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Lorenza Rimassa

Associate Professor

Medical Oncology

Associate Professor of Medical Oncology – Humanitas University Head of Hepatopancreatobiliary Oncology – Medical Oncology and Hematology Unit – Humanitas Cancer Center – IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital

E-mail

lorenza.rimassa@hunimed.eu

Education

1993 Medical School Degree, University of Milan, Italy
1993-1997 Residency Program in Medical Oncology, University of Milan, Italy

Academic background

2016-2019 Adjunct Professor of Medical Oncology, Humanitas University
2020-2023 Director of the Residency Program in Medical Oncology, Humanitas University
2020-2023 Member of the Academic Board of the PhD Program in Datascience in Medicine & Nutrition (DASMEN), Humanitas University

Teaching appointments

Oncology, Medical School, Humanitas University
Molecular Oncology, MedTec, Humanitas University
Module of Medical Oncology, Nursing Degree, Humanitas University
Module of Medical Oncology, Nursing and Midwifery Sciences, Humanitas University
Residency Program in Medical Oncology, Humanitas University

Other institutional appointments

Deputy Director of the Residency Program in Medical Oncology; Member of the Residency Program Directors Coordinating Committee; Member of the Executive Committee and Academic Board of the PhD Program in Applied Clinical Research at Humanitas University; Head of Hepatopancreatobiliary Oncology at IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital

Academic honors, awards and prices

Treasurer, member of the Executive Committee and Governing Board of the International Liver Cancer Association (ILCA)
Chair of the EORTC Hepatopancreatobiliary and Neuroendocrine Tumors Task Force
Special Expert – International Trials Europe on the Hepatobiliary Task Force of the National Cancer Institute (NCI, US)
Member of the Management Committee of the COST Action CA22125 Precision medicine in biliary tract cancer” (Precision-BTC-Network)
Member of the Scientific Committee of the Swiss Liver Cancer Foundation.
Co-chair of the Technical Commission of the Lombardy Oncology Network on liver and biliary tract cancer in collaboration with the Hepatogastroenterology Network (Italy)
Member of the Group of Experts – Strategic Committee for the National Guideline System (SNLG), Italian Ministry of Health – Italian National Institute of Health (ISS) – DM 624712343

Lorenza Rimassa has a long-standing interest in the field of clinical and translational research for gastrointestinal cancers. She is principal investigator and member of the steering committee, data monitoring committee for national and international, phase 1–3 clinical and translational trials of new drugs and biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma/biliary tract cancer. She is speaker, chair, discussant, and member of the organizing and scientific committee at national and international congresses.
She has authored more than 200 articles on the development of new treatments and biomarkers for hepatobiliary cancer. She is an author of the ESMO Guideline on Biliary Tract Cancer, a member of the Italian Inter-Society Guideline Writing Committee on Hepatocellular Carcinoma, of ESMO, ASCO, EASL, ILCA, and AIOM.
She is Associate Editor for Journal of Hepatology, Section Editor-in-Chief for the Disease Biomarker Section of Journal of Personalized Medicine, and an editorial board member of several journals including JHEP Reports, Liver International, Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology, Cancers, and Journal of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Main research fields

Systemic treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma
Systemic treatment for cholangiocarcinoma / biliary tract cancer
Systemic treatment for pancreatic cancer
Development of new anticancer drugs, including immunotherapy and molecularly targeted agents
Prognostic and predictive biomarkers
Molecular profiling
Multidisciplinary management of hepatopancreatobiliary cancer
Development of national and international guidelines for hepatobiliary cancer

Rimassa L, Assenat E, Peck-Radosavljevic M, Pracht M, Zagonel V, Mathurin P, Rota-Caremoli E, Porta C, Daniele B, Bolondi L, Mazzaferro V, Harris W, Damjanov N, Pastorelli D, Reig M, Knox J, Negri F, Trojan J, López López C, Personeni N, Decaens T, Dupuy M, Sieghart W, Abbadessa G, Schwartz B, Lamar M, Goldberg T, Shuster D, Santoro A, Bruix J. Tivantinib for second-line treatment of MET-high, advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (METIV-HCC): a final analysis of a phase 3, randomised, placebo-controlled study. Lancet Oncol. 2018 May;19(5):682-693. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(18)30146-3. Epub 2018 Apr 3.
Rimassa L*, Kelley RK, Meyer T, Ryoo B-Y, Merle P, Park J-W, Blanc J-F, Lim HY, Tran A, Chan Y-W, McAdam P, Wang E, Cheng A-L, El-Khoueiry AB, Abou-Alfa GK. Outcomes Based on Plasma Biomarkers for the Phase 3 CELESTIAL Trial of Cabozantinib versus Placebo in Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Liver Cancer. Published online: December 3, 2021. doi: 10.1159/000519867. *Corresponding author
D’Alessio A, Fulgenzi CAM, Nishida N, Schönlein M, von Felden J, Schulze K, Wege H, Gaillard VE, Saeed A, Wietharn B, Hildebrand H, Wu L, Ang C, Marron TU, Weinmann A, Galle PR, Bettinger D, Bengsch B, Vogel A, Balcar L, Scheiner B, Lee PC, Huang YH, Amara S, Muzaffar M, Naqash AR, Cammarota A, Personeni N, Pressiani T, Sharma R, Pinter M, Cortellini A, Kudo M, Rimassa L*, Pinato DJ*. Preliminary evidence of safety and tolerability of atezolizumab plus bevacizumab in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and Child-Pugh A and B cirrhosis: a real-world study. Hepatology. 2022 Mar 21. doi: 10.1002/hep.32468. Online ahead of print. *Equal contribution
Kelley RK*, Rimassa L*, Cheng AL, Kaseb A, Qin S, Zhu AX, Chan SL, Melkadze T, Sukeepaisarnjaroen W, Breder V, Verset G, Gane E, Borbath I, Rangel JDG, Ryoo BY, Makharadze T, Merle P, Benzaghou F, Banerjee K, Hazra S, Fawcett J, Yau T. Cabozantinib plus atezolizumab versus sorafenib for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (COSMIC-312): a multicentre, open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial. Lancet Oncol. 2022 Jul 4:S1470-2045(22)00326-6. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(22)00326-6. Online ahead of print. *Equal contribution
Yau T, Kaseb A, Cheng AL, Qin S, Zhu AX, Chan SL, Melkadze T, Sukeepaisarnjaroen W, Breder V, Verset G, Gane E, Borbath I, Rangel JDG, Ryoo BY, Makharadze T, Merle P, Benzaghou F, Milwee S, Wang Z, Curran D, Kelley RK*, Rimassa L*. Cabozantinib plus atezolizumab versus sorafenib for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (COSMIC-312): final results of a randomised phase 3 study. Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2024 Feb 13:S2468-1253(23)00454-5. doi: 10.1016/S2468-1253(23)00454-5. Online ahead of print. *Equal contribution