History Timeline

Over the years, the Quality of Life Group has strived to improve the quality of life of cancer patients, giving them a voice and placing their experience at the forefront, in line with EORTC’s overall mission to improve the standard of cancer treatment for patients​, and ultimately to increase people’s survival and quality of life​.

You will find below an overview of the main milestones for the Quality of Life Group and Department over the years.

  1. 1980
  2. 1993
  3. 1995
  4. 1998
  5. 2001
  6. 2002
  7. 2005
  8. 2008
  9. 2009
  10. 2011
  11. 2012
  12. 2014
  13. 2017
  14. 2018
  15. 2019
  16. 2021
  17. 2023
  18. 2025

  1. Quality of Life Group

    Creation of the Quality of Life Group (QLG)

  2. Quality of Life Department

    The Quality of Life Department (QLD) was established at the EORTC Headquarters with the financial support of the European Community.

    This project started in November 1993 initially for one year and was extended until May 1995.

    The objectives of this project were threefold.

    Firstly, to evaluate the importance of various factors that improve the QOL of cancer patients.

    Secondly, to supervise the evaluation of QOL in selected cancer clinical trials.

    Thirdly, to encourage physicians to pay greater attention to quality of life factors in the treatment of cancer by stimulating, enhancing and co-ordinating the evaluation of quality of life in cancer clinical trials.

    The success of this two year pilot project led to the formal establishment of the QOL Department, which is now involved in all EORTC QOL activities

    Guidelines

    First edition of the Guidelines for Developing Questionnaire Modules

  3. Andrew Bottomley (Head QLD: 1995-2023)

    Brussels - Belgium

    New Head of the Department

    Andrew Bottomley becomes the Head of the Quality of Life Department

  4. Manuals

    First Version of the Translation Manual

  5. QLG Website

    Creation of the first Quality of Life Group’s website

    Item Bank

    Creation of the Item Bank

  6. Guidelines

    First edition of the Guidelines for assessing Quality of Life in EORTC clinical trials

  7. Neil Aaronson (Chair QLG: 2005 - 2008)

    Amsterdam - Netherlands

  8. Galina Velikova (Chair QLG: 2008 - 2011)

    Leeds - United Kingdom

    Manuals

    First edition of the Reference Values Manual

  9. Galina Velikova (Chair QLG: 2008 - 2011)

    Leeds - United Kingdom

    Conference

    1st EORTC Quality of Life, Symptom Research and Patient Reported Outcomes in Cancer Clinical Trials Conference, 27-29 November 2009, Brussels, Belgium

  10. Mogens Grønvold (Chair QLG: 2011 - 2014)

    Copenhagen - Denmark

    Conference

    2nd EORTC Quality of Life, Symptom Research and Patient Reported Outcomes in Cancer Clinical Trials Conference, 7-9 September 2011, European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium

  11. Mogens Grønvold (Chair QLG: 2011 - 2014)

    Copenhagen - Denmark

    Conference

    3rd EORTC Quality of Life, Symptom Research and Patient Reported Outcomes in Cancer Clinical Trials Conference, 17-19 October 2012, European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium

  12. Lonneke van de Poll-Franse (Chair QLG: 2014 - 2017)

    Eindhoven - Netherlands

  13. Fabio Efficace (Chair QLG: 2017 - 2018)

    Rome - Italy

    Conference

    4th EORTC Quality of Life, Symptom Research and Patient Reported Outcomes in Cancer Clinical Trials Conference, 20-21 September 2017, Crowne Plaza, Brussels, Belgium

    Item Library

    Creation of the new Item Library

  14. Anne-Sophie Darlington (Chair QLG: 2018 - 2021)

    Southampton - United Kingdom

    QLG Website

    Launch of the new and revamped Quality of Life Group’s website

  15. Anne-Sophie Darlington (Chair QLG: 2018 - 2021)

    Southampton - United Kingdom

    5th EORTC Quality of Life in Cancer Clinical Trials Conference, 16-17 September 2019, Crowne Plaza, Brussels, Belgium

  16. Jaap Reijneveld (Chair QLG: 2021 - Present)

    Amsterdam - Netherlands

  17. Madeline Pe (Head QLD: 2023 - Present)

    Brussels - Belgium

  18. 6th EORTC Quality of Life in Cancer Clinical Trials Conference, 12-13 May 2025, Hilton Barcelona, Spain