Het bestuur is blij te kunnen melden dat zij prof. dr. Michael Weller (foto), hoofd van afdeling neurologie van het Universiteitsziekenhuis Zurich, Zwitserland, en vooraanstaand neuro-oncoloog, bereid heeft gevonden de Arie Biemondlezing 2018 te verzorgen. De Biemondlezing wordt om de 2 jaar door een bekende buitenlandse spreker verzorgd tijdens de voorjaarsvergadering. De lezing die prof. dr. Weller zal houden op 11 juni 2018 heeft de titel ‘Understanding and treating glioma: have we made progress?’. Hieronder volgt een bibliografie van prof. dr. Weller.
Dr. Michael Weller has been Chairman of the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland, since 2008. He qualified in medicine in Cologne, Germany, after completing his thesis on proliferative disorders of the retina. A postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Clinical Immunology, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland, followed where he identified death receptor targeting as a potential treatment strategy for malignant gliomas. In 2005, he was appointed Chairman of the Department of General Neurology at the University Hospital Tübingen, Germany, where he had previously received his education in clinical neurology.
Dr. Weller has received several awards in recognition of his contributions to cancer research, including the German Cancer Award in 2007. He served as Chairman of the Neuro-Oncology Group of the German Cancer Society from 2001-2008. He is the Chairman of the German Glioma Network of the German Cancer Council, joined the Executive Board of the European Association for Neuro-Oncology (EANO) in 2010 and served as President of EANO for 2014-2016. He is also the Chairman of the Brain Tumor Group of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) (2015-2020) and hosted the World Federation of Neuro-Oncology Societies (WFNOS) Meeting 2017 in Zurich, Switzerland.
Dr. Weller was involved in major practice-changing clinical trials including the registration trial for temozolomide in glioblastoma and served as PI on the NOA-03, NOA-04, NOA-08 and G-PCNSL-SG-1 trials in Germany and the DIRECTOR and ARTE trials in Switzerland. Dr Weller has a research focus on the immunology of gliomas and served as the PI of the phase III immunotherapy trial, ACT IV (Rindopepimut). He is also a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Neurochemistry, Journal of Neuro-Oncology, Brain, Glia and Neuro-Oncology, and he was the Associate Editor Europe of Neuro-Oncology from 2006-2013.
Dr. Weller has co-authored more than 600 original publications in peer-reviewed journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, Science, Nature, Nature Medicine, Lancet Oncology, PNAS, The Journal of Clinical Investigation, and The Journal of Clinical Oncology.
