Barbara Melosky, MD, FRCP(C)

Professor of Medicine, UBC
Medical Oncologist, BC Cancer
Vancouver, BC

Dr. Melosky is a Professor of Medicine at the University of British Columbia and a Medical Oncologist in Vancouver at BC Cancer. She graduated from medical school at the University of Manitoba and did a residency in internal medicine and an oncology fellowship at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Melosky specializes in the field of thoracic malignancy. She sits on the Executive Lung Site Committee for CCTG Canadian Clinical Trials Group.

Her main focus of clinical trials is on EGFR inhibitors; she is published in this area and is considered a national and international expert. Dr. Melosky has chaired the Canadian Lung Cancer Conference for the last 12 years, which is attended by over 350 participants. She chairs and organized the multi-disciplinary Lung Cancer Journal Club three times yearly. She is chair and created the British Columbia Lung Cancer Biobank.

She is also the chairperson of the Colorectal Screening Program of British Columbia and has a special interest in EGFR receptors and management of side effects.

Cheryl Ho, MD, FRCP(C)

Clinical Associate Professor
University of British Columbia
Medical Oncologist
British Columbia Cancer
Vancouver, BC

Cheryl Ho, MD is a medical oncologist at BC Cancer and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia. Her clinical practice focuses on thoracic and head & neck malignancies. Dr. Ho evaluates the impact of therapies proven in clinical trials in the real world through population-based analysis. Her current focus is on developing a learning health care system with a real-world data evidence-generation framework to inform healthcare decision-makers.

Randeep Sangha, MD, FRCPC

Associate Professor, University of Alberta
Medical Oncologist, Cross Cancer Institute
Director, Clinical Trials Unit, Cross Cancer Institute
Provincial Lead, Alberta Lung Cancer Program
Edmonton, AB

Randeep Sangha, MD, is an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta and a Medical Oncologist at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Dr. Sangha obtained his medical degree from the University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine, where he also completed his his residency in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology. He then pursued a post-training research fellowship at the University of California, Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, focusing on thoracic malignancies.

Dr. Sangha is the Director of the Clinical Trials Unit at the Cross Cancer Institute. He also has been the Provincial Lead for the Alberta Lung Cancer Program. His clinical and research interests include treatment of thoracic and hematologic malignancies, as well as developmental and molecular therapeutics.

Devin Schellenberg, MD, FRCS(C)

Clinical Associate Professor – UBC
Department Head, Radiation Oncology
BC Cancer – Surrey Centre

Dr. Devin Schellenberg completed medical school and Residency at the University of BC and University of Toronto.  He went onto a Fellowship at Stanford University and has been the Department Head of Radiation Oncology at the BC Cancer Surrey Centre for the past 4 years. He chairs the Lung Radiation Oncology working group with CCTG and is a founding member of CAPRI (Canadian Pulmonary Radiotherapy Investigators Group).

He has been a leader in BC Cancer’s Stereotactic Ablative Body Radiotherapy (SABR) programs and his current research efforts focus on how radiation can alter the course of metastatic disease and (outside of cancer) whether radiation is able to treat heart arrhythmias.

Dr. Mahmoud Abdelsalam, MD, PhD

Medical Oncologist, The Moncton Hospital, Moncton, NB
Professor, Department of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS
Professor of Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
Moncton, New Brunswick

Dr. Mahmoud Abdelsalam is a professor in the Department of Medicine at Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS. He joined the Moncton Hospital in September 2012 as a Medical Oncologist and has been the Former Head of the Hematology/Oncology Division, the former director of The Oncology Clinical Trial unit.

Dr. Abdelsalam was born in Cairo in 1966. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University in 1990. Mahmoud received his master’s degree in clinical Oncology in 1995 and completed his MD/PHD in 2000. During the period of 1990-present day: Mahmoud has been appointed in different positions in the Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University. He has been a faculty member in Kasr Al Eini Cancer Center, Cairo University and currently as a Professor of Clinical Oncology (June 2011-Present). In 2002, Mahmoud was awarded a Diploma in Cancer prevention and Molecular Prevention from the NCI, Bethesda, Maryland, USA in addition to conducting a training period at the Navy Hospital in Cancer Vaccination.
He was awarded a diploma in university teaching from UNB in 2022. He is an active participant in many clinical trials including the founder and the chair of the annual Immuno-Oncology conference for 7 years.

Dr. Houda Bahig, MDCM, PH.D.

