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.

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.

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.

Mara B. Antonoff MD, FACS

Dr. Antonoff completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania and earned her medical degree at the University of Minnesota, where she also completed internship and residency in General Surgery. Dr. Antonoff completed a fellowship in Cardiothoracic Surgery at Washington University in St Louis. She joined MD Anderson in 2014, where she’s currently an Associate Professor of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and Program Director for Education. She is the Deputy Head of Education for Surgery, as well as the Chair of the GME Committee on Diversity and Disparities. Dr. Antonoff’s research interests include pulmonary metastatic disease, early detection of lung cancer, and local consolidative therapy for stage IV lung cancer. She leads a multi-institutional trial for lung-limited metastatic colorectal cancer, and she is the surgical lead for several trials evaluating the role of local consolidative therapy for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. She holds several leadership roles in the STS, including chair of the STS Career Development Workforce and its leadership Institute. She currently serves as the Vice President and President-Elect of the WTS. She further holds leadership roles within the AATS, the STSA, the AWS, IASLC, ESTS, and the TSDA, as well as Senior Editorial Board positions for Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Innovations, CTSNet, and Journal of Thoracic Disease. She is the proud mother of 4 children, aged 5 to 15.

Houda Bahig, MD PhD

Dr Bahig, MD PhD is a radiation oncologist and clinician scientist at the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal. She specializes in the treatment of lung and head and neck cancers, with a special interest for the development of pragmatic clinical trials evaluating new technological approaches to individualize radiotherapy, as well as treatment combinations with immunotherapy in oligometastatic disease.

Normand Blais, MD, MSc

Graduated from Sherbrooke University in 1990 (MD)
Residency at Sherbrooke and Montreal University – Internal med, Hematology and Medical Oncology
Sabbatical at McMaster University (MSc) in 2005 (Thrombosis in cancer)

Interests in lung cancer – clinical trials and correlative science.
Clinical research expertise in lung and bladder cancer.
Clinical and research interests in Cancer associated thrombosis.

Co-founder of the Groupe d’Études en Oncologie du Québec (www.geoq.com)
Chair of the thoracic oncology program of the CHUM Cancer center in Montreal.
Professor of Medicine, Université de Montréal
Current Chair, Association des médecins hématologues et oncologues du Québec.

B.C. John Cho, MD, PhD, FRCP(C)

Dr. John Cho received his M.D. from Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada in 1995. He completed his residency training in Radiation Oncology at University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada in 2000. He received his Ph.D for Radiotherapy Treatment of Left-sided Breast Cancer Patients from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 2004. He is a staff radiation oncologist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network and is an Associate Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto. Research interests include malignant pleural mesothelioma and high precision radiotherapy. He is one of the founders of the Mesothelioma Lung Clinic at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. He is a member of the CCTG Lung Disease Site Committee as well as the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Canadian Mesothelioma Foundation. He, along with his surgical colleague, Dr. Marc de Perrot, were investigators of the Surgery for Mesothelioma After Radiation Therapy (SMART) study evaluating short accelerated hemithoracic radiation followed by extra-pleural pneumonectomy as well as the SMARTER study. They are currently enrolling patients for the SMARTEST study.

Quincy Siu-Chung Chu, MD, FRCPC

I have been a medical oncologist at the Cross Cancer Institute since April 2005 with medical oncology training in Canada and subsequent phase I/clinical research fellowship in novel anti-cancer drugs at the Institute for Drug Development in San Antonio, Texas. During which I was involved in a large number of novel anti-cancer agents, and had extra training in novel trial design and clinical pharmacology. Currently, I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Oncology of University of Alberta. I continue my clinical and translational research in novel drug development, including targeted agents and immune-oncology agents, in thoracic oncology. I am the co-Lead and Lead for Phase I unit and the Thoracic Research Unit, respectively, at the Cross Cancer Institute.

