Domenica Lorusso

Domenica Lorusso, MD, PhD is Full Professor of Gynecologic Oncology at Humanitas University and Head of the Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS in Rome, where she has built one of Europe's most active clinical trial programs in gynecologic cancers. She is best known internationally as the principal investigator and corresponding author of the RUBY trial (ENGOT-EN6/GOG3031/NSGO), a landmark randomized phase III study demonstrating that adding dostarlimab — a PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor — to standard carboplatin/paclitaxel chemotherapy significantly prolonged progression-free survival in advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer, with particularly dramatic benefit in patients with mismatch repair-deficient (dMMR) tumors. The RUBY results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2023, were practice-changing and contributed to regulatory approvals of dostarlimab in endometrial cancer across multiple jurisdictions. Professor Lorusso has also been a leading investigator in trials of PARP inhibitors, antiangiogenic agents, and novel immunotherapy combinations in ovarian, cervical, and endometrial cancers. She serves as Principal Investigator for multiple ENGOT (European Network of Gynaecological Oncological Trial groups) studies and has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications. Her work on MMR status as a predictive biomarker for immunotherapy in endometrial cancer has reshaped molecular subtyping approaches in standard clinical practice.