Radiation Oncologist, CHUM, Montreal, QC
Director, Associate Professor, Department of Radiology, Radiation Oncology & Nuclear Medicine

Dr Bahig specializes in the treatment of head and neck cancers and lung cancers, with a special interest for the development of pragmatic clinical trials evaluating new technological approaches to individualize radiotherapy. She also works on the development of algorithms using artificial intelligence to predict the response and side effects of head and neck and thoracic radiotherapy. 

Prof. Benjamin Besse, MD

Professor of Medical Oncology, University of Paris-Saclay
Director of Clinical Research, Gustave Roussy Institute

Prof. Benjamin Besse is Director of Clinical Research at the Gustave Roussy Institute and Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Paris-Saclay, France. As a medical oncologist, his research interests focus on the application of personalised therapeutic strategies based on molecular abnormalities, circulating biomarkers and early drug development in thoracic tumours. He has been included in Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers list since 2020. Prof. Besse is President Elect of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). He coordinates the French Network for Thymic Malignancies (RYTHMIC). Prof Besse has authored and co-authored more than 500 peer-reviewed articles.

Shannon Farley

Nurse Practitioner, William Osler Health System
Adjunct Lecturer, University of Toronto
Brampton, ON

Shannon graduated from the University of Toronto with a Master’s of Acute Adult Nurse Practitioner. Shannon is currently a Nurse Practitioner at William Olser, responsible for the in-patient oncology and transplant programs. She has collaborated in many initiatives; most recently, she was instrumental in establishing the first community-based bipecific T-cell engager program in Canada. Some of Shannon’s awards include the Seymour Schulich Graduate Student Award, the Toronto Star Nightingale Award, and the Chief’s Award of Excellence.

Jonathan Greenland, MD, FRCP(C)

Radiation Oncologist, Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services
Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Paradise, NL

Jonathan Greenland Radiation Oncologist from Newfoundland and Labrador , having completed his residency training at the University of Western Ontario in 2000. He has been practicing in St John’s, NL since that time. His practice interests include thoracic and hematologic malignancies. He is leading the implementation of a Lung Cancer Screening program for Newfoundland and Labrador. He is also a member of the provincial palliative radiation oncology site group and is an oncology lead for Medical Assistance in Dying. He is a previous Division Chief of Radiation Oncology and is a past president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association. He lives in Paradise, NL, with his wife and three sons, and is an avid sailor and gardener.

Salma Jabbour, MD, FASTRO

Professor, Vice Chair of Clinical Research and Faculty Development
Department of Radiation Oncology
Associate Director, Faculty Affairs and Development
Rutgers Cancer Institute

Dr. Salma Jabbour is Professor and Vice Chair of Clinical Research and Faculty Development in the Department of Radiation Oncology and the Associate Director of Faculty Affairs and Development the Rutgers Cancer Institute. She is an internationally recognized expert thoracic and gastrointestinal malignancies through her work in pioneering clinical trials and practice guidelines.

She completed undergraduate at the University of Virginia as an Echols Scholar and medical school at the University of Maryland and radiation oncology residency at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, serving as chief resident. At Rutgers, she is Chief of Thoracic and GI Radiation Oncology and founded the radiation oncology radiopharmaceutical program and Rutgers Radiation Oncology Clinical Trials Program. She leads the ETCTN grant at Rutgers, the first radiation oncologist to serve as the contact PI for this grant nationally.

Dr. Jabbour is an NIH funded investigator with over 250 scientific articles. She is the Principal Investigator for institutional, national and international clinical trials in thoracic malignancies. Dr. Jabbour serves in multiple leadership capacities in ASTRO (EContouring Subcommittee Chair and former ASTRO Annual Meeting Scientific Committee GI Track Chair) and a member of ASTRO Blue Ribbon Lung Panel and led multiple key question topics for ASTRO Practice Guidelines (small cell lung cancer, NSCLC oligometastastic disease, and gastric cancer). She was selected as Fellow of ASTRO. She previously chaired the American Radium Society Appropriate Use Criteria GI Committee. She served previously as the Senior Editor for the GI section of International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics and was also Deputy Editor of the IJROBP. She also participates in the Big Ten Cancer Research Consortium and is Chair of the Scientific Review Board at the Rutgers Cancer Institute.

Corey J. Langer, MD, FACP

Clinical Director of Thoracic Oncology, Abramson Cancer Center
Professor of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA

Corey J. Langer is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, where he serves as Clinical Director of Thoracic Oncology in the Abramson Cancer Center. Professor Langer received his medical degree from Boston University in 1981 and completed his residency in medicine at the Graduate Hospital, University of Pennsylvania, and his hematology/oncology fellowship at Presbyterian University of Pennsylvania and Fox Chase Cancer Center in 1987.