Edward B. Garon, MD, MS

Edward Garon is the Director of the Thoracic Oncology Program at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His M.D. degree was from Washington University in St. Louis. He performed his internship and residency at the University of Chicago. After a chief residency at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, he was a fellow in hematology and oncology at UCLA. He has remained at UCLA ever since and is currently Professor of Medicine. He also received a Master’s degree in clinical investigation from UCLA. He has been the principal investigator of peer reviewed grants from various funding organizations including the National Institute of Health in the United States. His focus is on clinical research and biomarker development. He has served as the principal investigator on national and international phase I, II and III clinical trials, including trials that have led to the approval of multiple drugs and a companion diagnostic.

Felix JF Herth, MD, PhD, FCCP, FERS

Professor Felix Herth, Thoraxklinik Heidelberg, Germany, graduated from the University of Freiburg, Germany, in 1990. He has been Head of the Department of Internal Medicine, Pulmonology and Critical Care Medicine at Thoraxklinik, Heidelberg, since 2004, and CEO and CMO of Thoraxklinik, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, since 2015.

His research interests include interventional pneumology, end-stage COPD and phenotyping of COPD. His group at Thoraxklinik is one of the world’s leading centers for the development of new minimal invasive endoscopic techniques, and his team initiated several trials on phenotyping of COPD for endoscopic lung volume reduction.

Professor Herth is Editor-in-Chief of Respiration and has served on many major committees, including the European Respiratory Society (ERS), the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) and the German Society of Pneumology (DGP). He published more than 600 peer reviewed articles and several books. He has also received numerous awards, including a Research Awards from from ERS, CTS, ACCP and DGP.

Puneeth Iyengar MD, PhD

Puneeth Iyengar is an Attending, Director of the Metastatic Service, and Member of the Thoracic Service in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He has led programs investigating the use of local therapy (SBRT) in the setting of oligometastatic NSCLC (Iyengar et al, JCO 2014, Iyengar et al, JAMA Oncology 2017), hypofractionated therapies for stage III NSCLC (Iyengar et al, JAMA Oncology 2021) and is principal investigator of NRG LU 002, a phase II/III randomized trial assessing the benefits of immunotherapy -/+ local therapy on overall survival for stage IV NSCLC. Dr. Iyengar also runs an independent NIH-funded research laboratory studying cancer cachexia from a basic science and translational perspective. Dr. Iyengar trained at MD Anderson Cancer Center and received his MD, PhD degrees at Albert Einstein College of Medicine (NYC) and Bachelor of Science at MIT.

Kevin Jao, MD, PhD

Dr Jao is an adjunct professor at the Université de Montréal and a hemato-oncologist at the Hôpital du Sacré Coeur de Montréal. He is the medical oncology lead of the thoracic oncology team.

He has a master’s degree in Immunology and HIV from McGill University. He went on to obtain his medical degree from the Université de Montréal, and specialized in internal medicine, hematology and medical oncology. He completed a fellowship in thoracic oncology at the Princess Margaret Cancer Center.

He is the current director of research in hematology and oncology at Sacré Coeur Hospital, and co-chair of the Medical Advisory Comittee for Lung Cancer Canada

Beatriz Jimenez Munarriz, MD

ACADEMIC TRAINING

• Secondary Education in Los Corales Gymnasium College, ASPAEN (Barranquilla, Colombia). December 2001.
• Degree in Medicine and Surgery at Universidad Del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia. December 2007.
• MIR Opposition in Medical Oncology: January 2010-2015. Hospital Universitario La Paz. Madrid. Spain.
• Doctorate Program in Medicine, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Approved October 2012. Research initiation work: “Long-term impact of the suspension in antimicrobial prophylaxis with levofloxacin in neutropenic patients”.

WORK EXPERIENCE

• July 2015 – December 2015: Hospital Universitario La Paz, Medical Oncology Service. Thoracic and Digestive Tumors Unit. Madrid, Spain.
• January 2016 – February 2023: Hospital HM Sanchinarro. Clara Campal Comprehensive Cancer Center (CIOCC). Medical Oncology Department. Thoracic Tumors and Central Nervous System Unit. Madrid, Spain.
• October 2019 – November 2020: Phase 1 Unit, START-Madrid, Spain.
• February 2023 – June/2023: Hospital Universitario Fuenl;abrada, Fuenlabrada, Madrid.

