Bernard Escudier

Bernard Escudier, MD is Professor Emeritus of Medical Oncology and former Head of the Kidney Cancer Unit at Institut Gustave Roussy in Villejuif, France. He is one of the world's most influential figures in the treatment of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), having been a driving force behind the development and clinical validation of all major VEGFR-targeted therapies in RCC. He led the pivotal sunitinib phase III trial (Motzer et al./Escudier et al.) that established sunitinib as the first-line standard of care for metastatic clear cell RCC, replacing cytokine therapy and ushering in the targeted therapy era. He also played a central role in the phase III trials of sorafenib (TARGET trial) and bevacizumab (AVOREN trial) in RCC, collectively defining the VEGF pathway as the dominant therapeutic target in metastatic clear cell RCC. Professor Escudier led the ESMO renal cancer clinical practice guidelines for over a decade and has trained an entire generation of European renal cancer oncologists. He is a founding architect of the International Kidney Cancer Coalition (IKCC) and has contributed to more than 400 peer-reviewed publications in oncology.