The Foundation Council of the St.Gallen Oncology Conference created this award in 2002, and it was conferred for the first time in March 2003. Previous awardees were Drs. Gianni Bonadonna and Bernard Fisher in 2003, Dr. Umberto Veronesi in 2005, and Dr. Michael Baum in 2007. In March 2009 the award went to Dr. Richard D. Gelber, Professor of Biostatistics and of Pediatrics at the Harvard School of Medicine, Harvard School of Public Health, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.
In his laudatio, Prof. Hansjörg Senn stressed the indispensable role of Richard as Group Statistician of first the Ludwig Breast Cancer Study Group, starting in 1978, and then the International Breast Cancer Study Group, from 1986 to the present. He then emphasized Richard’s leadership, under which “multitudes of clinicians (surgeons, radio- and medical oncologists, pathologists) across the world have learned to appreciate sound statistics as the indispensable cornerstone of scientific excellence and of practical progress in evidence-based cancer therapy”. Hansjörg concluded by saying that St.Gallen Oncology Conferences honor Richard with their award as a great scientist, gifted teacher, and dear friend.
Richard gratefully accepted the honor (and also the Swiss wrist watch and the check which came with the award), and proceeded with an inspiring lecture on “Facilitating Consensus by Examining Patterns of Treatment Effects,” highlighting the critical role of the biostatistician in the careful examination and succinct presentation of results.