Professor Langer served in the Oncology division of Fox Chase Cancer Center from 1986–2008, leading its Thoracic Oncology Program from 1994–2008. He moved to the University of Pennsylvania in 2008, where he currently leads clinical research efforts in thoracic malignancy as part of the Interdisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Program (I-TOP) and conducts research studies focused on the role of targeted therapy and immunotherapy in NSCLC. He also co-directs the Thoracic Translational Center of Excellence, where he concentrates on the clinical end of bench to bedside projects.

Professor Langer is Co-Chair of the Medical Oncology Committee for NRG Cooperative Oncology Group and serves on the core thoracic committees of both NRG and ECOG. Professor Langer is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO), and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). Since 2016, he has been Editor-in-Chief of the International Lung Cancer News (ILCN) under the aegis of the IASLC.

For the past 34 years, since completing his fellowship, Professor Langer has led or co-led over 150 clinical trials in both small cell (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), as well as mesothelioma and head and neck cancer. Professor Langer has contributed numerous articles and abstracts to the medical literature and is the author or co-author of over 270 peer-reviewed papers.

Geoffrey Liu, MD

Professor, Department of Medicine
Staff Medical Oncologist, Ontario Cancer Institute–Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
Clinician-Scientist, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
Toronto, ON

Dr. Liu graduated sum laude from the University of Toronto medicine program, followed by residencies at the University of Toronto and a fellowship at the Dana Farber Harvard Cancer Center in Boston. He was Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School before returning in 2006 to the Ontario Cancer Institute–Princess Margaret Hospital. Dr. Liu’s major research focus is on molecular prognostic factors and pharmacogenomics of lung and esophageal cancer, with additional interest in head and neck, pancreatic, ovarian and testicular cancers, mesothelioma and thymoma. Trained in clinical and molecular epidemiology, he is the principal investigator of over two dozen completed, ongoing and upcoming cancer pharmacogenomic and molecular epidemiologic analyses of cancer observational studies and clinical trials funded by the National Cancer Institute (US), National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group, Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute, the Canadian Institute of Health Research, the Ontario Institute of Cancer Research, Cancer Care Ontario, Doris Duke Foundation and the Lung Cancer Foundation of America. He has research interests in epidemiological outcomes database methods, novel analyses of high-dimensional biologically rich data, pharmacogenomic analyses of conventional and molecularly targeted agents using primary human xenograft models, patient-reported outcomes in pharmacogenomics, and knowledge translation of personalized medicine and pharmacogenomic algorithms into clinical practice.

Tim Nguyen, MD, MHPE

Assistant Professor, Western University
Radiation Oncologist, London Health Sciences Centre
Radiation Oncology Residency Program Director

Dr. Tim Nguyen is a Radiation Oncologist at London Health Sciences Centre who treats patients with CNS malignancies, GI malignancies, and metastatic disease. He completed his residency training at Western University followed by a CNS fellowship at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre with a focus on brain metastases and spine stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). His research interests are centered on furthering the application of SBRT and stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for metastatic cancer. As lead author of the ARREST phase I trial—the first to test SBRT in widespread polymetastatic disease—he demonstrated the feasibility and safety of this potentially paradigm-shifting strategy, directly informing the ongoing randomized ARREST-2 phase II/III trial for which is the principal investigator. Internationally recognized for his leadership in SABR for bone metastases, Dr. Nguyen has authored multiple guideline publications for the International Stereotactic Radiosurgery Society and co-chairs SC.29, a Canadian Clinical Trials Group phase III trial evaluating SABR for pain relief in bone metastases. He maintains a busy practice treating a high a volume of patients with brain metastases and was a member of the recent CCO taskforce that developed provincial guidelines for the management of intracranial radiation necrosis.

Prof. Matthijs Oudkerk, MD, PhD

Professor Emeritus of Radiology, University of Groningen
Chief Scientific Officer, Research Institute for Diagnostic Accuracy (iDNA)
Groningen, The Netherlands

Oudkerk is Professor Emeritus of Radiology at the University of Groningen and Professor and Chief Scientific Officer of the Research Institute for Diagnostic Accuracy – iDNA (formerly of the Center of Medical Imaging NORTH EAST NETHERLANDS, NWO Research Center of Excellence). He is principal investigator of the 4-in-the-Lung Run Horizon 2020 study, the NELSON lung cancer detection study, and the ROBINSCA cardiovascular screening study.

