Dr. Marco Colleoni, Oncology & Experimental Endocrinology Specialist - Milan, Italy

SOCIAL SKILLS AND COMPETENCES

Director of the Division of Medical Senology to lead the area of medical treatment of Breast Cancer at the IEO, creating and conducting a structure for excellence in patient care. Ten Physicians are currently involved in care and research at the Division of Medical Senology.

The area of Medical Senology is aimed to provide comprehensive care of all the types and phases (preoperative, adjuvant, advanced disease) of breast cancer with active clinical and translational research, integrating outpatient and in-patient areas through a common support. The principle of providing the best personalized care for the individual patient with breast cancer, with full respect for quality of life and proper communication, is the best support for competitive and innovative clinical research.

During the past 3 years a significant increase in the number of Patients followed in the Day Hospital (from 2918 in 2011 to 4840 in the first eleven months of 2013) as well as in the out-patient clinic was registered (from 3593 in 2011 to 5209 in the first eleven months of 2013). He is in charge for the care of the patients treated within the in-patient clinic (8 patients per week). He is the

Director of the weekly multidisciplinary meeting on early breast cancer where approximately 50-60 patients are discussed every week. During the first 11 months of 2013 he planned the medical adjuvant treatment of 2314 patients.

ORGANISATIONAL SKILLS  AND COMPETENCES

Direct responsibility in research programs directed to develop personalized and innovative treatment plans for all the phases of the disease based on individual needs and biological features of the tumor. Research programs are dedicated also to specific aspects of breast cancer such as special histological types, inflammatory breast cancer, and very young patients. During the past 3 years he served as principal investigator in 52 phase I-III studies on breast cancer. He is member of the Steering Committee of 4 International Studies.

As Co-Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG) he is Coordinator of several cooperative  trials. These Trials are conducted with the active cooperation of the IEO with more than 2000 patients included in past and ongoing studies.

The IBCSG is a cooperative group, which conducts large, multicenter, randomized trials. It is dedicated to innovative clinical research designed to improve the prognosis of women with operable breast cancer. Patients and investigators from twenty countries in five continents (Europe, Australia/New Zealand, Africa, Asia, and North America) are involved in this cooperation. The IBCSG has been a pioneer in research into combined hormonal therapy and chemotherapy, timing and duration of adjuvant therapies, and the assessment  of quality of life of breast cancer patients. Since 1978, 32.865 patients with breast cancer have been enrolled in randomized clinical trials and are included in IBCSG databases. The group has published 285 publications focusing on various aspects of breast cancer treatment (I.F. 2011 186.53 – I.F. 2012 165.025).

When developing trials, the IBCSG follows some basic principles:

• Research questions are based upon biological hypotheses
• Trials complement each other, thus allowing information from separate  programs to be combined to address common research questions
• All research questions should be selected for their direct impact on patient care

In addition to the clinical trials research questions, the IBCSG carries out extensive research in pathology, database studies, quality of life, and statisticalmethodology (together with the Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston MA, USA).

He is author of approximately 300 publications in peer-reviewed journals.