EDUCATION, TRAINING AND OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

• January 2015 – March 2015: Training in basic research. Targeted therapies laboratory. Clara Campal Comprehensive Oncology Center (CIOCC). HM Sanchinarro, Madrid. Knowledge in direct sequencing, quantitative real-time PCR, massive sequencing (NGS, Next Generation Sequencing), FISH, SISH and Immunohistochemistry.
• September 2022: Early Drug Development department Observership. Memorial Sloan Kettering New York. USA. Sponsor Dr. Alexander Drilon.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE, BASIC AND TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH

• January 2016 – February 2023: Associate Professor at Universidad CEU San Pablo. HM Monteprincipe and HM Sanchinarro. Clinical practice for 5th year medical students. Theoretical classes and seminars for medical students of 4th and 5th year of medicine.
• Sub-investigator in FIS Project 2017. “The molecular context of the immune microenvironment in the early stages of non-small cell lung carcinoma: aligning targeted therapies with immunotherapy”. Principal investigator: Fernando López-Ríos.
• January 2016 – February 2023: Weekly participation in “Molecular Tumor Boards” for the molecular characterization of neoplasms through NGS, search for targeted therapies and clinical implementation of this technology.

Shaqil Kassam, MD, MSc, FRCPC

Dr. Shaqil Kassam is a Staff Medical Oncologist and Head of Clinical Research at the Stronach Regional Cancer Centre in Newmarket, Ontario, specializing in thoracic, gastrointestinal, and neuroendocrine cancers, as well as being the skin cancer and Immunotherapy lead . He is actively developing a molecular pathology program at Southlake Regional Health Centre, advancing precision oncology care. Dr. Kassam’s academic journey includes degrees in Medical Physics, Radiation Biology, and DNA repair from McMaster University, as well as medical and oncology training at the University of Toronto. He currently is the local PI for several international clinical trials. Beyond his clinical and research roles, Dr. Kassam advocates for patient access, and produces the MedOncNow podcast series (@medoncnow) to engage oncology experts worldwide on how to integrate new therapies into clinic. His unique expertise bridges medical and radiation oncology with a focus on DNA repair and targeted treatments.

Ella A. Kazerooni MD, MS

Ella A. Kazerooni M.D., M.S. is a Professor of Radiology and Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School specializing in cardiothoracic radiology, and the Associate Chief Clinical Officer of Diagnostics for the University of Michigan Medical Group. After medical school and diagnostic radiology residency at the University of Michigan, she completed a fellowship in thoracic radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. She is past president of the American Roentgen Ray Society, the Association of University Radiologists, the Society of Thoracic Radiology and the Radiology Alliance for Health Services Research, a past Trustee of the American Board of Radiology and has served on the ACR Board of Chancellors.

Dr. Kazerooni is the current and founding Chair of the National Lung Cancer Roundtable (NLCRT) at the American Cancer Society. With a mission to create lung cancer survivors, early detection through both lung cancer screening and incidental lung nodule management programs is essential, together with bringing guideline-based care including biomarker-based therapies to patients with advanced lung cancer, and to do so in a patient-first manner, towards eliminating the stigma commonly faced by patients in their lung cancer journey. She is the founding Chair of the Lung Cancer Screening Registry at the American College of Radiology and currently serves as Chair of the ACR National Radiology Data Registries, led the development of the first LungRADS schema for the interpretation and management of lung cancer screening CTs, and is vice-chair of the Lung Cancer Screening Guideline group at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. In her role with the medical group practice, she has led the oversight and implementation of a mobile mammography program serving vulnerable and underserved populations.

Her work in clinical and translational research earned her the University of Michigan Medical School’s prestigious Clinical and Health Services Researcher of the year award. She has given over 650 lectures, has over 400 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 30 book chapters and 4 books, and is a highly sought after speaker and international expert in cardiothoracic radiology, with a focus on lung cancer screening and diffuse lung diseases, including quantitative analysis.

