After the lecture Robert will be presented the Holst Memorial Lecture Award. She was chosen as this year’s laureate because of her pioneering work in immunotherapy in the treatment of metastatic melanoma – skin cancer with secondary tumors. An approach to which she made crucial contributions, and is applied since 2011, is based on the cancellation of a blockade of the immune system that was put in place by the tumor. This innovative method was the first of a new generation of drugs called ‘checkpoint inhibitors’ that are currently under development for various types of tumors.

The lecture of Robert is titled ‘Cancer Immunotherapy: Blazing the Trail with Melanoma’. It starts at 16:00h. Earlier on the day the yearly Holst-symposium will be held. This year's theme is ‘Oncology: from Diagnosis to (Immuno)Therapy’.

The lecture and medal are named after Dr. Gilles Holst, founding father of the Philips Natuurkundig Laboratorium (Natlab). The Holst Memorial Lecture and Symposium are organized by Philips Research and Eindhoven University of Technology, since 1977.