Philip Poortmans

Academic History

Philip Poortmans, MD, PhD, is a radiation oncologist at Iridium Kankernetwerk, with affiliations to the University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium, and as a Marie Curie Professor at Paris Science & Lettres University & Institut Curie, Paris, France. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Antwerp before training as an oncologist-radiotherapist at Middelheim and Vincentius hospitals in Antwerp, Belgium. He later completed a PhD at the University of Maastricht, Maastricht, the Netherlands, focusing on quality assurance in breast cancer clinical trials. Currently, he holds leadership positions in oncology research and education, contributing to advancements in radiotherapy and clinical practice.

Between 2014 and 2017, Prof. Poortmans served as head of the Radiation Oncology Department at Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. He then became head of the Department of Radiation Therapy at the Curie Institute in Paris, Saint-Cloud, and Orsay, France, from 2017 to 2019. During this time, he was Chair of the ECCO Oncopolicy Committee (2016–2017) and later served as ECCO President-Elect before assuming the role of President of the European Cancer Organization (2018–2019). With over 400 publications, he has earned prestigious awards, including the Jens Overgaard, Breur, and St. Gallen Breast Cancer Awards.

Speaking on optimization of breast cancer treatment 

Prof. Poortmans’ research primarily focuses on optimizing breast cancer management with a strong emphasis on quality assurance in clinical trials. His work spans various aspects of oncology, including lymphoma, urology and rare tumors; particularly, improvements in radiotherapy techniques, defining tumor target volumes and utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) in radiotherapy decision-making. A key focus of his current work is FLASH radiotherapy (FLASH-RT), an innovative approach to deliver ultra-fast radiation doses which minimize damage to healthy tissue.