Biniam Kidane, MD, MSc, FRCSC

Dr. Kidane is a thoracic and foregut surgeon with a special interest in minimally invasive and endoscopic approaches to benign and malignant thoracic/foregut disease. He was recruited to Manitoba to establish and lead an advanced diagnostic/therapeutic endoscopy program for thoracic and foregut diseases. He completed his MD at the University of Toronto and his General Surgery Residency at Western University. He then completed thoracic surgery residency at the University of Toronto, with additional third space and foregut training in McGill. His translational research program centers on understanding the role of intraoperative inflammation in development of short and long term complications as well as cancer recurrence. He also has a research interest in health services and outcomes research as it relates to esophageal and lung cancer. His clinical program development focuses on strategies to incorporate MIS/Endoscopic techniques, multimodal therapies & logistics to improve patient & system outcomes.

Amanda K. LaMarre, PhD, R.Psych, ABPP-CN

Dr. Amanda LaMarre completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of British Columbia, with a primary focus in Neuropsychology. She then completed a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Memory and Aging Center. Following her fellowship, she worked in the Department of Radiation Oncology at UCSF where she saw patients with CNS and non-CNS cancers both clinically, and within a research context. Since returning to Vancouver in 2014, she has been practicing exclusively within the field of Adult Neuropsychology in both the public and private setting. She currently works at the BC Neuropsychiatry Program at UBC and is also the Director of Training for the Vancouver Coastal Health Clinical Psychology Residency Program. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UBC and a Diplomat of the American Board of Professional Psychology with a specialization in Clinical Neuropsychology.

Renelle Myers, MD, FRCPC

Dr. Myers is a Clinical Associate professor of Medicine at University of British Columbia and an Interventional Respirologist at Vancouver General Hospital. She is a clinicain Scientist at BC Cancer research institute as well as the lead for the BC Cancer Smoking Cessation Program and Medical Director of Bronchosocpy at VGH.

In 2020, Dr. Myers established the Myers Breathomics lab, the first clinical Breath lab in Canada, focused on the early detection of lung cancer and the effects of the environment on lung cancer through the study of volitile organic compounds in breath. Her lab works at the intersection of clinical practice, patient-centered care and analytical methodology to provide an interdisciplinary approach to advance early detection of lung cancer.

Her clinical work focuses on the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer through advanced bronchoscopic techniques.

Vishal Navani, MA (Oxon), MBBS (Lon), MRCP (UK), FRACP

Dr. Navani is a staff medical oncologist at the Arthur Child Cancer Centre, Calgary and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Calgary. He previously graduated from Oxford and Imperial College London. He holds MRCP (UK) in internal medicine and fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (Medical Oncology).

In Calgary he cares for patients with thoracic and GU malignancies, alongside leading the thoracic oncology clinical trials programme. He also leads the medical oncology early phase steering committee in Calgary and sits on the provincial lung tumour group executive committee. His trial activities focus on the development of novel therapeutic agents for patients with thoracic malignancies.

He is the lead for Glans-Look, Canada’s largest lung cancer real world evidence database and his data science work has recently been funded by a Terry Fox Marathon of Hope competitive grant. He has contributes to payor deliberations with the Canadian Drug Agency as a clinical expert and provides clinical development advice to a number of life science companies, alongside being a member of the Canadian Real World Cancer Evaluation platform clinical advisory group. As an advocate for expanding access to novel therapeutics for patients in Canada he sits on the Lung Cancer Canada Medical Advisory Committee.

Gurjit Parmar, MD, BScPharm

I am currently a senior resident in radiation oncology at the University of British Columbia, working out of the Vancouver Cancer Centre. My research interests include brain metastases as well as medical education.

Cecilia Pompili, MD, PhD, FHEA, FACS

Dr. Pompili is Associate Professor in Psychosocial Oncology and Honorary Thoracic Surgeon at University Hospital in Hull, UK. She is Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Leeds.

Dr. Pompili has advocated for the inclusion of women and racial, sexual, and gender minorities in surgical oncology and clinical trials, and have led efforts within European surgical societies to support women and other underrepresented communities in entering the thoracic field establishing and chairing the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons Women in General Thoracic Surgery Committee and funder member of the WGTS Academy since 2021. She led the International Survey Project together with the European Association of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery on Gender Bias in Thoracic Surgery.

She is co-chairing of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) Diversity and Inclusion Taskforce leading a Global DEI assessment in the Thoracic Community.

