For Leonor Beleza, Rui Costa’s arrival represents an invaluable contribution to the development of the Foundation’s scientific and clinical mission in the fields of cancer and neuroscience. She highlights: “The strategic vision and remarkable career of Professor Rui Costa strengthen our ability to generate knowledge and transform it into real benefits for patients and for society. It is also an investment in the future and in the continuity of our ambition and vision.”

Personalised Medicine for Colorectal Cancer

In the Clinical Research category, the award went to Rita Fior, leader of the Cancer Development and Innate Immune Evasion Group, for the study “The zAvatar test forecasts clinical treatment response in patients with colorectal cancer: a co-clinical study paving the way for personalised medicine.” Bruna Costa, a postdoctoral researcher, is the first author of the recognised work.

On March 13, 2026, the Champalimaud Foundation will host the Lung Cancer Fight Club – 3rd Round, a multidisciplinary meeting bringing together renowned scientists and clinicians to discuss cutting-edge strategies in lung cancer management.

This year’s symposium will provide a platform for knowledge exchange across surgery, radiotherapy, interventional pulmonology, genetics, nutrition, physical activity, mental health, and applied technologies in oncology.

Programme

Before there was a building by the river, before there were retreats and bustling labs, there was only an idea and a handful of conversations sparked across Lisbon, Boston, and New York.

When Tiago Santos first walked through the glass corridors of the Champalimaud Foundation (CF) in 2014, he already had two years of nursing experience, but none in urology or oncology. “Deep down, one could say I started a new chapter of my career here,” he admits with a wry smile. Indeed, stepping into a nearly empty unit with no reference guides, protocols, or precedents might have made most people run for the hills. But not Tiago. For him, the emptiness was an invitation: a white canvas on which to paint the future of urology nursing at CF.

When I interviewed Albino J. Oliveira-Maia, we spoke about the challenges and lessons that shaped his career. What struck me most was his ability to pursue different things at once and to create the space to keep doing so. By writing this, I hope to share that feeling of courage with others who are now wondering which path to follow.

When Marta Moita first heard whispers of a neuroscience programme taking shape in Lisbon, disbelief was her first reaction. “It just didn’t seem possible,” she recalls. She was a young Principal Investigator (PI) who had returned to Portugal after years abroad, because behavioural neuroscience (her passion) simply didn’t exist here. “So the prospect of not just having a lab, but a whole programme doing circuits and behavioral neuroscience in Lisbon, with people I knew and admired… it was just difficult to assimilate. Was this really happening?”

When Diego Carrasco first saw Lisbon from the air fifteen years ago, the city looked like a watercolour: terracotta rooftops glowing above the Tagus River. “I remember seeing the roofs from the plane,” he says. “It was so romantic. I thought this city is so old, and at the same time, so new.”
It was 2010, and Carrasco, a young Colombian doctor, had been selected to come to Portugal through a government programme that invited Latin American doctors to work in Europe. “I felt welcome from the very beginning, as it was the government itself that had opened the door.”

When we decided to discuss the “welcoming internationals” theme, Mert Erginkaya was among the first names that came to mind. Mert has been a close friend for over six years, and I’ve always felt he represents the Champalimaud Foundation (CF) community at its best. This piece is his story and, in a way, a bit of mine, because I was lucky enough to be part of Mert’s CF journey.