cadrg-tacpad (Speaker Bios)

I am a Surgical Oncologist with clinical and research training in pancreatic and hepatobiliary malignancy. In 2018, I joined Duke University as the Chief of Surgical Oncology, and the Chief of Surgery in the Duke Cancer Institute. Previously, I led the clinical and research efforts regarding pancreatic neoplasia within the Department of Surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and served as the Associate Director for Clinical Programs within the David Rubenstein Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research. I also held the Murray F. Brennan endowed Chair in Surgery. Over the previous ten years, I have been interested in the progression of pancreatic precursor lesions called intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMN). These cystic precursor lesions of the pancreas present an opportunity for to both study cancer progression, and potentially prevent the development of this lethal malignancy. My research has focused on biomarker development to identify high-risk IPMN as well as studies evaluating the cause of this disease process. I have successfully completed phase II and phase III clinical trials in patients with pancreatic cancer and IPMN, and am currently the PI of a first-in-human multi-center randomized chemoprevention trial for pancreatic cancer that is targeting patients with high-risk IPMN.

My laboratory includes both pre and postdoctoral trainees, and they play a critical role in the development of our pancreatic cancer prevention program.

Education
B.A. 1989
1989 Harvard University
M.D. 1993
1993 Dartmouth College, Geisel School of Medicine
Surgical Intern, SURGERY
1994 Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Surgical Resident, SURGERY
1999 Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Research Fellow
1997 Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Surgical Oncology Fellow, SURGERY
2003 Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Dr. Bansal completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at New York Medical College, New York. Subsequently, he served as the Chief Resident at New York Medical College, New York. Then he completed his Gastroenterology Fellowship from the University Hospital at Stony Brook, Long Island, New York. Currently, he is the Medical Director of Gastroenterology Cancers Prevention Clinic of the NCI-designated Kansas University Cancer Center and an Professor of Medicine in the Department of Gastroenterology at the University of Kansas Health System, Kansas City, KS. His overarching research interest is cancer prevention. He conducts research in the areas of inherited gastrointestinal cancer syndromes, Barrett’s esophagus and novel imaging techniques for detection of premalignant and malignant lesions in the gastrointestinal tract. He is the principal investigator on an NCI funded 14-center trial to test a novel combination of vaccines and IL-15 superagonist in patients with Lynch syndrome. He recently was funded to repurpose itraconazole for prevention of recurrent Barrett’s esophagus in a 5-center clinical trial. He has > 100 peer-reviewed publications and is a reviewer for multiple peer-reviewed journals.

Pratip is an imaging scientist and currently a professor in the Department of Cancer Systems Imaging at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer. He received his PhD degree in Chemistry at California Institute of Technology. He started his independent career at the Huntington Medical Research Institute and University of South California as an Assistant Professor. The focus of research in his laboratory is the development of real-time metabolic and molecular imaging applications by hyperpolarization. His laboratory is exploring novel ways to utilize Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to create more detailed metabolic and molecular imaging studies by employing hyperpolarized, non-radioactive carbon 13 (13C)-labeled compounds and silicon particles and nanoparticles to tag specific metabolic and biochemical structures and functions that are altered in cancer and neurodegeneration.

He enjoys close collaboration with physician/scientists, radiologists, oncologists, and basic cancer researchers to explore new opportunities and identify critical needs to ensure that imaging science advances alongside novel therapeutic approaches to improve the next generation of clinical care. He believes that imaging plays an important role in fundamental cancer research, optimization of new therapies and, ultimately, the quality of care and outcome for those touched by cancer.

His training strength is reflected by the diverse range of scientists mentored in his laboratory. He has advised 10 graduate students, 11 postdoctoral trainees and over 30 undergraduate trainees in his career so far. The trainees from his laboratory have gone on to develop scholarship and independent careers in next generations of parahydrogen polarizer and hyperpolarized metabolic imaging probes in the US, Europe, Australia, and Asia.
Pratip is an avid mountaineer and is currently in the process of climbing all the seven summits of the seven continents.

Shawn Demehri, MD, PhD, is the inaugural incumbent of the Arthur and Sandra Irving Endowed Chair in Cancer Immunology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Demehri received his undergraduate degree in Biology from Washington State University. He completed his medical degree (MD), PhD in Cell Biology in the laboratory of Dr. Raphael Kopan, and Dermatology residency training at Washington University in St. Louis. He conducted postdoctoral research in Immunology in the lab of Dr. Wayne Yokoyama at Washington University. Dr. Demehri is a physician-scientist performing basic science and translational research in cancer immunoprevention related to skin, breast, and other epithelial cancers. His laboratory in the Center for Cancer Immunology and Cutaneous Biology Research Center at MGH/HMS is focused on determining the immune system's role in maintaining normal tissue homeostasis and preventing the early stages of cancer development. Dr. Demehri is a recipient of several awards, including the American Academy of Dermatology Young Investigator Award, American Society for Clinical Investigation Young Physician-Scientist Award (currently a member of ASCI), NIH Director’s Early Independence Award, Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Medical Scientists, Breast Cancer Alliance Young Investigator Award, Kimmel Scholar Award, LEO Foundation Award, Gray Foundation Award, and MGH Research Scholar Award.

