Laura van 't Veer was awarded the 2014 EU Prize for Women Innovators for inventing the MammaPrint breast cancer test.
On March 11, 2014, Laura van 't Veer was formally recognized with the European Union Prize for Women Innovators, an award established by the European Commission to celebrate women who have made outstanding contributions to innovation and brought their scientific discoveries to market.
This recognition specifically honored van 't Veer as the inventor behind MammaPrint, the genomic breast cancer test that transformed risk assessment for early-stage breast cancer patients. The award highlighted not only the scientific rigor of her research but also her entrepreneurial success in translating laboratory discovery into a widely used clinical diagnostic tool through the company Agendia, which she co-founded.
The EU Prize for Women Innovators is significant in the broader context of women in STEM fields, as it seeks to counter the historical underrepresentation of women in innovation and entrepreneurship by publicly celebrating their achievements and encouraging future generations of female scientists and inventors.
For van 't Veer, this award represented international acknowledgment of nearly two decades of research that began with her molecular pathology work at the Netherlands Cancer Institute and culminated in a test used by clinicians worldwide to guide treatment decisions, sparing many patients from unnecessary chemotherapy.