The Cancer Medal Goes to Rosmarie Pfau

The Cancer Medal for 2025 goes to Rosmarie Pfau, founder and president of Lymphome.ch Patient Network Switzerland. The Swiss Cancer League thus recognizes Pfau's decades-long commitment to those affected by lymphoma, as well as her tireless efforts toward patient representation, education, and research.

"For nearly 25 years, Rosmarie Pfau has been advocating for people with cancer with empathy, perseverance, and foresight," said Mirjam Lämmle, CEO of the Swiss Cancer League, during the award ceremony in Lucerne. "She gives countless people knowledge, hope, and confidence and is considered the voice of those affected by lymphoma in Switzerland."

"It was a path I neither planned nor sought but which developed from a deep inner desire to better understand the disease and share my knowledge, to share my experiences with other lymphoma patients and give them a voice," said Rosmarie Pfau during the presentation.

From Personal Affectedness to Patient Organization

Rosmarie Pfau herself received a lymphoma diagnosis in 1999. From this personal experience, she founded the first discussion group for those affected by lymphoma and their relatives in Basel in 2001, from which the association Lymphome.ch emerged in 2005. Today, it is a central contact and information point for those affected and their relatives. To this day, Pfau personally accompanies one of the regional discussion groups and provides telephone counselling. Around World Lymphoma Day in September, Lymphome.ch organizes a one-day patient symposium in varying cities. Despite limited resources, she fights for the recognition and financial security of patient organizations.

National and International Influence

Her impact reaches far beyond Switzerland: As a long-standing board member and former vice-president of the international Lymphoma Coalition, she has strengthened the voice of patients worldwide. Additionally, she was a board member of the Cancer League of both Basel for 20 years, a co- founder and board member of EUPATI Switzerland, as well as a graduate in the first cohort of the Patient Expert Training of the European Patient’s Academy on Therapeutic Innovation, and has been involved for many years in national bodies such as the Patient Advisory Board of the Swiss Cancer Institute and the Swissmedic working group for patient and consumer organizations. She is also on the advisory board of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Zurich (CCCZ) and the Oncology Nursing Switzerland. As a founding member of the DACH Alliance for Skin Lymphomas, she is active on the steering committee of the International Coalition for Cutaneous Lymphomas (ICCL). She is a founding and board member of HOPOS, the umbrella organization of haematological-oncological patient organizations in Switzerland, and the patient umbrella organization Swiss Cancer Patient’s Alliance - SwissCAPA.

About the Cancer Medal

The Cancer Medal was designed in 1991 by artist Bernhard Luginbühl. It honours outstanding accomplishments in the fields of prevention, early detection, and combating cancer and its consequences. Past recipients include politicians such as former Federal Councillor Ruth Dreifuss or former State Councillor Hans Stöckli, researchers like emeritus Professor Thomas Cerny, and cancer patients like Michèle Bowley, who devoted her life to fostering an open approach to the taboo subject of death.

For more information about the Cancer Medal and all past recipients: www.krebsliga.ch/krebsmedaille

Contact
Media Office Swiss Cancer League
Effingerstrasse 40
CH-3001 Bern
T +41 31 389 93 31
media@krebsliga.ch
www.krebsliga.ch

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