Meet the experts

Dr. Andrea Sartore-Bianchi is head of Clinical Molecular Oncology at the Department of Hematology & Oncology, Niguarda Cancer Center, Milano, Italy. He completed his medical degree at the University of Pavia in 1999, and undertook specialist training at IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo. After completing his doctoral studies, he conducted preclinical research at the Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Experimental Cancer Therapeutics in the Department of Medicine at Brown University, Rhode Island, USA.

Dr. Sartore-Bianchi’s main clinical and research interests include the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers, particularly colorectal carcinomas, focusing on biomarkers of sensitivity/resistance to molecular-targeted therapies and on the epidermal growth factor receptor signal transduction pathway. He is principal and co-investigator in Phase I-II-III clinical trials for gastrointestinal malignancies, and first author of research articles in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research and PLoS One. Currently, he is adjunct Professor for the School of Specialization in Oncology and Pharmacology at the University of Milano. He has been listed among the top 30 authors of primary research papers on cancer.

Dr. Thomas Winder is board certified for haematology and medical oncology. Since January 2020 he has been Head of the Department for Haematology and Oncology at the University Teaching Hospital Feldkirch, Austria. In addition, since 2017 he has been President of the Swiss Tumor Molecular Institute in Zürich Switzerland.
Dr. Winder’s research focuses on molecular markers to individualize medical treatment of cancer patients. He achieved his expertise in internationally renowned laboratories at University of Southern California, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles and University Hospital Zürich, Switzerland. His research activity has been honoured by several national and international awards and high impact publications.

Dr. Gerald Prager is an Associate Professor of Medicine, Board Certified for Internal Medicine Board and Certified for Haematology and Medical Oncology. In 2009, he received his M.D. from the University of Vienna. Currently, Dr. Prager is Director of the Colorectal Cancer Unit of the Department of Medical Oncology at the Medical University of Vienna. He is also a member of the ESMO 2014 Scientific Committee.
The research interest of his lab focuses on (tumour-) angiogenesis via regulation of endothelial cell survival and migration by cell / extracellular-matrix interaction. Through his clinical training in haemato-oncology, he became a member of the sought-after group of medical researches. He achieved his expertise in international renowned labs at University of California, San Diego, the Norris Cancer Center, Los Angeles and the Department of Vascular Biology, Mississippi University for Women (MUW). His work is honoured by 19 international awards and resulted in publications in international highly renowned journals. Dr Prager’s young research group is embedded in an international cancer research campus associated with Medical University of Vienna (MUV).

Dr. Juan Manuel O’Connor is currently Head of the Department of Gastrointestinal Tumors at Instituto Alexander Fleming, a position he has held since 2015. He is Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the School of Medicine of the Instituto Universitario CEMIC, Buenos Aires. He is a founding member of the Argentine Group of Neuroendocrine Tumors (ARGENTUM), created in 2005. Dr. O´Connor is a member of the Argentinian Intergroup of Gastrointestinal Tumors (IATTGI), and also of the recently created Latin American Society for Gastrointestinal Tumors, chaired by Dr. Jorge Gallardo. He has been a member of the Advisory Board of the European Society of Neuroendocrine Tumors, ENETS since 2008, and an active member of ASCO since 2011. He finished his fellowship in Clinical Oncology in 2003, held at the Alexander Fleming Institute, affiliated to the University of Buenos Aires, rating with Cum Laude10/10. Dr. O´Connor has authored over 50 papers and chapters of books about gastrointestinal tumors. He received several international awards for his work in the area of ​​neuroendocrine tumors. He has participated in more than 200 national and international events as a speaker. Dr. O´Connor also served as a consultant to the National Cancer Institute in Argentina, and was involved in the development of the Clinical Practice Guidelines in Metastatic Colorectal Cancer in Argentina, in 2014.

Dr. Tanios Bekaii-Saab, M.D., is Medical Oncologist at Mayo Clinic. From 2002 Dr. Bekaii-Saab joined the faculty at The Ohio State University – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, where he is a tenured Professor of Medicine and Pharmacy, and section chief for the gastrointestinal cancer program. He is the chairman of the disease specific research group for the comprehensive cancer center. Dr. Bekaii-Saab earned his medical degree from the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, followed by residency in internal medicine at Indiana University Medical Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. He completed fellowships in clinical pharmacology and experimental therapeutics and hematology/oncology at Tufts University/New England Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Bekaii-Saab’s research interests include experimental therapeutics/translational research focused on gastrointestinal malignancies, molecular targeted and immune therapies. Dr. Bekaii-Saab is actively involved in professional societies including the American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Association for Cancer Research, American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and the Alliance cooperative group.

