Sylvia Bonvalot has specialized in surgery of sarcoma and complex tumors for around twenty years. After working as Chief resident in digestive surgery, she worked at Gustave Roussy from 1994 to 2015, before joining Institut Curie. She has treated over 4,000 patients suffering from sarcoma or complex tumors of the abdomen and soft tissues of the limbs.

She coordinates several international studies on this topic, and sits on the scientific boards of several French and European medical patient organizations or associations. She initiated the French university diploma, in collaboration with Cochin hospital, and for several years has organized a European course; both of these aew devoted to the treatment and surgery of sarcoma.

She is an active member of the French sarcoma group and of several European societies (including ESSO, ESMO and EORTC) whose goal is to improve the treatment of patients with sarcoma or rare mesenchymal tumors (desmoid tumors, angiomyxomas, etc.). She has standardized and published surgical sarcoma techniques and their results in international journals, and is the author of over 170 articles on the subject.

She is also Editor of the sarcoma section of the European Journal of Surgical Oncology (EJSO). She is a permanent member of the French national academy of surgery and of the European Surgical Association (its European equivalent).