[3] The School was founded in 1982 by Umberto Veronesi, an Italian breast surgeon and Scientific Director of the National Cancer Institute of Milan.
[5][6] They included Michael Peckham, a UK-based radiotherapist and co-founder of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (now European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology),;[7] Herbert Pinedo, a leader in the emerging specialism of medical oncology, based in the Netherlands, and author of early editions of Cancer Chemotherapy;[8] Franco Cavalli, a Swiss haematologist and founding member of the European Society for Medical Oncology, Louis Denis, a urologist and founder member of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer genito-urinary group;[9] and Umberto Veronesi himself, an Italian breast surgeon, who had developed and trialled the quadrantectomy technique for breast conserving surgery [10] and initiated the first trials investigating the impact of adjuvant chemotherapy in operable breast cancer.
[4][5] The teaching faculty comprised most of the School's founders, and the course covered the principles of management of the main cancers from a multidisciplinary standpoint.
In its early years the School concentrated on post-graduate courses in medical oncology, which at that time was treated in most of Europe as a branch of internal medicine, rather than a specialism requiring its own curriculum and qualifications.
[18] In 2012 ESO launched a visiting professors programme, primarily to support clinical institutes in Eastern Europe and the Balkan Region.