Speakers 2020

He is the Medical Director and consultant at the West Cancer Center, University of Tennessee, in Memphis, TN. He currently co-chairs the NCI Gastrointestinal Cancer Steering Committee after having served as chair of the Colon Cancer Task Force for 6 years. Dr. Grothey is a member of the NCCN Guidelines Committee for Colon, Rectal, and Anal Cancer and also a member of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) guidelines committee for colorectal cancer.

Prof. Toh Han Chong is the Deputy Medical Director and PI of the Laboratory of Cell Therapy and Cancer Vaccine at the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS), where he also practices as a Senior Consultant Medical Oncologist. Prof. Toh was appointed as an adjunct PI at Singapore Immunology Network in 2019, where his lab is a keystone of the collaborative effort to create synergies between clinical and scientific research initiatives in Singapore, with the objective of enabling new immunotherapeutic breakthroughs for patients with especially virally-driven cancers (VDCs) and solid tumors in general.

Prof. Pierce Chow is a senior consultant and Co-Director (Surgical) of the Comprehensive Liver Cancer Clinic at the National Cancer Centre Singapore, Senior Consultant Surgeon in HPB and Transplant Surgery at the Singapore General Hospital and Professor and Course Director at Duke-NUS Medical School Singapore. In addition to managing a busy HPB surgical oncology service, Prof. Chow has researched extensively on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). He leads collaborative research on the genomic heterogeneity of HCC and applications in precision medicine.

Dr. Iain Tan is a Senior Consultant Medical Oncologist, leading the colorectal cancer service in the GI Oncology Team at the Department of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore. Dr Iain Tan, a clinician-scientist at A*STAR’s Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), was awarded the prestigious Singapore Youth Award 2014. Dr Tan has been recognized for his contributions as a consultant oncologist at the National Cancer Singapore (NCCS) and research scientist at GIS, and for his efforts to cultivate an environment conducive for translational research. Dr Tan’s research focuses on new ways in the early detection and diagnosis of colorectal cancer.

Dr. Thomas Yau serves as Clinical Associate Professor in Medical Oncology. His main research interests are gastrointestinal oncology, early phase clinical trials and translational research. He pioneered Hong Kong Liver Cancer classification and is one of the global pioneers in a drug development program in hepatocellular carcinoma. He had published more than 100 peer-review publications with articles in various leading oncology journals.

Dr. Umar's main scientific interest is to understand the molecular pathways during gastrointestinal carcinogenesis and applying molecularly targeted and immunologic interventions to prevent cancer. His research contributions are in deciphering the biochemical defects in Lynch syndrome (Hereditary Non-Polyposis Colorectal Cancer or HNPCC) and later published testing guidelines for HNPCC. As a Program Director, he oversees a wide variety of grants and contracts focusing on cancer prevention translational research, cancer screening, and clinical trials.

Mediclinic City Hospital Dr. Shaheenah Dawood's specialty is Oncology and currently works as a Consultant Oncologist in Mediclinic City Hospital. She currently serves as president of the Excellence in Oncology Care (EIOC) congress that is held annually in Dubai and is Co-Chair of the Asia Pacific Breast Cancer Summit (APBCS) & APGCS.

Dr. Ghassan Abou-Alfa is an oncologist in New York, NY and is affiliated with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Abou-Alfa specializes in hepatocellular carcinoma, fibrolamellar carcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma, and gallbladder cancer. Dr. Abou-Alfa is the President for the International Society of Gastrointestinal Oncology, immediate previous Chair of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Hepatobiliary Task Force, and member of the NCI AIDS Malignancy Consortium Steering Committee.

Professor Shailesh V. Shrikhande is a Gastrointestinal Cancer Surgeon from Mumbai, India. He has over two decades of experience with special interest in Pancreatic Cancer surgery.He is the Deputy Director of Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai and also the Head of Division Cancer Surgery and Chief of GI and HPB Surgery. He is the President of the Indian Chapter of IHPBA 2019 – 2021 and Scientific Committee Chair of IHPBA 2019-2021.

