Name Umberto Veronesi Role Italian Politician | Spouse Sultana Razon Nationality Italian | |
 | ||
Books Cutaneous melanoma biology and management Siblings Franca Veronesi, Guido Veronesi, Antonio Veronesi, Pino Veronesi Children Alberto Veronesi, Paolo Veronesi, Giulia Veronesi Parents Francesco Veronesi, Erminia Verganti Similar People Alberto Veronesi, Mario Pappagallo, Luigi di Bella, Giovanni Reale, Walter Veltroni | ||
Umberto Veronesi: perché la Fondazione Veronesi?
Umberto Veronesi M.D. Knight Grand Cross OMRI ([umˈbɛrto veroˈneːzi; -ˈneːsi]; 28 November 1925 – 8 November 2016) was an Italian oncologist and politician, internationally known for his contributions on prevention and treatment of breast cancer throughout a career spanning over fifty years.
Contents
- Umberto Veronesi perch la Fondazione Veronesi
- Prof Umberto Veronesi Come cambiata lOncologia e le strategie future di diagnosi e terapia
- Early life and education
- Scientific career
- Political career
- Ethical views
- Awards
- References
Prof. Umberto Veronesi - Come è cambiata l'Oncologia e le strategie future di diagnosi e terapia
Early life and education
Veronesi was born in Milan. He obtained his degree in medicine from the University of Milan in 1952, and dedicated his professional life to the study and treatment of cancer.
Scientific career
After spending brief periods in England and France, he joined the Italian Cancer Institute in Milan as a volunteer. Veronesi was the founder of breast-conserving surgery in breast cancer treatment with the invention of the technique of quadrantectomy which challenged the dominant paradigm among surgeons that cancer could only be treated with aggressive surgery. He supported and promoted scientific research aimed at improving conservative surgical techniques, including sentinel lymph node biopsy, which resulted in axillary dissection in breast cancer with clinically negative lymph nodes no longer being performed. He also contributed to breast cancer prevention conducting studies on tamoxifen and retinoids and verifying their capabilities to prevent the formation of carcinoma. He was an activist in anti-tobacco campaigns. In 1994 he founded the European Institute of Oncology, which he directed until his death. He was appointed President of the Scientific Committee of the Italy-USA Foundation in 2010. In 2009, through his foundation (Fondazione Veronesi), he started the project "Science for Peace", in order to promote peaceful relations through scientific development.
Political career
Ethical views
Over the years, Veronesi publicly expressed his views on several ethical issues in interviews, televised debates and his books.
Veronesi identified himself as an agnostic, not believing in any form of afterlife. He claimed that human beings should not consider death a terrifying moment, but rather accept it as a biological necessity.
He supported active euthanasia, affirming the right of any individual to end their life if it became unbearable due to suffering or loss of dignity. He advocated the necessity to regulate euthanasia at a national level, citing Dutch legislation as a good starting point; he was promoting a campaign for the introduction of living will as a legally binding agreement between the doctor and the incapacitated patient.
Veronesi supported genetically modified organisms as a way to produce food with higher nutritional capabilities and deprived of potentially carcinogenic substances. He criticized the current opposition to GMOs as being due to lack of scientific knowledge.
Veronesi was an ethical vegetarian and an animal rights advocate.
Awards
Veronesi received thirteen national and international honorary degrees in Medicine, Medical Biotechnologies, Physics, Agricultural Sciences and Pedagogical Sciences.
In 2002 he received the King Faisal International Prize. In this regard, he then stated: "In recent years, I have been increasingly involved in curing Islamic women. They started to come to me and undergo surgery at the European Institute of Oncology (IEO) after I received in 2002 in Saudi Arabia the King Faisal International Prize for my studies on conservative breast surgery. As a matter of fact, for the Islamic world that recognition is a kind of Nobel.»
On 31 January 2004 he became honorary citizen of Asti.
In 2009 he received the America Prize of the Italy–USA Foundation.
On August 2, 2010, they called him a piece of beachfront at Jesolo Beach.
In 2012 he received the "Art, Science and Peace Prize" for his career.
He was Chairman of the Biogem Scientific Committee.