Dr Birgit Geoerger
Dr Birgit Geoerger is a paediatric oncologist at Gustave Roussy, where she heads the Inserm research team “Biology for Therapeutics in Resistant Paediatric Cancers” within the U1360 unit, “Oncogenesis, Resistance and Therapeutic Targets of Paediatric Cancers”. She is also Scientific Head of the Paediatric New Drug Development Programme in the Department of Paediatric and Adolescent Oncology.
Internationally recognised for her expertise in the development of new medicines, Dr Geoerger has developed numerous early-phase clinical trials since 2000, mostly involving the first administration of targeted therapies in children. Since 2013, she has pioneered the precision medicine programme through major international trials, particularly the molecular profiling of advanced tumours at relapse in MOSCATO-01, MAPPYACTS and France Médecine Génomique, as well as the development of the unique European proof-of-concept trial AcSé-ESMART. The trial currently comprises 18 treatment arms and has included more than 330 patients with recurrent or refractory malignancies, selected according to the molecular characteristics of their tumours.
Her research team aims to translate biological rationales into novel therapeutic strategies for children with advanced cancers through a precision medicine approach. The investigation of resistance mechanisms, particularly those involving DNA repair, immune surveillance and metabolic vulnerabilities, will contribute to the development of translational clinical trials.
She has pursued an international career, obtaining a medical degree and completing her training in paediatrics and oncology at the universities of Mainz, Aachen, Essen and Cologne in Germany. She subsequently undertook postdoctoral research in Philadelphia, USA, and obtained a PhD in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, for which she received the Gustave Roussy Prize, awarded by the Chancellery of the Universities of Paris Sorbonne in 2006. She also completed a specialisation in oncology and obtained an accreditation to supervise research (Habilitation à diriger la recherche) at the University of Paris.
Since 1998, she has been a member of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and since 2002, of the French Society of Paediatric Oncology (SFCE). She chaired the Clinical Trials Committee of the European consortium Innovative Therapies for Children with Cancer (ITCC) for ten years and was a member of its Biology Consortium and Executive Committee. In addition, she contributes to numerous international scientific committees and advisory boards and is Section Editor for paediatric oncology at the European Journal of Cancer.
Dr Birgit Geoerger has authored more than 170 articles indexed in Medline, several of which have been published in leading peer-reviewed journals with an impact factor greater than 10.
