Maja Cemazar

Board Member, European Cancer Organisation
Head of Research and Education, Institute of Oncology of Ljubljana

Prof. Maja Cemazar obtained her PhD in basic medical sciences from the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Medicine in 1998. She was a post-doctoral fellow and a researcher at the Gray Cancer Institute from 1999-2001. In 2004 she was working at the Institute of Pharmacology and Structural Biology as an associate researcher.

Currently, she is the Head of Research and Education at the Institute of Oncology Ljubljana and also works as a researcher at the Department of Experimental Oncology. In addition, she is a lecturer in under and post-graduate courses of Cell and Tumor biology, partly employed at the University of Primorska.

Her main research interest is in the field of gene electrotransfer – gene therapy. She is developing different treatment approaches by utilizing therapeutic genes targeting either tumor angiogenesis or stimulating immune response. She is a member of different national and international societies and a president of the National Ethical Committee for Animal Experimentation, a vice-president of National scientific committee for deliberate release of the GMO Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning and a President of Slovenian Genetic Society.

Her work is also closely related to the involvement of patients into the research and clinical studies by being the elected member of the “Organisation of European Cancer Institutes” OECI board from 2021, and Member of the Sub-group on Cancer under the steering Group on Health Promotion Disease Prevention and Management of Non-Communicable Disease EU DG Sante and EU DG RTD and member of the Working Group under the Strategic Configuration of the Horizon Europe Programme Committee, EU Mission on Cancer.

In addition, she serves as a member of Editorial board of several international peer-reviewed journals and is a Deputy Editor of the journal Radiology and Oncology. In 2006 she received the Award of the Republic of Slovenia for important achievements in the scientific research and development in the field of experimental oncology and in 2018 Frank Reidy Award for Outstanding Achievements in Bioelectrics. She was a supervisor of 14 PhD students, and more than 30 BSc theses. She is the author of more than 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Her H index is 47.

Updated: January 2024