Since 2012 Dr. Armin Gerger is professor at the Medial University in Graz, Austria. He works as a clinical oncologist and coordinates the Subcentre for Gastrointestinal Neoplasia at the Comprehensive Cancer Centre, Graz. He leads the Pharmacogenetics Research Unit, at the Division of Clinical Oncology of the Medical University of Graz, and the Area “Cancer” of the Centre for Biomarker Research in Medicine (CBmed). Dr. Gerger’s research focuses on prognostic and predictive genetic biomarkers in gastrointestinal cancer, which he developed further as a research fellow at the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Centre of the University of Southern California. Dr. Gerger’s research activity is mirrored in several papers in high-ranked scientific journals and significant extramural funding.

Dr. Victor Hugo Fonseca de Jesus is a Medical Oncologist at A.C. Camargo Cancer Center, Sao Paulo, Brazil. He graduated from medical school in 2008 and completed his training as a Medical Oncologist in 2014. His main area of interest concerns the management of patients with gastrointestinal malignancies and he is currently involved in the field of clinical research in gastrointestinal oncology. In 2017, Dr. Fonseca received the board certification from the Brazilian Society of Medical Oncology. He is currently undergoing Master of Science (MSc) training in Oncology and he is an active member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO).

Dr. Yu Sunakawa is a medical oncologist at St. Marianna University, Japan and previously worked as an instructor at Showa University Northern Yokohama Hospital in Yokohama, Japan. He also completed postdoctoral research fellowship training at University of Southern California/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in United States. In 2011, Dr. Sunakawa received the board certification of the Japanese Society of Medical Oncology. Dr. Sunakawa’s research interests are the identification and determination of molecular markers in cancerous tissues or blood that could predict cancer risk and clinical outcome in gastrointestinal cancer. He is also focusing on research regarding tumour immunity and received a Merit Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology in 2014, for the research of genetic variations in immune checkpoint-related genes.

Dr. Guillem Argilés obtained his medical degree at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain. He later obtained his M.D., supervised by José Baselga M.D., in 2006 at the same institute. In 2010, he joined the Gastrointestinal Malignancies Division led by Josep Tabernero M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Argilés currently works in the Gastrointestinal Malignancies and Developmental Therapeutics Divisions of the same institute, where his research is focused on chemorefractory colorectal cancer, personalized medicine, as well as the molecular biology of colorectal cancer.

Ass. Prof. Efrat Dotan is an Assistant Professor of Medical Oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center, in Philadelphia. She graduated from the Technion Institute of Technology Medical School in Israel and moved to the US to pursue her specialized training. She completed her residency at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, and her hematology/oncology fellowship at Fox Chase Cancer Center. Ass. Prof. Dotan specializes in the management of patients with gastrointestinal malignancies, specifically pancreatic cancer. Her research interest is in development of new treatment options for patients with gastrointestinal cancers. She is the PI for multiple clinical trials in this arena. Ass. Prof. Dotan is a member of the Gastrointestinal Malignancies Committee of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) and serves as the PI for multiple studies. She also serves as a member of the Pancreatic Cancer Guideline Panel for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). Dr. Dotan’s other interest is in the management of older patients with cancer, and tools to improve the care of this patient population. She has led multiple research projects evaluating the care of older patients with gastrointestinal malignancies. She is a senior member of the Cancer and Aging Research Group, and the chair of the Older Adult Oncology Guidelines for NCCN.

Hans Prenen obtained his medical degree and PhD at the Catholic University Leuven. He is currently the head of the Medical Oncology Department at the University Hospital Antwerp and director of the Oncology Clinical Trial Unit. He is member of several scientific organisations including the Belgian Society of Medical Oncology (board member since 2015) and the European Society of Medical oncology (scientific committee). He is a recognised international expert in the field of cancer and is regularly invited to national and international meetings and has published more than 160 peer reviewed scientific papers.

