen his training, he stayed in the Netherlands at the New Drug Development Office, Free University, Amsterdam and in San Antonio, USA at Institute for Drug Development. He focused on the clinical development of new anticancer agents. Returning from the USA at the beginning of 1994, Doctor Awada became Assistant Head of Medical Oncology Clinic, and Head of the New Drugs Development Unit at Jules Bordet Institute, Brussels. Since April 2005, he has been the Head of the Medical Oncology Clinic. In addition to this, on 1st March 2011, Dr Awada was made Associate Head of the Medicine Department. More recently in July 2017, Dr Awada was appointed Head of Oncology Medicine Department at Jules Bordet Institute. He has an important clinical activity in the treatment of solid tumors. Doctor Awada took an active part in the development of new anticancer drugs, some of them already widely used. Thanks to the recent progress in molecular biology, many new drugs are now studied to block the process of carcinogenesis (cancer cell and microenvironment). Those are the molecular-targeted therapies, a subject studied extensively in clinical research by Doctor Awada which was the basis for the thesis obtained from the ULB, Brussels, in 2004. Professor Awada's aim, as far as research is concerned, is to look for new active anticancer drugs in solid tumors (new cytotoxics and antibody drugs conjugates, molecular targeted therapies and immunotherapy), and to individualize the treatments of cancer patients. Steven T. RosenSteven T. RosenSteven T. Rosen, MD, FACP, FASCO, is the provost, chief scientific officer, and director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Beckman Research Institute, Irell & Manella Cancer Center Director's Distinguished Chair for the City of Hope in Duarte, California. Following his graduation with distinction from Northwestern University Medical School's Six-Year Honors Program in Chicago, Illinois, Dr Rosen completed his residency in internal medicine at Northwestern and a fellowship in medical oncology at the National Cancer Institute in Maryland, USA. He served as the Director of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine from 1989-2014. Dr Rosen's laboratory research focuses on experimental therapeutics and hematologic malignancies. He has received funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), American Cancer Society, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS), Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, and Rising Tide Foundation. Dr Rosen has received numerous grants, awards and contracts and has published more than 400 scientific papers. He is editor-in-chief of Cancer Treatment and Research. Dr Rosen is the chair of the Medical Science Committee of the LLS and serves on its Board. He also serves on the Board of American Society of Clinical Oncology's Conquer Cancer Foundation. Dr Rosen has been an advisor to more than two dozen NCI Comprehensive Cancer Centers. He was the recipient of Northwestern University Medical School's Alumni Achievement Award (1994), the Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award from Northwestern Memorial Hospital (1995), the Marv Samuel Award from the Chicago Baseball Cancer Charities (1996), recognition from the Woman's Board of Northwestern Memorial Hospital for Compassionate Care (1996), and Israel Cancer Research Fund, Man of Distinction Award (2011), and Lifetime Achievement Award (2015). Best Doctors in Chicago and Los Angeles. American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE's) College of Fellows (2017). Association of American Physicians (AAP) (2019).