2025 – Karin de Visser

Karin de Visser is the winner of the 2025 Pezcoller – Marina Larcher Fogazzaro – EACR Women in Cancer Research Award, for her studies about the role of the immune system in breast cancer metastasis formation and therapy response.

Moreover, she was nominated for this award for her commitment to supporting the next generation of scientists through mentoring, leadership, and strategic direction. Through these actions she has not only supported individual women in their scientific careers but has also worked to create a more equitable and inclusive environment for all.

Professor de Visser is group leader at the Division of Tumor Biology & Immunology of the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) in Amsterdam and Oncode Institute, and a full professor of Experimental Immunobiology of Cancer at Leiden University Medical Center. She obtained her PhD in 2002 at the NKI in the field of cancer immunotherapy, well before immunotherapy transformed cancer patient care.

During her postdoctoral research at UCSF with Prof. Lisa Coussens (2003-2005), she expanded her knowledge into the inflammation and cancer field. In 2005 she returned to the NKI, where she joined the lab of Prof. Jos Jonkers to gain expertise with conditional mouse models for breast cancer before establishing her own research group.

Her lab investigates the role of the immune system in breast cancer metastasis formation and therapy response. Her most recognized contribution has been her work on how tumor-induced systemic inflammation drives neutrophil-dependent immunosuppression and metastasis formation. By integrating tumor immunology and cancer genetics, her team demonstrated the importance of the genetic make-up of breast cancer in shaping the immune landscape. Moreover, in collaboration with Dr. Marleen Kok, her lab discovered a critical role for eosinophils in immunotherapy response of breast cancer.

Karin de Visser’s achievements include an ERC consolidator grant (2014), the Metastasis Research Prize of the Beug Foundation (2015), election as an EMBO young investigator (2016), and EMBO member (2021). She has served on the Research Management Committee of Oncode Institute (2018-2024) and now co-leads the research theme Immunotherapy at the NKI