Laura van 't Veer was formally honored with the PMWC Luminary Award for co-developing the MammaPrint breast cancer recurrence assay.
On January 21, 2020, Laura van 't Veer was formally presented with the PMWC Luminary Award at the Precision Medicine World Conference, one of the most prestigious gatherings in the field of genomic and precision medicine.
The award specifically recognized her co-development of the MammaPrint 70-gene risk of recurrence assay, a test that had by then been used to assess hundreds of thousands of breast cancer patients worldwide. The Luminary Award is given to individuals whose scientific contributions have fundamentally altered the trajectory of precision medicine, and van 't Veer's inclusion among past honorees placed her alongside other leading figures who have shaped genomics-based healthcare.
This recognition came at a pivotal time as precision oncology was becoming increasingly mainstream, with genomic tests like MammaPrint serving as models for how molecular data could directly inform treatment decisions. Her acceptance speech and presence at the conference reinforced her role as a thought leader and mentor within the field, inspiring a new generation of researchers pursuing similar bench-to-bedside translational science.
The award also served to highlight the continued clinical relevance of MammaPrint nearly two decades after its initial development, underscoring its lasting legacy in guiding chemotherapy decisions for breast cancer patients globally.