Champalimaud Foundation (CF)

Address Champalimaud Foundation
Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown
Av. de Brasília
1400-038 Lisboa, Portugal
Platforms Biomarkers, Imaging & Tracing

The Champalimaud Foundation (CF) is a private non-profit organisation, founded in 2005, dedicated to the development of advanced biomedical research programmes and the interdisciplinary provision of clinical care. Through its activities, the Foundation intends to be a world leader in scientific and technological innovation with the ultimate goal of preventing, diagnosing and treating disease, guided by a posture of constant challenge and contributing to a society that is more aware of the health problems that affect humanity.

Completed in 2010, the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown (CCU) is a state-of-the-art centre dedicated to basic and translational research as well as the diagnosis and treatment of diseases ranging from neurological disorders to cancer. Comprising the Champalimaud Clinical Centre (CCC) and Champalimaud Research (CR) with their three research programmes – the Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme (CNP), the Physiology and Cancer Programme (PCP) and the Clinical Experimental Research Programme (CERP) -, the Champalimaud Foundation offers a unique environment for conducting cutting-edge research, in the areas of neuroscience and cancer, aimed at revealing new knowledge and developing scientific solutions to medical problems.

The multidisciplinary teams of the Champalimaud Clinical Centre (CCC) focus their activity on the maintenance of highly personalised medicine, centred on the patient and of a multidisciplinary nature, following standards of excellence and always within the perspective of scientific research and rapid transfer to clinical progress and scientific innovations. It is also a constant concern to respect deontological and ethical principles of good medical practices and defence of the well-being and quality of life of those who seek our help. With the progressive increase in clinical activity, the work of research groups is often consolidated through strong interaction with clinical groups in related areas, namely in the domain of ontogeny and biopathology of neoplastic transformation and metastasis, of cancer immunophysiology and the therapeutic response to different modalities of immunotherapy.

The CCC has more than 600 professionals, including 138 physicians, organised into seven multidisciplinary pathology units, whose main objective is to make all the knowledge and techniques available for the practice of personalised and results-oriented medicine, aimed at different types of tumours, including breast, digestive, gynaecological, haemato-oncological, lung, genitourinary and dermatological. Risk assessment, early diagnosis of disease and treatment personalisation are the main concerns of all multidisciplinary units, in order to achieve better levels of effectiveness in controlling the disease, survival and quality of life for the patient. Whenever possible, CCC’s clinical staff offers patients the opportunity to participate in clinical trials or experimental research programmes aimed at creating innovative diagnostic and treatment solutions, through the CCC’s Clinical Research Unit. Clinical studies performed are predominantly in the area of cancer (including breast cancer, gynaecological, lung, prostate and kidney, digestive and haemato-oncology) and neuropsychiatry. In these areas, studies are also conducted focusing on radiotherapy, radiology and nuclear medicine. With the increase in clinical activity and research projects dedicated to pancreatic cancer, driven by the opening of the Botton-Champalimaud Pancreatic Cancer Centre, a significant increase in the number of fundamental, clinical and experimental research projects/studies focusing on understanding and treatment of this type of cancer is expected in the near future.