Fiona Stewart

Weiss Medallist 2012

Dr Fiona Stewart is a senior group leader at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI), Amsterdam. She did her PhD research at the Gray Laboratory Northwood UK, under the supervision of Julie Denekamp, on normal tissue damage after radiation combined with hyperthermia. After her PhD (1978) she continued working at the Gray Lab, focusing mainly on late radiation effects in kidney and bladder. She also collaborated with Julie Denekamp and Ana Maria Rojas to investigate the radio-protective effects of amifostine in normal tissues, and to compare this with any potential protection of tumors. 
In 1984 she moved to the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam where she set up a new radiobiology group, together with Adrian Begg and with the support of Harry Bartelink. In Amsterdam she continued to investigate mechanisms of late radiation injury, particularly the long-term recovery potential of tissues and their tolerance to re-irradiation. Another focus of the lab at that time was the interaction between radiation and chemotherapeutic drugs, especially cisplatin, in tumors and normal tissues. 
During the 1990s Fiona set up a pre-clinical program to investigate the clinical potential of photodynamic therapy (PDT) for treatment of small superficial tumors. This pre-clinical PDT program resulted in the successful introduction of clinical PDT for oral cavity and skin tumors and a dedicated PDT unit opened in December 2006.
The main focus of her lab is now on radiation induced endothelial cell and vascular damage in relation to late normal tissue injury. Ongoing projects investigate how radiation induces inflammatory and thrombotic changes in capillaries and large vessels and how these changes lead to progressive development of tissue damage and to atherosclerosis. 
In addition to her laboratory work, Fiona has been an active member of ESTRO since its foundation in 1981; she is currently a board member and a core member of the ESTRO Education Committee. She also sits on Committee 1 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection.

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