Emile Voest, MD

Emile Voest was registered as a medical doctor in 1985. He became board certified as an internist July 1993, and as a medical oncologist in January 1995. He completed his PhD program on the enhancement of the efficacy of anthracyclines by modulation of iron metabolism in tumor cells June 1993 (cum laude). In 1994 and 1995 he was a postdoctoral fellow of the Dutch Cancer Society. As a postdoctoral fellow he joined the laboratory of Dr. Judah Folkman, Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston and worked on endogenous inhibitors of angiogenesis. Thereafter he worked at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam on high dose chemotherapy. January 1996 he became a staff member of the Department of Medical Oncology at the University Medical Center Utrecht. January 1997 he was appointed head of the Laboratory of Medical Oncology at the University Medical Centre Utrecht. November 1999 he became a full professor in Medical Oncology. He currently is head of the department of Medical Oncology, chair of the Center for Personalized Cancer Treatment, director of the Graduate School of Life Sciences PhD program “Clinical and Translational Oncology” of the University of Utrecht, chair of the scientific advisory board of the Dutch Cancer Society and serves in a variety of scientific committees and advisory boards. He has 6 patents to his name in the field of angiogenesis and biomarkers and recently founded the spin-out company PIFA Therapeutics that investigates reversal of resistance to anti-cancer treatment.

The department of Medical Oncology at the UMC Utrecht has several preclinical and translational research lines including mitotic checkpoints, angiogenesis and genetic analyses of tumors in relation to treatment outcome. The angiogenesis program includes the development and validation of biomarkers as predictive factors of therapy, the development of animal models (e.g. zebrafish), and a large early clinical trials program with a focus on personalized cancer treatment. He is chair of the Center for Personalized Cancer Treatment (CPCT) in the Netherlands. The emphasis of this center is to find the best drug for the individual patient based on tumor DNA analysis. The CPCT is a joint effort of the UMC Utrecht, Erasmus MC and NKI/AvL. Emile Voest is also heading the phase I program at the UMC Utrecht with a devoted team of nurses, scientists, data managers and clinicians. The preclinical research program and the early clinical trial program are mutually supportive and have a strong interaction.