Biography
Dr Maria Alice Franzoi
Dr Maria Alice Franzoi is a medical oncologist specialising in breast cancer and a researcher in digital health and implementation sciences. After completing training in internal medicine and medical oncology at Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (Brazil), she undertook a clinical research fellowship at the Jules Bordet Institute (Brussels). She earned a PhD in medicine from the Free University of Brussels, focusing on the evaluation of the impact of health behaviours such as obesity and overweight on clinical outcomes in patients treated for early and metastatic breast cancer.
Since 2021, she has been practising at Gustave Roussy as a medical oncologist and leading a research team within the Cancer Survivorship Unit, directed by Ines Vaz-Luis (INTERVAL). Her work centres on co-designing and implementing personalised care pathways integrating digital technologies, aiming to improve the quality, equity, and continuity of oncology care. She has a particular interest in patient empowerment, healthcare professional engagement, and the use of patient-reported outcomes (ePROs) to optimise management throughout the care continuum.
Dr Franzoi has led major projects in digital health, including the design and deployment of symptom remote monitoring pathways involving coordination nurses, now implemented in over 100 centres in France and Belgium. She also developed a proactive post-breast cancer care pathway at Gustave Roussy, offering patients a day dedicated to awareness and sharing around survivorship challenges (fear of recurrence, psychological health, sexuality, management of hormone therapy side effects, nutrition, return to work, adapted physical activity, etc.). During this day, a structured assessment of supportive care needs is performed, with referrals to appropriate supportive care services at Gustave Roussy and in the community. This is documented in a personalised survivorship care plan provided to both the patient and their general practitioner. This pathway has been adapted and implemented in several countries.
As principal investigator of numerous national and European clinical trials and research projects, she explores innovative care models incorporating digital tools for self-management, care coordination, and the collection of patient-generated data. Her approach places patients as co-researchers at the heart of clinical trials while developing inclusive and digitally enabled research infrastructures to collect patient-generated data.
Author of over 57 publications in leading international journals, Dr Franzoi is also actively involved in several international scientific and editorial boards in oncology and digital health.
Her work has been recognised with several highly competitive national, European, and international awards and grants, including the ASCO Career Development Award and the Gilead Research Scholars Award, supporting various digital health projects aimed at improving quality of life and management of side effects in breast cancer survivorship. At the end of 2025, she was also awarded the Ruban Rose Quality of Life Prize for her OPTIMIZE research project. This clinical trial evaluates a mobile application designed to support young women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, helping them better manage hormone therapy side effects and become active participants in their care pathway. She also coordinates the digital innovation working group for post-cancer care within the JOINT ACTION Personalized Cancer Medicine, involving 29 countries and 146 centres.
