Dr Cardoso earned her medical degree at the University of Porto in Portugal and completed fellowships in the Translational Research Unit of the Jules Bordet Institute (IJB) in Brussels, Belgium, and the Department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. She then worked for 10 years as Assistant Professor at the Medical Oncology Clinic of the IJB where, besides her clinical work, she was active in the Translational Research Unit and was responsible for phase II-III trials in breast cancer. She is board certified in medical oncology and internal medicine.
Dr Cardoso’s research interests include biology of breast cancer, prognostic and predictive markers of response to systemic therapy, and new anticancer agents.
She is actively involved in a number of phase I-III breast cancer clinical trials and served as the scientific director of the international research network TRANSBIG for 7 years (EU Framework VI).
Dr Cardoso is actively involved in numerous professional organizations such as ESMO, ECCO, EORTC, ASCO, and AACR where she serves on several committees, is a member of Board of Directors and Chair of the National Representatives Committee of ESMO, member of Board of Directors and chair of the EORTC-Breast Cancer Group, member of the ASCO International Affairs Committee and ASCO Breast Cancer Guideline Advisory Group. She is also the Breast Cancer Program Coordinator of the European School of Oncology and chair of the Advanced Breast Cancer International Consensus Guidelines Conference (ABC).
Dr Cardoso is editor-in-chief of The Breast Journal, associate editor of the European Journal of Cancer, and an editorial board member of several other journals.
She has received several educational and research grants from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the European Society of Medical Oncology, the European Cancer Organization, the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation, the Portuguese League Against Cancer, the Portuguese Ministry of Health, the Free University of Brussels, the "Fonds Jean-Claude Heuson", the Fondation Lambeau-Marteau, the Belgian Federation Against Cancer, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and the European Union Framework VI Programme.
She was awarded the prestigious Order of Santiago da Espada for Scientific Merit, from the President of Portugal, on June 10th 2015.
Dr Cardoso has authored over 230 publications and has presented her work nationally and internationally.