SCIENTIFIC REPORT 2010 - 2011 - IOV

disciplines is terrific; it is impossible to foresee the
future fallouts of an apparently “basic” research on the
clinical management of patients in terms of diagnosis
or therapy. In the light of the modern concepts in
Oncology and more in general in Medicine, our work
must go “from bed to bench and back from bench to the
bed”, in search of innovative markers of disease and
therapeutic targets. In this perspective, all the work at
the Institute is carried out in a multidisciplinary way;
this means that for every oncologic disease a group of
concerned and dedicated workers (medical oncologists,
radiologists, radiotherapists, surgeons, psychologists
etcetera) strictly interact in the daily effort to provide
patients with the best state-of-the-art standards of care.
On the other hand, we are perfectly aware that
clinicians and researchers also are only a part of the
story. What we are daily carrying out in our labs,
guards, and operating theaters would be vane, if our
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activities were not complemented by the steady help
of many people more or less directly involved in the
management of the oncological disease. These include
a wealth of persons, from the patients themselves to
their relatives and caregivers, the nurses, the many
volunteers belonging to the different Associations, and
many others. This plethora of humble, often unknown,
generous people do not have a place in this book, but
without them our research would be a sterile, solipsistic
exercise. To this silent multitude our grateful thinking;
the struggle against cancer is a multifaceted task, and
if we want to transform cancer into a curable disease,
the efforts of everybody will be essential.
Alberto Amadori, Scientific Director