Together with Claudia Henschke and David Yankelevitz, he co-initiated the AGILE consortium (2024), focusing on early detection of lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, and emphysema. Oudkerk is the founder and past president of the European Society of Cardiac Radiology and served as Chairman of Radiology at both DDHK Erasmus MC Rotterdam and the University Medical Center Groningen.

Prof. Oudkerk has a distinguished track record in the development and clinical implementation of new imaging modalities, artificial intelligence applications, and clinical decision-making algorithms. He is recognized as one of Europe’s most influential researchers in radiology (2019) and has secured prestigious research funding, including EU Horizon 2020, an ERC Advanced Grant, support from the Royal Academy of Sciences of the Netherlands (KNAW), the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (MOST), NWO, KWF, NKB, among others.

He holds honorary memberships from the European Society of Cardiac Radiology (2011), Dutch Society of Cardiovascular Radiology (2016), and Chinese Society of Radiology (2022), among others. His awards include the Pro Bono Curantium (Polish Academy of Sciences), the Pavlov Medal (Russian Academy of Sciences), and the Jim Mulshine Award from the United States Prevent Cancer Foundation (2023).

Prof. Oudkerk has published more than 674 peer-reviewed articles and has been cited over 44,000 times since 2020 (Scopus), with an H-index > 90. According to Google Scholar, he has authored 1,114 publications, received over 128,931 citations, and holds an H-index > 108. His key publications appear in top-tier journals such as Nature, NEJM, The Lancet, Thorax, Circulation, JACC, JAMA, European Heart Journal, Radiology, Lancet Oncology, and European Radiology.

Dr. David Palma, MD, PhD

Professor, Western University
Radiation Oncologist, London Health Sciences Centre
London, Canada

Dr. David Palma, MD, PhD is a Professor and Radiation Oncologist at Western University in London, Canada.  He holds an MD from the University of Western Ontario, a Master’s Degree in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health, and a PhD from the VU University in Amsterdam. He has led several international randomized trials in radiation oncology, and he is the chair of the Canadian Pulmonary Radiotherapy Investigators (CAPRI) group. He is the author of the bestselling book Taking Charge of Cancer: What You Need to Know to Get the Best Treatment.

René Horsleben Petersen MD PHD

Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet
Copenhagen, Denmark

Professor René Horsleben Petersen is a Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet. He holds a PhD with specialization in Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery (VATS) and a bachelor’s degree in health care administration. His primary research focuses include minimally invasive lung surgery, segmentectomy, education and simulation in VATS, and Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS). He is also actively engaged in research on lung cancer screening and Single Port Robotic Thymectomy.

Professor Petersen regularly teaches at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen, and he has supervised numerous master’s and PhD students. A global leader in the field of thoracic surgery, he has led clinical immersions at his center for over a decade, with participation from international clinics, and has proctored many thoracic surgeons in performing VATS Lobectomy using a Standardized Anterior Approach.

He has delivered numerous lectures, educational seminars, and live surgical demonstrations at international conferences, particularly focusing on VATS lobectomy and segmentectomy. His academic output includes over 180 publications in international peer-reviewed journals. In addition to his clinical and research work, Professor Petersen serves as Director of the Annual Meeting for the European Society of Thoracic Surgery (ESTS).

Cecilia Pompili, MD, FACS, PhD

Associate Professor, Psychosocial Oncology, Hull York Medical School, University of Hull
Visiting Associate Professor, University of Leeds
Thoracic Surgeon, United Kingdom

Dr. Cecilia Pompili is a Thoracic Surgeon and Associate Professor in Psychosocial Oncology at the Hull York Medical School, University of Hull, and Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Leeds. She completed her medical degree and thoracic surgical training in Italy and obtained her PhD at the University of Leeds, focusing on the use of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) in thoracic surgery to improve recovery and quality of life assessment.

Dr. Pompili’s research integrates PROMs and psychosocial outcomes into thoracic oncology to enhance patient-centred decision-making and long-term survivorship. She is Principal Investigator of the NEOREHAB trial, which evaluates prehabilitation and neoadjuvant rehabilitation to optimize outcomes after lung cancer surgery.
As Principal Investigator of the HER-LUNG UK study (HEaRing women’s voices through the LUNG cancer journey), she explores the experiences of young women with lung cancer, advocating for diversity and inclusion in thoracic surgical oncology research and practice. She has funded and now leads the ESTS Women in Thoracic Surgery (WGTS) Academy, promoting mentorship, leadership, and equity across Europe.