Dr. Lipkin is a physician-scientist who has published in Cell, Cell Stem Cell, Nature Biotechnology, NatureGenetics, Science, Genes and Development, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Journal of Clinical Investigation, among others. He is Vice Chair for Research, Weill-Cornell Department of Medicine. He is a member of the FDA Molecular and Clinical Genetics Panel, which reviews and votes on approval of new genetic tests in the US. He is Director of the Weill Cornell Medical College Adult and Cancer Genetics Clinic, where he practices as a Clinical Geneticist and supervises Genetic Counselors, and Director of the Program in Mendelian Genetics. He directs a research laboratory that uses massively parallel sequencing, computational biology, mouse models, cell culture and genomics to understand the contribution of genetics to, and mechanisms of, hereditary cancer genetic syndromes. He discovered and mechanistically characterized MLH3, a DNA mismatch repair gene colorectal polyposis and cancer predisposition gene. He has also identified or co-identified 6 B cell malignancy predisposition genes. His lab made important contributions to our understanding of cancer initiating cells and was also the first to model human cancer cells in immune competent mice. He currently leads the NCI CAP-IT Center for Cancer Immunoprevention and is developing precision prevention and precision targeted therapies for patients with DNA repair deficient cancers.

Eva Szabo, MD is the Chief of the Lung and Upper Aerodigestive Cancer Research Group in the Division of the Cancer Prevention at the US National Cancer Institute. She is the Director of the Cancer Prevention Clinical Trials Network (CP-CTNet), through which she designs and oversees early phase cancer prevention clinical trials funded by the NCI. Dr. Szabo also participates in clinical trials and standard-of care treatment of patients with lung cancer and thymic malignancies in the NCI Intramural Thoracic Malignancies Clinic and is an adjunct investigator in the NCI Thoracic Malignancies Branch. Her research centers on identifying effective agents for lung and head and neck cancer prevention, identifying intermediate endpoints for assessing efficacy in early phase cancer prevention clinical trials, and developing new clinical trial models for assessing efficacy of preventive interventions. She is a Senior Deputy Editor for Cancer Prevention Research, has participated in multiple committees and working groups for ASCO and AACR (including as a member of 2022 Annual Meeting Program Committee), has participated in FDA Oncologic Drug Review Committees, is a longstanding member of the US Department of Defense Lung Cancer Research Program Integration Panel, and is a member of the Cancer Research UK Prevention and Population Research Committee as well as co-chair of its Prevention and Population Expert Review Panel A.

Dr. Szabo received her B.S. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University and M.D. from Duke University. She completed her Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine at NYU-Bellevue and her Fellowship in Medical Oncology at the National Cancer Institute. She is ABIM board-certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/eva.szabo.1/bibliography/public/

Dr. Barbara Vanderhyden is a Distinguished University Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Ottawa, a Senior Scientist in the Cancer Therapeutics Program at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, and has held the inaugural Corinne Boyer Chair in Ovarian Cancer Research since 2000. Her research focuses on the mechanisms underlying risk factors for ovarian cancer and strategies to mitigate those risks. Her lab has also generated and characterized numerous transgenic and syngeneic models of ovarian cancer that have shed light on cancer susceptibility and tumor progression. These models are being used in preclinical trials for the evaluation of novel therapeutic approaches, including targeted and immune therapies. Her research is currently funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Cancer Research Society. Dr. Vanderhyden manages the Ottawa Ovarian Cancer Tissue Bank, serves on the Board of Directors of Ovarian Cancer Canada, is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and chairs the OvCAN Governing Council which oversees a national strategic research plan to advance novel treatments for ovarian cancer. She is actively involved in science outreach and teaches on a variety of topics, including ovarian function, cancer models, academic integrity and science communication.

Catherine J. Wu, M.D. is Professor of Medicine and Chief, Division of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapies at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston. A member of the National Academy of Medicine and the Association of American Physicians, she oversees an integrated program at DFCI of research and clinical activities that focuses on dissecting the basis of effective anti-tumor immunity. Her laboratory has implemented genomics-based approaches for target antigen discovery and for understanding the basis of therapeutic response and resistance.

Dr. Fan Zhang is an assistant professor at the Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy. He also holds affiliated positions at the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and the Department of Chemical Engineering at UF. Fan received his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. To extend his expertise in immuno-oncology and to expand the clinical impact of his research. He undertook postdoctoral training at the Clinical Research Division of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Dr. Zhang's current work focuses on developing nanoplatforms to direct immune cells as ‘living therapeutics’, through genetically programming cellular functions or molecularly targeting stimulatory/inhibitory pathways. To this end, his lab leverages dendrimer chemistry, cell engineering, and immunology to determine the fundamental principles that govern nanoparticle’s interaction with immune cells; and to elucidate how immune cell recruitment affects nanoparticle’s in vivo targeting behaviors. His current research is supported by NCI, NIGMS, and Ocala Royal Dame Cancer Foundation.