He is principal investigator of several clinical trials with a focus on phase 1 and basket trials.

His research interests relate to translational studies on targeted therapies, new anticancer therapies and understanding the molecular changes induced by anticancer therapy.

Sebastian Stintzing (M.D.), Professor of Medicine, is Head of the Division of Oncology and Haematology, Department of Medicine (CCM), Charité Universitaetsmedizin Berlin. His research focuses on predictive and prognostic biomarkers in the treatment of GI cancer with a special focus on colorectal cancer. From 2012 to 2014, he was a research fellow at the Sharon Carpenter Laboratory at the University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, U.S.A. He coordinated the translational part and assisted the clinical study conduct of several studies and earned his Postdoctoral Lecture Qualification with a thesis on prognostic and predictive factors in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. In 2012, he received the prestigious Research Fellowship Award from the German Cancer Aid in Germany and started work at the University of Southern California. Dr. Stintzing is member of national and international cancer associations and speaker of the steering committee of the working group Colorectal Carcinoma of the German AIO.

Dr. Joleen Hubbard is an Assistant Professor of Medical Oncology at Mayo Clinic. She completed medical school and residency at the University of Minnesota, U.S., and hematology/oncology training at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, U.S. Dr. Hubbard specialises in the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers, focusing on colorectal cancer. Dr. Hubbard is the PI of several phase I clinical trials, investigating novel agents for gastrointestinal cancers. Her research interests also include geriatric oncology with a special interest in clinical and biologic markers of frailty. She serves as a member of the Cancer in the Elderly, as well as the Health Reported Outcomes and Translational Research committees for the North American Alliance of Clinical Trials in Oncology Network. Dr. Hubbard is the chair of the Gastrointestinal Tumor Group Practice at Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minnesota, U.S.

Prof. Jian Li is Vice Director in the GI Department of Oncology at Peking University Cancer Hospital in China. He received his medical training at Shanghai Medical University and Peking University. He was a visiting scholar at the University of Pittsburgh, USA, throughout 2014. Prof. Li’s special interests are palliative chemotherapy and target therapy of metastatic colorectal cancer, comprehensive treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer, target therapy of gastrointestinal stromal tumor and diagnosis and therapy of digestive endoscope.

Prof. Dr. Dominik Modest studied medicine at the Charité in Berlin, Germany and at the University of Bern, Switzerland. Currently, after 10 years at the LMU in Munich, Germany, he is a physician at the Charité Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, Germany. His research activities focus on metastatic colorectal cancer and include the concept and coordination of trials for the FIRE study group and the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Internistische Onkologie (AIO). Prof. Dr. Modest also coordinates the translational research components of these trials, aiming to identify prognostic and predictive biomarkers of metastatic colorectal cancer. His research has been published in several papers in scientific journals. In 2015, he received a postdoctoral qualification on factors for personalisation of metastatic colorectal cancer therapy and a full professorship in 2020.  Prof. Dr. Modest is an active member of several national and international cancer associations and served as spokesman for the Young Medical Oncologists of the AIO until 2014.

Dr. Alan Burguete-Torres M.D. is a dedicated gastrointestinal oncologist and Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Nuevo Leon in Monterrey, Mexico. He earned his medical degree and completed a 4-year Internal Medicine fellowship at Tecnológico de Monterrey and later completed a 3-year fellowship in Medical Oncology at the University of Nuevo Leon. He later attended University of Valencia – INCLIVA Biomedical Research Institute for a short-term fellowship in gastrointestinal oncology under the mentorship of Prof. Andrés Cervantes in Valencia, Spain. He is currently Head of the Gastrointestinal Tumors Unit at the University of Nuevo León Cancer Center and actively participates and coordinates GI oncology MDT meetings at both private and public institutions. Currently, Dr. Burguete-Torres has his private practice in gastrointestinal oncology at ONCARE Cancer Center and Centro Médico Zambrano Hellion – Tecnológico de Monterrey. He is also member of the European Society of Digestive Oncology (ESDO), European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO), American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and Mexican Society of Oncology (SMEO). His main research interest is in colorectal and gastroesophageal cancers.

