DKMS honours Dutch physician and researcher Prof Fred Falkenburg
The Dutch physician has made seminal contributions to the treatment of leukaemia with donor T-cells
DKMS Stiftung Leben Spenden (DKMS Foundation for Giving Life) has awarded Fred Falkenburg with the Mechtild Harf Science Award 2020. The Dutch physician has made seminal contributions to the treatment of leukaemia with donor T-cells. He is the 19th recipient of the annual €10,000 prize which recognises exceptional scientific work of internationally renowned physicians in the field of stem cell donation. Falkenburg donated the prize money to the Charity Fund of the Department of Hematology at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC).
Scientific research is vital in helping to understand the treatment of blood cancer and improve the survival rate of patients. “It is a great pleasure for us, to honour Fred Falkenburg’s outstanding achievements especially in describing graft-versus-leukemia reactions at a cellular and molecular level and in developing novel immunological strategies to improve the outcome of allogeneic blood stem cell transplantation,” said Marcel van den Brink, Chairman DKMS Stiftung Leben Spenden Foundation Board.
JH Fred Falkenburg is Professor of Hematology and Deputy Head of the Department of Hematology at Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) and one of the most important researchers in the field of immunotherapy of haematological diseases. The results of research programmes on bone marrow transplantation and immunotherapy of haematological malignancies in the Laboratory of Experimental Hematology at LUMC conducted under his direction have been translated into clinical success for the benefit of patients. LUMC has a long history in the treatment of blood cancer and was involved in the first successful bone marrow transplant carried out on a leukaemia patient in 1968. Falkenburg has greatly contributed to finding better therapies during the last 32 years at the centre. The renowned physician has published more than 300 articles and received numerous prestigious awards. In 2018, he has been appointed Director of the Dutch Cancer Society.
Falkenburg combines clinical haematology with both basic and translational research. He is especially interested in the development of new immunological strategies to improve the outcome of allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Falkenburg’s current research focuses on the combination of stem cell and T-cell therapy, which provides the patient or recipient with new haematopoietic cells and also cellular immunotherapy. Falkenburg is investigating the best way to prevent these lymphocytes from being directed against the recipient, which triggers the so-called ‘Graft-versus-Host Disease’ (GvHD).
“I am truly honoured to receive the DKMS Mechtild Harf Science Award. It is an even greater honour to be placed in such distinguished ranks as those of the past honourees, all of whom have made important contributions to improve the treatment of blood cancer”, Falkenburg said. “Furthermore, I am pleased to help fund research on leukaemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma by donating the prize money to Doelfonds Leukemie van de Bontius Stichting, the Charity Fund of the Department of Hematology at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC).”
“As a leading organisation in the fight against blood cancer, we are highly committed on the medical and scientific level to save as many patients’ lives as possible. We want to help increase the chances of success during treatment,” van den Brink added. The award is named after Mechtild Harf, mother of two children, who lost her battle with leukaemia. Her husband Peter Harf founded DKMS in 1991, which has since grown to become the world’s largest network of donor centres.
