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By Biocat

Scientific journal The Lancet, the latest issue of which features a special section on lung cancer, highlights the work of Dr. Rafael Rosell and calls him a European leader in the fight against this disease. Rosell (Manresa, 1949) has been head of the Medical Oncology Unit at the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) at the Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital in Badalona since it was created in 2003.

The Lancet has recognized that the Catalan oncologist and scientist has been one of the pioneers in molecular studies of lung tumors to personalize treatment and foster a la carte therapy. Rosell has contributed, for example, to improving the approach to tumors with mutations in the EGFR gene and has improved understanding of why some become resistant to treatment.

According to the journal and to colleagues from other countries, Rafael Rosell’s creativity and determination have allowed his contributions to advance the fight against lung cancer. He explains in an interview published in the newspaper El Punt-Avui (Catalonia) on 3 September that the survival rate has tripled in patients with this type of tumor in recent years. And, on more than one occasion, Rosell has said that if tobacco disappeared this type of cancer would become a rare disease.

In 2012, the International Congress on Anti-cancer Treatment (ICACT) gave him the Raymond Bourgine award in Oncology.

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