Prof. Joon Oh Park is an associate Professor Division of Hematology-Oncology in the Department of Medicine at Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Dr. Shiu is a Consultant in the Gastrointestinal Oncology Unit at University College London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Honorary Associate Professor at the UCL Cancer Institute. His research interests include immunotherapy for GI malignancies and Cancer of Unknown Primary, as well as the development of novel cancer clinical trial designs. He is the Principal Investigator of the UCL/UCLH Gastrointestinal Cancer Translational Research Biobank and member of ASCO, ESMO and the Chair of the Association of Cancer Physicians New Consultant Group.

Dr. Dung Le, M.D. is an associate professor of oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and member of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. Her research interests include novel approaches to patients with gastrointestinal malignancies. She has served as the principal investigator (PI) on many clinical trials focused on testing immunotherapy in patients with gastrointestinal malignancies and she has also served as the national PI on several studies.

Dr. Chiun Hsu is Deputy Director at Department of Oncology, National Taiwan University Hospital. Dr. Hsu’s major research interest is clinical and translational research of new drug development for hepatobiliary cancers, and hepatitis B reactivation in cancer patients. He serves as a council member of the Asia-Pacific Primary Liver Cancer Expert (APPLE) meeting and a member of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Faculty, gastro-intestinal tumour group. Specialties: Oncology, clinical trial, hepato-biliary cancers.

Dr. Eileen is medical oncologist whose research and clinical activities focus on treating pancreatic and hepatobiliary cancers. Dr. Eileen’s research initiatives include integrating molecular and genetic-based therapies into the treatment of pancreas cancer, developing adjuvant and neoadjuvant therapies, and identifying biomarkers that may be used to select therapy. Dr. Eileen is the principal investigator of multiple phase I, II, and III pancreatic cancer clinical trials and have authored and co-authored more than 250 articles, editorials, and book chapters.

Sun Young Rha is a professor of Medical Oncology in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Yonsei University College of Medicine. She is also the vice president of Songdang Institute for Cancer Research, Yonsei University College of Medicine, and the director of the Human Research Protection Center, Severance Hospital of the Yonsei University Health System in Seoul, Korea. Professor Rha is a clinical and translational researcher, mainly in the areas of gastric cancer, GU cancer (renal cell and bladder carcinoma) and sarcoma. Her research interests include therapeutic strategies and new drug development, genomics-based biomarker development and drug screening, and pharmacogenomics. She is also a key member of the Cancer Therapeutics Research Group (CTRG), the Asia Pacific cancer study organization in gastric cancer division and early drug development, and the Federation of Asian Clinical Oncology (FACO).

Dr. Yoo specializes in the care of patients with gastrointestinal cancers, particularly, pancreatic cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma and neuroendocrine tumors. Dr. Yoo has participated in multiple clinical trials and translational research for the development of novel agents for patients with these cancers, and have authored and co-authored more than 80 research articles. Dr. Yoo’s research initiatives include the integration of novel targeted and immune-based therapy into the treatment of hepatobiliary-pancreas cancers, and neuroendocrine tumors.

Dr. Kong Hwai Loong is a medical oncologist with the Icon Cancer Centre. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at National University of Singapore (NUS) and a visiting specialist in medical oncology at the National University Healthcare System (NUHS). Dr. Kong was previously the Executive Director of the Biomedical Research Council (BMRC) of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). His research centred around anti-angiogenesis and gene therapy. He was the recipient of the Singapore Young Scientist Award, Singapore Youth Award and the National Day Award. He has lectured widely on cancer-related topics.

Dr. Nitesh Rohatgi is a senior consultant in Medical Oncology at Max Hospital in Saket, who was till recently working at the prestigious London Oncology Clinic (Leaders in Oncology care), Harley Street, London. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of medicine and has much publication to his name. He was trained in medical oncology, palliative medicine and teenage young adult’s cancers in United Kingdom. One of his key areas of interest is QOL “Quality of life” of cancer patients and the effects of chemotherapy on the same. He has also floated guidelines on various aspects of cancer care including anti-emesis, neutropenic sepsis, and management of anaphylaxis and recently on the role of Vitamin D deficiency in oncology.

Dr. Muhammad Azrif is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist at Prince Court Medical Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He served at the National University of Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC) as a Consultant Clinical Oncologist for 5 years before joining private practice. He has served on various national oncology committees, published in peer-reviewed journals, participated in clinical trials, cancer advisory boards and expert panels. He is the current Honorary President of the Malaysian Oncological Society.

