Prof Robert Paridaens
Website address
http://www.kuleuven.be/cv/u0016772e.htm
Current position
Robert Paridaens is Professor and Head of the Medical Oncology Clinic since 1991 at the U.Z. Gasthuisberg, the Academic Hospital of the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.
Education
Prof Paridaens trained in internal medicine at the University Hospital Sint-Pieter, ULB, Brussels, Belgium. Between 1978 and 1987 he further specialised in medical oncology at the Institut Jules Bordet in Brussels, where he was Assistant Director of the Cancer Screening Unit and of the EORTC (European Organization for Research and treatment of cancer) Data Centre. During this time he developed a special interest in breast cancer and conducted parallel clinical and fundamental investigations on the theme of hormone-dependence of cancer.
In 1987, after completing his PhD thesis, he moved to the academic hospital Sart Tilman (Université de Liège) where he was Professor and Head of the Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, where he remained before taking up his present position.
Other activities
Prof Paridaens serves on several editorial boards, and is a member of all major national and of most international societies that focus on cancer research and treatment. He played an active role in many cooperative groups of the EORTC and was the recipient of the Belgian Endocrine Society Award (1987), of the Golden Helix Award for quality improvement in European health care (1995) and of the Astra Zeneca Foundation Lectures in Medicine Award (2004). He has been Chairman of the Belgian Society of Senology, of the Belgian Society of Medical oncology and of the Belgian Association for Cancer Research.
He has trained numerous medical oncologists and radiotherapists in their clinical and research practice. He very actively contributed to the development of modern forms of endocrine therapy, as shown by his numerous international publications in the field. In parallel with his clinical and academic functions, he presently pursues fundamental research on hormone dependence and cancer proteases, within the frame of the European Degradoma project.