Dr. Pompili serves on the Board of Directors of the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS) and acts as EORTC Quality of Life Liaison for the Lung Cancer Group. She contributed to the update of the EORTC lung cancer module (LC29) and is currently involved in projects on patient-reported symptoms during immunotherapy. She is also a member of the steering committee of the British Thoracic Oncology Group (BTOG). She also contributed to the 2025 ERS/ESTS/ESTRO clinical guidelines on fitness for Lung Cancer radical treatment, supporting multidisciplinary, evidence-based, and patient-tailored approaches to care. Author of over 150 peer-reviewed publications, she is an active voice in advancing patient-centred innovation and global collaboration in thoracic oncology.

Noemí Reguart, MD, PhD

Professor, University of Barcelona
Lead, Thoracic Oncology Unit
Hospital Clínic Barcelona

Prof. Reguart’s clinical and research focus is on translational genomics and targeted therapies in lung cancer, with a strong emphasis on patient-centered approaches to personalized medicine, clinical trial design, and biomarker-driven treatment strategies. Her work encompasses genomic driver-targeted therapies, immunotherapies, and combination treatment approaches in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

She has authored over 100 scientific publications in the field of thoracic oncology and is actively involved in advancing biomarker discovery and predictors of response.

Prof. Reguart is Chair of the EORTC Lung Cancer Group for Small Cell Lung Cancer and is an active member of the Spanish Lung Cancer Group, the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC).

Isabelle Schmitt-Opitz

Professor Ordinaria – University of Zurich
Director, Department of Thoracic Surgery
Chair, Lung Cancer Center
Board Member, Robotic and Transplant Center
University Hospital Zurich – Switzerland

Professor Isabelle Opitz is the Director of the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Chair of the Lung Cancer Center, and a Board Member of the Robotic and Transplant Center at University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. She holds the position of Professor Ordinaria of Thoracic Surgery at the University of Zurich. Her clinical expertise includes the surgical treatment of lung cancer, pleural mesothelioma, chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, and lung transplantation.

She has received numerous national and international awards for her research and has secured over €13.9 million in grants for her own projects. In 2023, she was honored with the Tudor Edwards Lecture Award from the SCTS, and in 2022, she received the Robert J. Ginsberg Lectureship Award for Surgery from the IASLC. Professor Opitz has authored more than 300 publications, including 175 original articles as first or last author, alongside numerous reviews and book chapters.

She is a Past President and Past Treasurer of the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS), where she continues to contribute as a member of the Robotic Working Group, organizing the newly established ESTS Robotic Academy. She also chairs the Clinical Trial Working Group and leads the Thoracic European Surgical Trials (TEST) Clinical Trials Platform. Additionally, she served as International Director of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (2022–2025) and remains active on their Thoracic Education Committee and the Thoracic Clinical Practice Standards Committee.

Lisa Shirt

Clinical Nurse Specialist, Tom Baker Cancer Center
Palliative Consult Team, Head and Neck Tumor Group
Specialist in Early Palliative Care, Alberta Health Services
Calgary, Alberta

Lisa has been a registered nurse for over 30 years. She spent the first 20 years of her career working with oncology patients in various roles both at the BC Cancer Center in Vancouver and then the Tom Baker Cancer Center in Calgary. In 2009, she completed her Masters of Nursing at the University of Calgary and then started a new role as a Clinical Nurse Specialist with the Head and Neck Tumor group at the Tom Baker Cancer Center. Since 2013, Lisa has had the privilege to work with the palliative consult team as a Clinical Nurse Specialist supporting patients and families in the community. She has a passion for early palliative care. When she is not working, Lisa enjoys spending time outdoors especially in the mountains with her family.

Amy Wright, NP, PhD

Assistant Professor, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario

Dr. Amy Wright is a nurse practitioner and academic with a strong background in maternal and infant health. She holds a clinical role as a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at McMaster Children’s Hospital and is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto.

Her research focuses on the experiences of parents with young infants and toddlers, with a particular emphasis on Indigenous parenting and the importance of cultural safety in health care. Her recent work highlights how Indigenous mothers navigate health services to meet the needs of their infants and underscores the urgent need for cultural safety and trauma- and violence-informed care (TVIC) training across the health sector.

Dr. Wright also leads community-engaged projects that support Indigenous fathers caring for infants and explore the strengths and service needs of gender-diverse Indigenous parents. She is experienced in community-based research approaches and works in partnership with Indigenous communities to support their research priorities.