Her clinical research focuses on two areas: a) patient-centred and personalised care for thoracic malignancies and b) evidence-based practice in lung cancer surgery with particular interest in risk-stratification and postoperative morbidities.

Dr. Pompili has also established the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS) Patient-Centred Working Group leading a European Quality of Life App project for thoracic surgical patients. She is active member of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Group and ISOQOL, working on initiatives to implement PROMs in clinical practice and developing lung cancer specific Quality of Life Questionnaires.

She holds national and international leadership roles in the ESTS Women in General Thoracic Surgery Committee, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the British Thoracic Oncology Group. She is an active member of the IASLC Patient Advocacy Committee. She has authored over 130 peer-reviewed articles published in international and impactful Journals, with an H-Index of 35.

Jorge S. Reis-Filho, MD PhD FRCPath

VP, Cancer Biomarker Development, AstraZeneca
Maryland, USA

Jorge S. Reis-Filho is the VP, Cancer Biomarker Development at AstraZeneca, whose mission is to develop mechanistically-informed but clinically-deployable biomarkers to deliver the right therapeutic agents to cancer patients at the right time during their therapeutic journey. Dr. Reis-Filho holds a joint medical degree from the University of Porto, Portugal, and the Universidade Federal do Parana, Brazil. After completing his histopathology training at the University of Porto, he did his PhD on breast cancer molecular pathology at the Institute of Cancer Research/Royal Marsden Hospital in London, UK, where he was appointed as Team Leader and subsequently the Professor and Chair of Molecular Pathology. In 2012, Dr. Reis-Filho joined Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, USA, where he was appointed as Chief of Experimental Pathology and Director of the Experimental Pathology Fellowship Program in 2016. Dr. Reis-Filho has received numerous awards, including the 2010 USCAP Ramzi Cotran Young Investigator Award, the 2010 CRUK Future Leaders Prize, the 2023 BritPathSoc Goudie Medal and Lectureship, the 2023 BCRF – Larry Norton Award, and the 2024 William Gerald Award by MSKCC. He is the youngest ever Fellow of The Royal College of Pathologists to have become a member by published works. Before joining AstraZeneca, Dr. Reis-Filho was a consultant for Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking and served on the Scientific Advisory Boards or the Board of Directors of numerous biotechnology companies. Dr. Reis-Filho has published over 650 peer-reviewed articles, focused on the development of a molecular taxonomy for rare cancer types, a predictive classification for breast cancers, the causes and impact of intra-tumor genetic heterogeneity, and the development of novel technologies. At AstraZeneca, he is leading the development of computational pathology and ctDNA biomarkers for patient selection and therapeutic response prediction, and implementing AI-based solutions for patient care.

Jeffrey Rothenstein, MD FRCPC

Medical Oncologist
R.S. McLaughlin Durham Regional Cancer Center
Adjunct Assistant Professor Queen’s University
Oshawa, ON

Dr. Jeff Rothenstein is a medical oncologist at the R.S. McLaughlin Durham Regional Cancer Center in Oshawa and is an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Oncology at Queen’s University.

He completed his internal medicine and medical oncology training at the University of Toronto.

His main clinical focus is on the management of thoracic and GI malignancies. He is the lung cancer site group and clinical trial group leader at the R.S. McLaughlin Durham Regional Cancer Center.

Charles B. Simone, II, MD, FASTRO, FACRO

Research Professor and Chief Medical Officer, New York Proton Center
Full Member, Department of Radiation Oncology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, NY

Charles B. Simone, II, MD, FASTRO, FACRO is Research Professor and Chief Medical Officer of the New York Proton Center and Full Member in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He is an internationally recognized expert in the use of proton therapy, reirradiation, and stereotactic body radiation therapy, and in the development of innovative clinical trial strategies in thoracic oncology.

Prior to coming to NYPC, Dr. Simone was Chief of the Thoracic Oncology Service at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Director of the Penn Mesothelioma and Pleural Program, and Director of Clinical Research and Operations in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Penn. He was then appointed Medical Director of the Maryland Proton Treatment Center, and at University of Maryland, he also served as Chair of the Clinical Research Committee for their Comprehensive Cancer Center, proton therapy Fellowship Director, and Director of the Stereotactic Radiation Therapy Program. He completed his undergraduate and medical school training at University of Pennsylvania and residency in radiation oncology at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), NIH, where he served as chief resident.