Dr. Gong Chen is Chief Surgeon and Vice Director in the Department of Colorectal Surgery at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center in China. He is Vice General Secretary of the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology and Director for the colorectal branch of the Guangdong Anticancer Association. He was a member of the Colorectal Track of the Committee of Scientific Program for ASCO from 2015 to 2017. Dr. Chen was also Past Director of the CSCO (Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology) Young Committee. He is a member of Beijing CSCO Funding of Clinical Study and a member of the panel for the Expert Committee of GIST, GI NETs and Colorectal Cancer of CSCO. In addition, he is member of the Standing Committee of the Colorectal Surgeon Branch for the Chinese Association of Doctors, and a member of ESMO and ASCO. Dr. Chen is Editor of the Chinese version of Colorectal Cancer, Annals of Oncology and for the Chinese version of New England Journal of Medicine. He was a Visiting Scholar at Adelaide University Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Australia. His clinical interests are focused on surgical and comprehensive treatment for colorectal cancer, particularly conversion therapy for CRCLM, TNT for low-lying rectal cancer, CRS+HIPEC for peritoneal carcinomatosis and neoadjuvant immunotherapy for MSI-H colorectal cancer. He has been a co-investigator for several international multicentre randomised clinical trials, including MASCOT, AVANT, LanGIST, GRID, and ASCOLT. Dr. Chen has been first author or corresponding author for more than 30 publications in international and Chinese medical journals.

Dr. Samuel J. Klempner is a GI medical oncologist with research and clinical focus on esophagogastric cancers and cancer genomics. Dr. Klempner completed his residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, followed by a combined hematology-oncology fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School. While at Harvard, Dr. Klempner studied the mechanisms of resistance to targeted therapies in tumor cells in the lab of Dr. Lewis Cantley, PhD. Dr. Klempner is board certified in medical oncology, hematology, and internal medicine. Prior to joining The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute Dr. Klempner served as an Assistant Clinical Professor in the division of Hematology-Oncology at the University of California Irvine. Dr. Klempner’s research interests include the intersection of genomics and immunotherapies, oncogene-driven tumors, acquired resistance, and experimental therapeutics. Dr. Klempner is involved in professional societies including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO).

Dr. Chiara Cremolini is a Medical Oncologist at Santa Chiara University Hospital in Pisa, Italy. Chiara completed her M.D. Degree in 2008, and gained an M.Sc. in Clinical Trials in 2011, and the Specialty in Medical Oncology in 2014 at the University of Pisa. She is mainly committed to the clinical management of patients affected by gastrointestinal malignancies and is involved in clinical and translational research projects in the field of colorectal oncology. She actively contributes to clinical trials by the cooperative Gruppo Oncologico Nord Ovest (GONO) group and is interested in the identification of molecular predictors of benefit from systemic treatments. Chiara is co-author of about 60 peer-reviewed papers and received merit awards at the following meetings: American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2010, 2012−2015; European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2011 and 2014; European CanCer Organisation (ECCO) 2013.

Dr. David Tougeron is a professor of gastroenterology at Poitiers University Hospital, France. His clinical interests focus on gastrointestinal cancers, in particular, colorectal cancer. Dr. Tougeron has participated in more than 40 clinical trials in digestive oncology and has co-authored more than 50 articles, editorials and book chapters. After a Ph.D. in immune response in colorectal cancer, Dr. Tougeron completed a postdoctoral position at the Mayo Clinic, U.S., in colorectal cancer chemosensitivity. His research is currently focussing on colorectal cancer, particularly colorectal cancer with microsatellite instability and predictive biomarkers of response to targeted therapies. He presently holds professional positions in different organisations, notably the Fédération Francophone de Cancérologie Digestive (FFCD).

Dr. Jenny Seligmann gained her MBChB and BMedSci at the University of Aberdeen in 2005 then gained her PhD in 2015 from the University of Leeds on Biomarkers of Prognosis and Prediction of Response in Colorectal Cancer. She was appointed a Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Fellow in 2015, then a University Academic Fellow and Consultant in Medical Oncology in Leeds in 2017. Her research interests are in clinical trials and biomarkers of prediction of response in colorectal cancer. She is involved in several ongoing clinical trials, including the FOCUS-4 trial and has an ongoing lab-based programme of research. She has been involved in several national and international committees, including the UK Colorectal Clinical Studies Group and is currently the EORTC GI Group Young Investigator. She has received several awards including an ASCO Merit Award in 2013.

