Jean-Yves Blay is leading efforts to reshape cancer research so that every trial has a translational element that can build knowledge about the mechanisms driving the disease.by Marc Beishon
If the fight against cancer is mainly an incremental process scientifically, building carefully on evidence, step by step, the same approach should apply to the people and agencies working on the problems. This means that, in the clinic and in research, we need to keep refreshing the centres and team leaders, and generate a continuous stream of young investigators, to ensure that the brightest and the best are in a position to help move things forward. Without this, momentum can slow down or even stop.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“We need to generate a continuous stream of young investigators to help move things forward”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That is the firm view of Jean-Yves Blay, the current president of the European Organisation for the Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), who can himself be seen as an injection of new thinking at the head of an organisation that is at the forefront of many critical issues in oncology. Heading the EORTC is one of the most challenging jobs in European cancer, as there are so many obstacles in the way of unifying research efforts around the continent – not least the differences in national healthcare systems and in the rules and regulations governing research, the lack of resources and, in recent years, the huge impact the Clinical Trials Directive is having on academic studies and groups. And the EORTC has faced criticism – notably that an ‘old guard’ has been in place for years.
“The challenges are certainly real and the criticism we’ve had is fair to some extent,” says Blay, adding that the problem has been greater in some parts of the organisation than others. “We are made up of a number of research groups, and some are very active, although others have gone through a lifecycle where we need to bring in new blood. The EORTC board, with director Françoise Meunier and Denis Lacombe from the headquarters, has asked each group to identify young investigators and we are holding meetings to help them become involved, and we have closed some groups while others are starting again from scratch.”
...