Dr. Simone is a National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and Department of Defense funded investigator who has published >620 scientific articles and chapters, given >550 scientific lectures to national/international audiences, and is the national Principal Investigator or Co-Chair of 8 NIH-funded cooperative group trials (5 NRG Oncology, 1 SWOG, 1 ECOG-ACRIN, 1 PCG). He is a three-time Association of Residents in Radiation Oncology Educator of the Year Award winner. Dr. Simone is the Proton Collaborative Group (PCG) Board President. He Chairs the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting Scientific Committee Lung/Thoracic Track, ASTRO Lung Resource Panel Committee, ASTRO Blue Ribbon Lung Panel, NRG Oncology Particle Therapy Work Group, PCG Lung Committee, American Radium Society (ARS) Appropriate Use Criteria Thoracic Committee, Particle Therapy Co-Operative Group (PTCOG) Thoracic Subcommittee, American College of Radiation Oncology (ACRO) Scientific Program Committee, NCI/Radiosurgery Society SFRT and Flash Working Group, Varian FlashForward Consortium Scientific Committee, and Varian Proton Connect Users Group. He is Editor-in-Chief of Annals of Palliative Medicine and on the Editorial Boards of Frontiers in Oncology, Translational Lung Cancer Research, Cancers, Journal of Thoracic Disease, Annals of Translational Medicine, and Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

Stephanie Snow MD FRCPC

Medical Oncologist, QEII Health Sciences Centre
Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University
President, Lung Cancer Canada
Halifax, NS

Dr. Stephanie Snow is a staff Medical Oncologist at the QEII hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia, treating thoracic and GI malignancies.  After pursuing undergraduate training at McGill, she completed her training at Dalhousie, where she is now a full professor in the Faculty of Medicine.  Dr. Snow has a strong interest in Medical Education and is Vice Chair of the Royal College Medical Oncology Examination Board.  From a research perspective she is involved in clinical research, is Associate Editor of the peer reviewed journal Current Oncology and has been widely published in prominent journals.  Finally, Dr. Snow is active in patient advocacy, serving as the current President of Lung Cancer Canada, and sits on the medical advisory committees of several other patient advocacy groups in colorectal and gastric cancer.

Alexander Sun MD, FRCPC

Addie MacNaughton Chair in Thoracic Radiation Oncology,
Princess Margaret Cancer Centre/University of Toronto
Associate Professor, University of Toronto
Principal Investigator for PMH– RTOG/NRG Oncology
Lung Cancer Site Group Leader, Radiation Medicine Program
Co-Chair, Lung Disease Site Committee,
Canadian Cancer Trials Group (CCTG)
Toronto, ON

Dr. Alex Sun is the Addie MacNaughton Chair in Thoracic Radiation Oncology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.  He is a Radiation Oncologist and the Lung Cancer Site Group Leader of the Radiation Medicine Program. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto. He is the Co-Chair of the Lung Disease Site Committee, Canadian Cancer Trials Group (CCTG). He is the Lead Principal Investigator of RTOG/NRG Oncology at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and is a member of the NRG Oncology Lung Cancer Steering Committee.

His research interests include the development of clinical trials to improve outcomes in lung cancer patients through the integration of metabolic imaging in the management of lung cancer. He is the Principal Investigator of the Canadian PET-BOOST trial, a prospective randomized trial incorporating the addition of FDG-PET imaging to boost the radiation dose in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (LA-NSCLC).

His other research interests include the addition and combination of immunotherapy and radiotherapy. He recently lead and published the “Use of radiation therapy among patients with ES-SCLC receiving immunotherapy: Canadian consensus recommendations.”

His other area of interest is the role of Prophylactic Cranial Irradiation (PCI) in NSCLC and SCLC. He has lead multiple international clinical trials including RTOG 0214, RTOG 0937 and NRG CC003.

