Gianluca Franceschini, Full Professor of General Surgery and Director of the Master’s Program in Integrated Therapies for Female Oncological Pathologies at Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, shared on LinkedIn:
“PERSON AT THE CENTER: caring also means caring
It was an honor to participate, as Director of the Breast Center of the Gemelli Polyclinic, in the third edition of the Charity Dinner, dedicated to supporting research on breast and prostate cancer.
I would like to thank the President of the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Daniele Franco, the Director General Daniele Piacentini, the Scientific Director of IRCCS Antonio Gasbarrini and Carlo Fornario, responsible for fundraising activities, for choosing to support the PERSON AT THE CENTER project.
A sincere thank you to all the participants for their generosity.
The project was born from the experience of the Gemelli Senology team, which I have the privilege of leading and which this year celebrates 20 years of activity.
Our belief is that truly curing means not only offering effective cancer treatments and prolonging life, but also restoring the best possible quality of life to patients.
Because, even when therapies are successful, fragility, difficulties and scars may remain that deserve to be listened to and adequately answered.
PERSON AT THE CENTER wants precisely this: to listen to patients, understand their needs and develop treatment paths that accompany them during therapies and in the return to life.
We are starting from an already consolidated path, built thanks to the Agostino Gemelli University Hospital Foundation IRCCS, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and support of Komen Italia, with the development of integrated paths and the birth of the university research center CERITIN, dedicated to integrated therapies in senology.
A special thanks to Rector Elena Beccalli and Dean Alessandro Sgambato for their support.
Today we want to take a further step: to transform this experience into an integrated, structured, measurable and scientifically validated model of research and care.
The goal is to recognize patients’ needs at an early stage, identify the most appropriate interventions and evaluate their results over time, developing a model that can be replicated in other centers. The GIMSeno breast network (Gemelli, Ospedale Isola Tiberina – Gemelli Isola, Mater Olbia Hospital ) will be the first application platform.
An ambitious and concrete project, to improve the psychophysical well-being of patients and help them regain a full, autonomous life and as close as possible to normality.
I am convinced that, thanks to research, teamwork and the generosity of those who support us, we will be able to turn this ambition into reality.
Because the success of the treatment is not only measured in the results obtained on the disease, but also in the quality of life we are able to restore.
And so that the PERSON is more and more, truly, AT the CENTER of care and research.”
You can also read: What Changes in Breast Oncology After ESMO 2026? The Trials, Treatment Shifts, and Unanswered Questions Shaping Clinical Practice
