Dr. Fatima Cardoso: Advancing Global Collaboration in Breast Cancer Research

Dr. Fatima Cardoso, MD, MSc, FESMO is a senior consultant in medical oncology, internationally recognized for her leadership in breast cancer research, care, and advocacy. Board certified in medical oncology and internal medicine, she earned her medical degree at the University of Porto, with fellowships at the Jules Bordet Institute in Brussels and MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. She served as Assistant Professor at the Jules Bordet Institute and Scientific Director of the TRANSBIG research network before returning to Portugal in 2010 to establish and direct the first certified Breast Unit in the country at the Champalimaud Clinical Center.

Dr. Cardoso is founder and President of the Advanced Breast Cancer (ABC) Global Alliance and chair of the ABC International Consensus Guidelines Conference. Her research spans breast cancer biology, biomarkers, novel therapies, and clinical trials across phases I–IV. She is also Editor-in-Chief of The Breast Journal, associate editor of the European Journal of Cancer, and active in leading professional societies including ESMO, ASCO, AACR, and EORTC.

Honored with numerous international awards—including the Order of Santiago da Espada for Scientific Merit—she has authored over 400 publications and remains a driving force for innovation, equity, and global collaboration in oncology.

Dr. Fatima Cardoso has long stood at the forefront of international oncology, dedicating her career to addressing the challenges of both female and male breast cancer. As an oncologist and global advocate, she balances clinical leadership with a deep commitment to collaborative research, ensuring that even the rarest cancers receive the scientific attention and resources they deserve.

A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE ON ACCESS TO CARE

Early in the conversation, Dr. Cardoso highlighted the work that the ABC Global Alliance is doing with the Max Foundation (Humanitarian PACT for Advanced Breast Cancer) and other partners such as WHO and the ATOM coalition (Access to Oncology Medicines). This project aims at providing low income countries with access to crucial treatments for advanced breast cancer and, simultaneously, contributes to capacity building and resource strengthening to improve cancer care. ATOM’s mission is straightforward yet vital: to improve access to cancer medicines in low- and middle-income countries at a fraction of the standard cost. She explained that while ATOM focuses on lowering the price barriers to treatment, it does not yet address other essential aspects of care, such as access to radiation therapy. This gap underscores the broader reality that oncology requires comprehensive solutions—drugs alone are not enough to save lives when infrastructure for diagnostics and radiation is lacking.

Her remarks reflected her internationalist vision: partnerships across organizations, industries, and borders are essential. For Cardoso, cancer care equity is a pressing humanitarian issue, and her work consistently seeks to bridge divides between high-resource and under-resourced nations.

DIAGNOSTICS AND THE MALE BREAST CANCER DEBATE: Dr. Cardoso also spoke about the diagnostic standards for male breast cancer, a rare disease that has historically been underserved in both awareness and research. She emphasized that current ASCO guidelines recommend using the same diagnostic protocols applied to female patients—principally mammography and ultrasound, with MRI reserved for specific cases. However, she also acknowledged the limitations of population-based screening for such a rare condition, noting that education and awareness remain far more impactful for early detection.

Her perspective struck a note of caution: while innovation is essential, the medical community must remain vigilant against overdiagnosis. Drawing lessons from decades of breast cancer screening in women, she warned that detecting cancers too early—or diagnosing in situ carcinomas unlikely to become life-threatening—can lead to unnecessary treatment and harm. She urged researchers and clinicians working on male breast cancer not to repeat these missteps, stressing the importance of balancing vigilance with restraint.

One of Dr. Cardoso’s major commitments has been the International Male Breast Cancer Program, a research initiative developed through unprecedented global collaboration. Run under the umbrella of  the Breast International Group (BIG) in Europe and the National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) in the US North American intergroup and coordinated by  European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC), the program has produced the largest body of research ever assembled on male breast cancer.

The program’s structure included three pillars:

1. Retrospective studies and publications that laid a foundation of clinical knowledge.
2. An international registry that successfully enrolled over 500 men—far surpassing the initial target of 200 patients in two years—demonstrating the feasibility of large-scale research in this rare cancer.
3. A prospective clinical trial, intended to test targeted therapies, particularly drugs addressing the androgen receptor pathway.

Unfortunately, funding constraints have placed the program at risk. Cardoso noted that pharmaceutical companies, ultimately withdrew support from the most advanced therapeutic trial. Despite the proven ability to gather sufficient patient numbers, industry reluctance to invest in rare diseases has left the program struggling for survival.

She described the funding crisis faced by international collaborations, pointing to the restrictive legal environment in the United States that increasingly limits the flow of donations to non-U.S. research partners. Such restrictions, she warned, could jeopardize multinational studies that depend on pooling data across borders to achieve meaningful results.

Cardoso also underscored the heavy reliance on industry funding in oncology research, acknowledging the conflicts and limitations that arise when commercial interests dictate which studies receive support. For diseases with little market potential, such as male breast cancer, the result is often stagnation. Her appeal is clear: the research community must diversify funding sources, cultivate individual donors, and build coalitions to ensure that scientific progress is not stifled by market forces

ADVOCACY BEYOND THE LABORATORY: Beyond her scientific work, Dr. Cardoso is also President of the Advanced Breast Cancer (ABC) Global Alliance, which focuses on metastatic breast cancer worldwide. This role reflects her capacity to lead not only clinical trials and registries but also advocacy and policy-oriented initiatives.