He has lead multiple clinical practice guidelines including the Initial Management of Small Cell Lung Cancer (Limited and Extensive Stage) and the Role of Thoracic Radiotherapy and First-line Chemotherapy.

He has published over 100 manuscripts in journals such as Lancet Oncology, JAMA Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Journal of Thoracic Oncology, IJROBP, Radiotherapy and Oncology, Lung Cancer among others.

Anand Swaminath MD FRCP(C)

Associate Professor, Department of Oncology, McMaster University
Scientist, Escarpment Cancer Research Institute
OARO Clinician Scientist and Radiation Oncologist
Juravinski Cancer Centre
Hamilton, ON

Dr. Swaminath is an Associate Professor, Clinician Scientist and Radiation Oncologist at the Juravinski Cancer Centre, McMaster University, Hamilton.
He received his medical degree from the University of Ottawa, finished residency training at McMaster University, and completed a clinical-research fellowship in image-guided radiotherapy/SBRT for lung and liver cancer at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.

His clinical and research interests are in the application of new technologies in radiation therapy, specifically SBRT for a wide variety of indications including lung, kidney, and liver cancer, both for symptom control and in the management of metastatic disease.

Dr. Swaminath is a PI or radiation lead on several local, national, and international trials evaluating SBRT in both the primary and metastatic setting. Some trial highlights include the lead on the Canadian LUSTRE randomized lung SBRT trial, and radiation lead on the CYTOSHRINK and RADSTER trials in kidney cancer, and ADVANCE trial for HCC. He has authored or co-authored more than 80 peer reviewed publications and book chapters, and has obtained several large-scale grants through CIHR and CCSRI for trials that both locally and nationally involve the evaluation of SBRT in the primary and metastatic setting.

Kazuhiro Yasufuku MD, PhD, FRCSC

Head, Division of Thoracic Surgery, University Health Network
FG Pearson – RJ Ginsberg Chair in Thoracic Surgery
William Coco Chair in Surgical Innovation for Lung Cancer
Director of Endoscopy, University Health Network
Director, Interventional Thoracic Surgery Program, University Health Network
Professor and Chair, Division of Thoracic Surgery, University of Toronto
Senior Scientist, Toronto General Research Institute
Toronto, ON

Dr. Kazuhiro Yasufuku is an internationally known Thoracic Surgeon with specific expertise in minimally invasive thoracic surgery and minimally invasive diagnostic procedures. He co-developed the Convex Probe Endobronchial Ultrasound in collaboration with Olympus and has successfully introduced the clinical application of EBUS-TBNA in Thoracic Oncology. His clinical interests include minimally invasive diagnostic and surgery for thoracic oncology and lung transplantation. He leads the Thoracic Robotic Surgery Program and GTx Program at the University Health Network.

He is a Senior Scientist at the Latner Thoracic Surgery Research Laboratory, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, University Health Network. His research interests include development of new technology in early diagnosis and ultra-minimally invasive thoracic surgery, translational research in thoracic image guided therapeutics (GTx), nanotechnology enabled image guided intervention for lung cancer, and molecular profiling of advanced stage lung cancer by minimally invasive procedures. He has numerous ongoing clinical trials looking at the application of new technology in Thoracic Surgery and Interventional Pulmonology.

Dr. Yasufuku is very active in International Societies related to Thoracic Surgery and Interventional Pulmonology. He is Associate Editor for the Journal of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology, Associate Editor for Respiration, STS Pearson’s General Thoracic Surgery E-book and the Editor in Chief for the World Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology Newsletter.

Fabio Ynoe de Moraes, MD, PhD, MBA

Fabio Ynoe de Moraes is Associate Professor, Radio-Oncologist, and has leadership role for innovation and global oncology at the Department of Oncology, Division of Radio-Oncology, Queen’s University and Kingston Health Sciences Center in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Dr. Moraes is an also principal investigator at the Queen’s Cancer Research Institute in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. In addition, since he joined Queens University in 2019, Dr Moraes completed his PhD in health sciences, and recently completed an advanced degree program in Artificial intelligence and a MBA.  Dr. Moraes research agenda aims to explore the intersection between global oncology, health policy and innovation.