International speakers at Cancer Crosslinks
How can research help implement the next wave of precision oncology for patients? Meet the experts behind the research.
These leading international experts are part of the programme at Oslo Cancer Cluster Innovation Park, 17 January.
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Professor Naiyer Rizvi is an internationally recognized leader in the treatment of lung cancer and immunotherapy drug development. He is the director of both thoracic oncology and of immunotherapeutics for the division of haematology and oncology at Columbia University Medical Center, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, New York, USA.
Prior to joining Columbia University Medical Center, his clinical research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer played a significant role in the FDA approval path of a new class of immunotherapies, called immune checkpoint inhibitors, for melanoma and lung cancer.
Rizvi studies mechanisms of sensitivity and resistance to immunotherapy. Through genetic testing of tumours, he has been able to improve the understanding of why immune checkpoint inhibitors work in certain patients.
Rizvi is also studying why certain cancers do not respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors. This way we can find better ways to harness the immune system to attack cancer cells.
He oversees phase 1 immunotherapy research in solid tumours at Columbia University Medical Center and is conducting key clinical studies of novel immunotherapy drugs and immunotherapy combinations to help more patients in the fight against cancer.
Professor Naiyer Rizvi
During Cancer Crosslinks, Professor Rizvi will give the opening keynote speech titled: “Sensitivity and resistance to immuno-oncology: Biological insights and their translation into precision treatment”.
Dr. Aaron Goodman, MD, is a haematologist and medical oncologist specialized in treating a variety of blood cancers, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML), acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) and multiple myeloma. He holds a position as Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health in La Jolla, California.
Dr. Goodman performs stem cell transplants for cancer treatment. He also treats people with rare haematologic disorders using experimental therapeutics.
His research interests include immunotherapy and cellular therapy treatment for haematologic malignancies and identifying biomarkers for response to immunotherapy.
Dr. Aaron Goodman
During Cancer Crosslinks, Dr. Aaron Goodman will present and discuss the clinical aspects of tumour mutational burden and other tissue agnostic biomarkers for cancer immunotherapy.
Dr. Randy F. Sweis is an Assistant Professor in the haematology/oncology section at the University of Chicago. He works with cancer immunology, developmental therapeutics and biomarkers, with a clinical interest in phase 1 clinical trials and genitourinary malignancies. His laboratory research involves the identification and targeting of tumour-intrinsic immunotherapy resistance pathways.
Dr. Sweis is the recipient of numerous awards. In 2017, he was elected to co-lead TimIOs, an international project aimed at tackling tumor heterogeneity to enhance immunotherapy responses supported by the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC).
Dr. Randy F. Sweis
During Cancer Crosslinks, Dr. Randy F. Sweis presents his work on immunophenotypes: The T cell-inflamed tumour microenvironment as a biomarker and its clinical implications.
Dr. Marco Gerlinger is a clinician scientist at the Center for Evolution and Cancer at the Institute of Cancer Research in London. He develops novel techniques to detect and track intra-tumour heterogeneity in solid tumours to define evolutionary plasticity and common evolutionary trajectories in cancers.
Dr. Gerlinger uses genomics technologies for treatment personalization. He treats patients with gastrointestinal cancers at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.
One of the key aims of his work is to develop strategies to improve predictive and prognostic biomarker performance and the efficacy of drug therapy in heterogeneous cancers.
He contributes to The Darwin Cancer Blog– on mutational evolution of cancer.
Dr. Marco Gerlinger
During Cancer Crosslinks, Dr. Marco Gerlinger will share the latest insights into cancer evolution and discuss the limits of predictability in precision cancer medicine.
Professor Dr. med. Lars Bullinger is Professor of Hematology and Oncology and Medical Director of the Department of Hematology, Oncology and Tumor Immunology at Charité University Medicine Berlin.
He is a partner in the Innovative Medicines Initiative project HARMONY (Healthcare alliance for resourceful medicines offensive against neoplasms in haematology) aiming to use big data to deliver information that will help to improve the care of patients with haematologic cancers.
In this video from June, you get a preview of the subject he will talk about at Cancer Crosslinks:
During Cancer Crosslinks, Dr. Lars Bullinger will give an international keynote speech about haematological cancers, emerging treatment opportunities and the impact of big data.
James Peach is the Precision Medicine Lead at UK Medicines Discovery Catapult, Alderly Park, UK. Prior to this role, he was the Managing Director at the main programme for Genomics England from 2013 to 2017.
Peach is a precision medicine strategist and operational leader with investment, commercial and public sector experience across cancer, rare diseases, and genetics. James Peach gave the opening keynote at Cancer Crosslinks 2012 – at that time as the Director for Stratified Medicine at Cancer Research UK, London.
In this video James Peach explains the challenges with access to health data for drug discovery and how to overcome them:
During Cancer Crosslinks, James Peach will present his perspectives on the implementation of precision medicine in the UK and discuss the status, lessons learned and the way forward.
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