Dr. Shubham Pant is a Hematologist-Oncologist and an Associate Professor of Medicine at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He previously served as the Director of Clinical Trials for the Section of Hematology-Oncology and Associate Director of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) Phase 1 program, for the Stephenson Cancer Center in Oklahoma City. Furthermore Dr. Pant was the Oncology Lead of the Clinical Research Disease Site Group for Gastrointestinal Cancers and Clinical Research Disease Site Group Chair for Hepatocellular Cancers at the same institute. Dr. Pant completed his fellowship from the Ohio State University, where he was elected Chief Fellow. He previously served as an elected member at large to the Board of Directors for Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB), was the Site Principal Investigator for CALGB and was a Member of the Board of Trustees for ACTION. Dr. Pant served on the Board of Oklahoma Society of Clinical Oncology. He is a participant in the ASCO Leadership Development Program, Class of 2015-16. His awards include the Golden Pillar Award for Outstanding Patient Service in 2012 and 2014, America’s Top Doctors by Castle Connolly and Oklahoma 40 Under 40 in the Oklahoma Magazine. In 2015, he anchored a health show on CNN-IBN India titled: ‘Let’s Talk Health’.

Dr. Cheng Ean Chee is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore. She completed medical school at University College London, United Kingdom and Internal Medicine Residency and Hematology-Oncology Fellowship at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA. Dr. Chee is a clinician-investigator and medical oncologist in gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary cancers at the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore. She is also involved in phase I drug development and is the principal investigator of several phase I and gastrointestinal cancer trials at her institution. As the Program Director for the NUHS Medical Oncology Senior Residency (Fellowship) Program, she is actively involved in the education of the Medical Oncology trainees and she also chairs the Colorectal Cancer Committee of the Singapore Cancer Society. She is an active member of ASCO and the Asian Colorectal Cancer Oncology Group.

Dr. Loredana Vecchione was awarded her medical degree in 2004, her degree as specialist in Medical Oncology in 2008 and her Ph.D from the Second University of Naples in 2012. She performed the last two years of her Ph.D program in Leuven, in Professor Tejpar’s group. After achieving the ESMO fellowship for Translational Research in 2012, she joined Professor Bernards’ group at the Netherlands Cancer Institute where she has been focusing on identifying vulnerabilities of BRAF-like CC. She recently joined the group of Prof Keilholz at the Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Charite in Berlin where she is investigating mechanisms of resistance to conventional treatments in BRAF-like CC and the role of certain genes in some of the CRC subtypes. Dr. Vecchione is an active member of ESMO. She is involved in the assignment of educational hours (ESMO CME points) to proposed activities. She has been Section Editor of Current Colorectal Cancer Reports since 2014 and Section Editor of Current Oncology Reports since 2015.

Dr. Heloisa Soares is a medical oncologist and an assistant professor at the Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at University of Utah. Dr. Soares received her medical degree at Faculdade de Medicine do ABC in Brazil, where she was born. She completed her residency training at the Mount Sinai Medical Center of Florida and her haematology-oncology fellowship training and PhD in molecular biology at UCLA. Dr. Soares has neuroendocrine tumors and gastrointestinal cancers as the major focus of her research and clinical activities. She serves as the co-physician leader in the GI Clinical Trials Research Group at HCI. In 2019, she was elected as a member of the board of directors for The North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (NANETS), where she is also a member of the guidelines and communications committees. Additionally, she is a member of the NCI NET taskforce and member of SWOG and NRG cooperative groups. In 2018, Dr. Soares was named one of 40 Under 40 in Cancer, an awards program identifying and recognizing the contributions being made across the field of oncology by individuals under the age of 40 years old by the he Lynx Group™ and McGivney Global Advisors. Dr. Soares is a passionate advocate for patients. You can follow her on twitter as @helops79.

Dr. Anelisa Coutinho received her medical training at the University of Bahia in Brazil. She is a Clinical Oncologist specialising in GI. Currently, she is Head of Gastrointestinal Oncology at the AMO Clinic in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Dr. Coutinho is Director of GTG (Brazilian GI Tumors Group) and is an ESMO Faculty Member for the GI Tumours Faculty Group. She is a member of ESMO, ASCO and ENETS and was previously Director of the Brazilian Society of Clinical Oncology.