Umberto Veronesi

Umberto Veronesi (born November 29, 1925) is an Italian surgeon and oncologist, internationally known for his contributions on prevention and treatment of breast cancer throughout a career spanning over fifty years.

Scientific career
Veronesi was born in Milan. He obtained his degree in medicine from the University of Milan in 1950, and soon decided to dedicate his professional activity to the study and treatment of cancers; after brief periods in England and France, he joined the Italian Cancer Institute in Milan as a volunteer.

Veronesi is known as the founder of breast-conserving surgery in breast cancer treatment with the invention of the technique of quadrantectomy which challenged the idea, then dominating among surgeons, that cancers could be treated only with aggressive surgery; since then, he has supported and promoted scientific research aimed to improve conservative surgical techniques.

Following this path, he improved sentinel lymph node biopsy and made possible to avoid axillary dissection in breast cancer with clinically negative lymph nodes.

He also contributed to breast cancer prevention, conducting studies on tamoxifen and retinoids and verifying their capabilities to prevent the formation of carcinoma.

He has always been an activist in many anti-tobacco campaigns.

Ethical views
Over the years, Veronesi has public expressed his views on several ethical issues, in interviews, televised debates and in his books.

Veronesi identifies himself as an atheist, not believing in any deity and in any form of afterlife; he claims that human beings should not consider death a terrifying moment but rather accept it as a biological necessity.

He supports active euthanasia, affirming the right of any individual to freely dispose of his life when it becomes unbearable due to suffering, pain or loss of dignity. He advocates the necessity to regulate euthanasia at a national level, citing Dutch legislation as a good starting point; he is currently promoting a campaign for the introduction of living will as a legally binding agreement between the doctor and the incapacitated patient.

Veronesi supports genetically modified organisms as a mean to produce food with higher nutritional capabilities and deprived of potentially carcinogenic substance; he critiziced the current dominating opposition to GMOs as due to scarce knowledge of science.

Veronesi is an ethical vegetarian.