A Personal World Tied to Her Work: Amid discussions of policy, data, and funding, Dr. Cardoso shared glimpses of her personal roots. Though born in Africa, she regards Porto, Portugal, as her true home—the city where she trained and became a physician. Today, she is based in Lisbon, but her heart remains closely tied to Porto. This grounding in both international and local contexts reflects her identity as a physician who thinks globally while remaining deeply connected to her origins.

A Champion for Patients Often Overlooked: Dr. Fatima Cardoso’s professional life embodies the tension between rare disease advocacy and the practicalities of modern oncology. Her efforts reveal a doctor’s dual role as both healer and activist: ensuring that patients receive the best evidence-based care today while also fighting to secure the research and funding needed to transform treatment tomorrow.

Whether advancing metastatic breast cancer advocacy through the ABC Global Alliance, or sustaining the fragile yet groundbreaking International Male Breast Cancer Program, Dr. Cardoso continues to challenge the systemic barriers that leave vulnerable patients underserved.

Her message is both sobering and inspiring. The world has the tools, knowledge, and networks to make meaningful progress. What remains is the collective will—across governments, industries, and advocacy groups—to ensure that no patient, whether a woman with metastatic disease or a man with breast cancer, is left behind.

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A Tireless Heart for Change

By: Cheri Ambrose, CEO/Founder of MBC Global Alliance

In the fight against breast cancer—whether in women or men—few leaders embody the courage, vision, and unwavering heart for advocacy as profoundly as Dr. Fatima Cardoso. From the first time I met her, it was clear that she carried more than the weight of scientific knowledge; she carried the voices of patients, families, and underserved communities who too often remain unheard.

Dr. Cardoso has never been content to limit her work to the laboratory or the lecture hall. She understands that science without advocacy is only half the battle. With courage and clarity, she has repeatedly stepped into arenas where policies are written, funding is debated, and inequities threaten to silence progress. She has spoken for patients in low- and middle-income countries who lack access to medicines. She has fought for international collaboration in rare diseases like male breast cancer, even when industry and politics put obstacles in her path. And she has done it all with grace, persistence, and the quiet but undeniable power of conviction.

What sets Dr. Cardoso apart is not only her brilliance as a clinician and researcher, but her tireless heart. She has built bridges across continents, uniting networks of physicians and advocates to pursue solutions that one country alone could never achieve. She has reminded us, time and again, that behind every statistic is a life worth saving—and that our responsibility is to push forward until better treatments, fairer access, and greater awareness are realities for all.

As President of the ABC Global Alliance and as a leader of the International Male Breast Cancer Program, she has given form to hope in spaces where many once felt forgotten. She has proven that advocacy from the clinical stage is not only possible, but essential.

To me, and to the countless others inspired by her, Dr. Cardoso represents the rare blend of scientific excellence and human compassion that defines true leadership. Her courage fuels our mission. Her vision lights our path. And her heart ensures that no patient—woman or man—will be left behind.

— Cheri Ambrose, Male Breast Cancer Global Alliance

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Elevating Oncology Through Vision

By Dr. Robert L. Bard (Oncoradiology, NYC)

In more than forty years of work in cancer diagnostics, I have witnessed an extraordinary evolution in our field. From the early days of limited imaging options to today’s sophisticated landscape of precision diagnostics and targeted therapies, progress has always depended on those rare individuals who combine clinical excellence with visionary leadership. Dr. Fatima Cardoso is one of those rare leaders.

What distinguishes Dr. Cardoso is her ability to stand at the intersection of science, patient care, and international collaboration. She understands that breast cancer—whether in men or women—cannot be addressed in silos. It requires a network of minds, data, and resources spanning across borders. Her work with the Advanced Breast Cancer (ABC) Global Alliance and the International Male Breast Cancer Program exemplifies this truth. These initiatives have provided the kind of global infrastructure that oncology desperately needs if we are to make meaningful advances against rare and neglected cancers.

As a diagnostician, I know that every patient represents both an individual battle and a piece of a larger puzzle. Dr. Cardoso has repeatedly reminded the medical community that research must serve both ends: it must offer better solutions to the patient in front of us, while also building the evidence and systems that will guide the care of thousands more. Her insistence on equity and accessibility speaks directly to the ethical responsibilities we face as physicians.

I have also seen the challenges: funding gaps, industry hesitation to invest in rare cancers, and policy frameworks that too often slow innovation rather than enable it. Yet Dr. Cardoso continues to push forward. Her persistence reflects the kind of resilience our profession requires if we are to move beyond incremental progress and toward transformative change.

The medical community benefits immeasurably from her leadership. Her vision demonstrates what oncology should strive to be: rigorous in science, uncompromising in compassion, and committed to international cooperation. As someone who has spent decades in this field, I can say without hesitation that we need more voices like Dr. Cardoso’s—and more of her kind of care—on the global stage.

— Robert L. Bard, MD, Diagnostic Imaging Specialist