Swiss Cancer League - Krebsliga - has awarded the 2019 Robert Wenner Prize for young cancer researchers to Davide Rossi, Group leader at the Institute of Oncology Research (IOR, affiliated to Università della Svizzera italiana) and Deputy Head of the Division of Hematology of the Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland (IOSI).
In its press release, the Swiss Cancer League wrote that “Prof. Rossi has established himself internationally as one of the leading researchers in the field of haematology. His discoveries", continues Prof. Dr. Nancy Hynes, Chair of the Scientific Committee, "contribute to improving the diagnosis and treatment of patients with lymphoma and chronic lymphatic leukaemia".
The award, conferred to Prof. Rossi on Friday, December 3 in Bern, recognizes the research of Prof. Rossi in the field of chronic lymphatic leukemia, with particular focus on the development of biomarkers to improve the diagnosis and choice of personalized therapy for patients with these tumors.
The Robert Wenner Prize
Named after the Basel gynaecologist who died in 1979, the award was established to promote talented young researchers working in the field of cancer. The Swiss Cancer League has been awarding the Robert Wenner Prize every year or two years since 1983. The prize-winners, who must be under 45 years of age receive 80’000 francs as a contribution to an ongoing research project.In 2019, the same prize was awarded to another researcher at the IOR, Prof. Andrea Alimonti. The fact that this prestigious prize is awarded twice in a row to a researcher from the same institute is an extraordinary event that once again underlines the excellent quality of the research carried out in by the IOR in the last years.
Double award for Davide Rossi in 2021
In October, Prof. Davide Rossi was also awarded a €1 million "jubilee grant", which he received together with researchers Davide Robbiani (IRB, affiliated to USI) and Thorsten Zenz (University of Zurich) from the Helmut Horten Foundation on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. The winning project was about "Personalised medicine of Lymphoma" and aims at identifying novel targeted precision treatments for lymphoma patients.
Swiss Cancer League
The Krebsliga (founded in 1910) is a non-profit organisation devoted to cancer prevention, research and supporting cancer patients and their relatives. In its national function as an umbrella organisation, it resides in Berne and included 18 cantonal and regional leagues. It is certified under the ZEWO label and is funded mainly through donations.
