Laura van ‘t Veer

Prof. Laura van ‘t Veer, PhD, is co‑founder of Agendia and serves as its Chief Research Officer. As one of the world’s leading innovators in cancer diagnostics, she is widely recognized as a pioneer in the field of personalized medicine, also known as precision medicine. She has a 20-year track record in molecular oncology research, which includes more than 230 scientific publications and prestigious awards for her contributions to breast cancer care.

Dr. van ‘t Veer is best known for work stemming from a discovery she and her team made at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI). They established that a specific DNA signature made up of 70 genes distinguished whether breast cancer tumors had a low or high risk of recurrence. After patenting their innovation, she and research partner René Bernards founded Agendia and launched the MammaPrint test.

In 2010, Dr. van ‘t Veer was appointed Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Director of Applied Genomics at the University of California San Francisco. She is also the former head of the NKI’s DNA-diagnostic laboratory. She was awarded a 2014 European Union Prize for Women Innovators that acknowledges the ways MammaPrint has helped transform breast cancer care. In 2015, the European Patent Office (EPO) recognized MammaPrint’s impact on breast cancer diagnostics by honoring Dr. van ‘t Veer with a European Inventor Award.