Presentation

History

The Bordet Institute's Modern History

Creation of the different medical services, the EORTC and the "Friends of the Institute" (First part)

The Institute's modern history started with the arrival of Professor Albert Claude who was later awarded a Nobel Prize (1974), and who became the scientific director of the Institute in 1950.
In 1953, he convinced Professor Henri Tagnon to come back in Brussels; this professor had worked at the Memorial Hospital of New York, one of the greatest American anticancer centres.

The modernisation of the Institute started under the impetus of these two extraordinary men and the Institute became an integrated multidisciplinary anticancer centre.

In the 1950's, new treatments began to be used besides specific anticancer radiotherapy and surgery : chemotherapy and immunotherapy. It is a new clinical service that allowed these advances : the service of Internal Medicine.
A laboratory of clinical Biology and several medical investigation services were created in 1953.
An anaesthesia service, which was linked to oncology/pathology, was also set up.
These continuous work and evolution that lasted about twenty years (between 1950 and 70), were accompanied by several new paramedical services such as the first unique medical record in the country and the notion of a full-time medical activity.

Nearly two generations of medical doctors contributed to the developement of the Institute; namely Professors Y. Kenis, J.-C. Heuson and P. Stryckmans who helped Professor H. Tagnon, whose activities are currently carried out by Professor J. Klastersky.
Professors Suzanne Simon and J. Henry converted the Radiotherapy service into a modern centre of oncological treatment by introducing different techniques that are appropriated for this discipline; their work is currently continued by Professor P. Van Houtte.
Professors P. Cogniaux and W. Smets, and later Professors P. Dor, W. Mattheiem and G. Andry modernized the oncological surgery, which became widespread in Europe. This service is currently directed by Professor J.-C. Pector.
Thanks to Professors P. Dustin, C. Gompel, R. Heimann, the Service of Pathological Anatomy became a national and international reference of oncological morphology; it is currently directed by Professor D. Larsimont.
When he came back from England, after the 1940-45 War, Professor H. Reinhold and later Professor M. de Rood created an Anaesthesiology service, which became a reference for oncological operations. This service is currently directed by Professor P. Ewalenko.
Among the disciplines of diagnosis, Radiology that is today more commonly known as the service of "medical imaging system", and which has been directed successively by Professors G. Melot, L. Jeanmart and J. Dagnelie, contributed very much to the great evolution of techniques that consist in highlighting and identifying different tumors pathologies.
The service of screening of the Institute, which has been created by Dr. Y. Fassin and is currently directed by Professor A.-R. Grivegnée, has a significant role since it allows nearly all the population to undergo regular preventive checkups. The Bordet Institute was the first hospital in Belgium to perform the early cancer detection.

We should also note that the laboratory, which is commonly known as Service of Nuclear Medicine, has had an important national role since 45 years, namely in therapeutical application of radionuclides.

Research activities are not only carried out in the fundamental field but also the clinical field.

Finally, we should remember that the EORTC (European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer) that was created under the impetus of the Professor H. Tagnon, at the Bordet Institute in 1964, has become an organisation, which plays a significant role in the testing and the development of anticancer treatment in Europe. A close collaboration allows to centralize information exchanges with other European centres that are involved in the development of new therapies, namely with the National Cancer Institute in the USA.

At the end of the 1960's, it was obvious that the Institute could not remain one of the best anticancer centres without any private funds. As a result, in 1969, Pr Tagnon's wife and Madame J. Van Halteren created the non profit making association "The Friends of the Bordet Institute", whose goal and functioning resemble to those of Anglo-Saxon's funds that support medical research. This association that was quite modest at the beginning, has nowadays 10.000 members. They have been gathered thanks to dynamism and voluntary work of many personalities.

There are tree parts in the text :
- 1rst part (Creation of the different medical services, the EORTC and the "Friends of the Institute") : you are here
- 2nd part (Buildings and facilities) : click here
- 3rd part (Conclusion) : click here

Thank you to Mr. Guilardian, Director of Archives of the CPAS (Belgian social government's help) who gave us the pictures that illustrate this chapter.