Dr. Bhawna Sirohi started her oncology career at Tata Memorial centre (TMC), Mumbai in 1994 and completed training at Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, UK. She serves in Max Super specialty Hospital and is currently an honorary consultant with QMUL, London. At TMC in 2012-2014, she set up GI medical oncology &medical oncology information system (MOIS) for e-prescribing chemotherapy. She has been involved in initial setting up of cancer centres in Sangrur and Mohali, Punjab for TMC. She has piloted use of virtual consults using PROM & PREM in London.

Dr.Chee is a clinician-investigator and medical oncologist in gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary cancers in NCIS. 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 Programme Director for the NUHS Medical Oncology Senior Residency [Fellowship] Programme, 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.

Dr. Matthew NG is a medical oncologist with research interest in gastrointestinal cancers and experimental therapeutics. Currently he is the oncology lead for upper GI cancers and Deputy Director of the Investigational Medicine Unit at National Cancer Centre Singapore. His research interest is to develop novel therapeutic strategies for patients particularly in gastrointestinal cancers.

Dr. Choo Su Pin is a medical oncologist who specializes in gastrointestinal cancers including colorectal, upper gastrointestinal, pancreas, hepatobiliary, peritoneal, and anal cancers. Dr. Choo is the immediate past president of the Singapore Society of Oncology, a founding member of the SSO- Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium and a council member of the Chapter of Medical Oncology, Academy of Medicine, Singapore. She is currently an expert panel member of HCC Connect which develops educational programmes for healthcare professionals around the world in liver oncology.

Dr. Connie is Senior Consultant at National Cancer Centre Singapore. Her clinical interests include thoracic and gastrointestinal malignancies. Dr. Yip graduated from the University of Dundee and completed her medical training in Edinburgh. She obtained her Fellowship in Clinical Oncology from the Royal College of Radiologists and subsequently completed her PhD in Cancer Imaging at King’s College London.

Dr. Joe Yeong is the pioneer of automation of multiplex immunohistochemistry/immunofluorescent technique and has applied it to the field of immunopathology. His work on breast cancer, liver cancer and colorectal cancer are included in multiple NMRC funded studies, as well as pharma sponsored projects. He is an associate member of the British Royal College of Pathologist, United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology and the Singaporean Society for Immunology. His key vision is to bridge the gap between immunologists and pathologists to better harness the advances of immunotherapy.

Dr. Shona Nag is currently Director of Oncology at Sahayadri Group of Hospitals in Pune. She is known for her work in women’s health – especially breast cancer, cervical cancer & developmental theraputics. With over 27 years of practice, Dr. Shona Nag, who studied medicine in Pune’s BJ Medical College, followed by an oncology fellowship at Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai has been Principal Investigator for over 40 Phase I, II, III global clinical Trials in Breast cancer, Ovarian cancer, lung cancer, Renal cell carcinoma, colorectal cancer.

Dr.Tobias Arkenau is the founding Medical Director of Sarah Cannon Research Institute UK, and is currently serving as the Executive Medical Director for SCRI UK and Clinical Lead for the Hospital Corporation of America International Cancer Service Line. Dr. Arkenau has vast experience in Early Oncology Clinical Drug Development with a special interest in gastrointestinal cancer and melanoma.Dr Arkenau is appointed as a Professorial Research Associate on UCLs faculty and he holds an Honorary Consultant post with UCL Hospitals.

Dr. Ragnav serves a consultant at National University Health System, Singapore. His clinical interest is in gastrointestinal cancers. His research interest lies in early phase drug development, immunotherapy, DNA damage repair, and chemotherapy-induced neuropathy. He has published in high impact peer-reviewed journals including Cancer Discovery and Clinical Cancer Research and designs clinical trials for novel cancer drugs.

Dr. Sanjay Sharma is a surgical oncologist and Director of Oncology and Professor at the Asian Institute of Oncology. He has worked at the Tata Cancer hospital for over 27 years as professor and trained extensively at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre New York, Japan's Kurume University and Fukuoka University on surgery for cancer of the esophagus.