Education
- 1993 – 1997: Residency Program in Medical Oncology, University of Milan, Italy
- 1993: Medical School Degree, University of Milan, Italy
Academic Appointments
- present: Associate Professor of Medical Oncology, Humanitas University:
- Clinical and Molecular Oncology, Medical School | Molecular Oncology, MEDTEC | Module of Medical Oncology, Nursing Degree | Module of Medical Oncology, Nursing and Midwifery Sciences | Residency Program in Medical Oncology
- present: Deputy Director of the Residency Program in Medical Oncology
- 2020 – 2023: Director of the Residency Program in Medical Oncology, Humanitas University
- 2020 – 2023: Member of the Academic Board of the PhD Program in Datascience in Medicine & Nutrition (DASMEN), Humanitas University
- 2016 – 2019: Adjunct Professor of Medical Oncology, Humanitas University
Membership and Affiliations
- IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano (Milan)
Awards and Honors
- Head of External Relations, member of the Executive Committee and Governing Board of the International Liver Cancer Association (ILCA)
- Lead for Biliary Tract Cancer (BTC) on the EORTC Hepatopancreatobiliary and Neuroendocrine Tumors Task Force
- Special Expert – International Trials Europe on the Hepatobiliary Task Force of the National Cancer Institute (NCI, US)
- Member of the Management Committee of the COST Action CA22125 Precision medicine in biliary tract cancer” (Precision-BTC-Network)
- Co-chair of the Technical Commission of the Lombardy Oncology Network on liver and biliary tract cancer in collaboration with the Hepatogastroenterology Network (Italy)
- Member of the Group of Experts – Strategic Committee for the National Guideline System (SNLG), Italian Ministry of Health – Italian National Institute of Health (ISS) – DM 624712343
Other
- Member of the Residency Program Directors Coordinating Committee
- Member of the Executive Committee and Academic Board of the PhD Program in Applied Clinical Research at Humanitas University
- Head of Hepatopancreatobiliary Oncology at IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital
Lorenza Rimassa has a long-standing interest in the field of clinical and translational research for gastrointestinal cancers. She is principal investigator and member of the steering committee, data monitoring committee for national and international, phase 1–3 clinical and translational trials of new drugs and biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma/biliary tract cancer (CCA/BTC). She is speaker, chair, discussant, and member of the organizing and scientific committee at national and international congresses.
She has authored more than 300 articles on the development of new treatments and biomarkers for hepatobiliary cancer. She is an author of the ESMO Guideline on BTC and on HCC, a member of the Italian Inter-Society Guideline Writing Committee on HCC, of ESMO, ASCO, EASL, ILCA, and AIOM. She is Co-editor for Journal of Hepatology, Associate Editor for Liver Cancer, Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology, and ESMO Gastrointestinal Oncology, Section Editor-in-Chief for the Disease Biomarker Section of Journal of Personalized Medicine, and an editorial board member of several journals including JHEP Reports, Liver International, and Journal of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.
Main research fields
- Systemic treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma
- Systemic treatment for cholangiocarcinoma / biliary tract cancer
- Systemic treatment for pancreatic cancer
- Development of new anticancer drugs, including immunotherapy and molecularly targeted agents
- Prognostic and predictive biomarkers
- Molecular profiling
- Multidisciplinary management of hepatopancreatobiliary cancer
- Development of national and international guidelines for hepatobiliary cancer
- Piscaglia F, Masi G, Martinelli E, Cabibbo G, Di Maio M, Gasbarrini A, Iavarone M, Antonuzzo L, Mazzaferro V, Ballestrero A, Garufi C, Bergamo F, Celsa C, Marino D, Tovoli F, Ponziani FR, Pressiani T, Astolfi C, Gazzoli GC, Ciardiello F, Daniele B, Rimassa L*. Atezolizumab plus bevacizumab as first-line treatment of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma: interim analysis results from the phase IIIb AMETHISTA trial. ESMO Open. 2025 Feb;10(2):104110. doi: 10.1016/j.esmoop.2024.104110. Epub 2025 Jan 27. *Corresponding author
- Rimassa L*, Lamarca A, O’Kane GM, Edeline J, McNamara MG, Vogel A, Fassan M, Forner A, Kendall T, Adeva J, Casadei-Gardini A, Fornaro L. Hollebecque A, Lowery MA, Macarulla T, Malka D, Mariamidze E, Niger M, Ustav A, Bridgewater J, Macias RIR, Braconi C. New systemic treatment paradigms in advanced biliary tract cancer and variations in patient access across Europe. Lancet Regional Health Europe. 2025 Feb 19;50:101171. doi: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2024.101170. *Corresponding author
- Rimassa L*, Chan SL, Sangro B, Lau G, Kudo M, Reig M, Breder V, Ryu MH, Ostapenko Y, Sukeepaisarnjaroen W, Varela M, Tougeron D, Crysler OV, Bouattour M, Van Dao T, Tam VC, Faccio A, Furuse J, Jeng LB, Kang YK, Kelley RK, Paskow MJ, Ran D, Xynos I, Kurland JF, Negro A, Abou-Alfa GK. Five-year overall survival update from the HIMALAYA study of tremelimumab plus durvalumab in unresectable HCC. J Hepatol. 2025 Apr 11:S0168-8278(25)00226-0. doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2025.03.033. Online ahead of print. *Corresponding author
- Chan SL, Kudo M, Sangro B, Kelley RK, Kim JH, Pham B, Hong JY, Waldschmidt DT, Marino D, Joycelyn Lee JX, Gerolami R, Burgoyne AM, Li Q, Nakamura H, Sun P, Baur B, Rimassa L. Early Safety Results from the Phase 3b SIERRA Study of Durvalumab and Tremelimumab as First-Line Treatment for Participants with Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma and a Poor Prognosis. Liver Cancer. 2025 Dec 18. doi: 10.1159/000549955. Online ahead of print.
- Genovesi V, Salani F, Rimini M, Rizzato MD, Pressiani T, Pircher C, Salvatore L, Antonuzzo L, Silvestro L, Daniele B, Leone F, Vivaldi C, Camera S, Balsano R, Bergamo F, Niger M, Foti S, Tesini G, Di Paolo G, Rossari F, Sperotto S, Masi G, Lonardi S, Rimassa L*, Casadei-Gardini A*, Fornaro L*. Molecular profiling and matched targeted treatment in cholangiocarcinoma: Results from the Italian dataset (ANITA). J Hepatol. 2025 Dec 27:S0168-8278(25)02735-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2025.12.016. Online ahead of print. *Equal contribution