 Dean Felsher, MD, PhD, Stanford University, California, USA – Professor of Medicine-Oncology and of Pathology at Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford University, California, USA. Dr Felsher’s research interests include both basic science and translational research studies that investigate how oncogenes initiate and sustain tumorigenesis. He is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. He is the founding Director of the Stanford Translational Research and Applied Medicine (TRAM) Program, Director of Oncology Research and Director of Admissions of the Stanford Medical Scientist Training Program. His laboratory has developed unique model systems to demonstrate that cancer is reversible upon oncogene inactivation. Dr. Felsher has published over 150 papers and chapters, and has been invited to speak over 200 international seminars and symposia. Dr Felsher also was a team leader in the Halifax Project and he led two teams that were focused on the tumor microenvironment. |
 Barry Boyd, MD, Yale University, Connecticut, USA – Founder of the Integrative Medicine Program at Greenwich Hospital-Yale Health Systems (1998) and now Director of Nutritional Oncology, Assistant Clinical Professor, the Director of Curriculum in Nutrition, and the Director of Curriculum of Integrative Medicine at Yale School of Medicine. Dr Boyd is an oncologist and hematologist who has been a practicing medical oncologist since 1993. Dr. Boyd is a pioneer in the field of integrative cancer care, with a targeted focus on nutritional support for cancer patients. Incorporating emergent, evidence-based medical oncology with cancer-specific nutritional counseling, he combines comprehensive support for the healing process. Dr. Boyd is the founding president of the Integrative Cancer Care Research Foundation and a board member of Environment and Human Health, Inc., a nonprofit organization made up of physicians and public health professionals dedicated to the purpose of protecting health from environmental harms.
 J. William LaValley MD, Physician in Texas, USA & Nova Scotia, Canada – Dr LaValley combines state-of-the-art molecular biology with complementary approaches to treatment. Importantly, he has developed highly sophisticated and rapid data-mining approaches that can link evidence-based targeted therapeutic interventions to the molecular biology of cancer. Dr. LaValley has been treating patients for over 28 years and since 1988 he has been a medically licensed by the Texas Medical Board and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia while also serving as a professional consultant to other physicians (i.e., he develops advanced, evidence-based, molecularly-targeted treatment plans and recommendations for physicians to receive, consider, and administer to patients diagnosed with various types of cancers). Dr LaValley served in the antecedent Natural Health Products Advisory Panel and National Transition Team for the Office of Natural Health Products within Health Canada from 1997 – 2000 and was also a member of the Canadian National Advisory Group on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Health for Health Canada from 1998 – 1999. He was appointed by the Minister of Health to the Expert Advisory Committee of the Natural Health Products Directorate for the development of Regulations for Natural Health Products in Canada from 2000 – 2004. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the Texas Medical Association, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), the College of Family Physicians of Canada, and he has been a member of the Society for Integrative Oncology since it began in 2003.
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 Michael Retsky, PhD – Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA – Research Associate at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Honorary Reader at University College London. Dr. Retsky received his PhD in Physics from University of Chicago in 1974 and made a career change into cancer research 30 years ago. He was on Judah Folkman’s staff for 12 years. He is a 22 year survivor of Stage IIIc colon cancer and noted for opting not to use conventional maximum tolerated adjuvant chemotherapy, and instead was the first person to use what is now called metronomic chemotherapy. It was non-toxic and apparently worked. He is currently interested in perioperative NSAIDs to reduce early relapses in cancer. Current activity is to raise money for a clinical trial of perioperative NSAID to treat triple negative breast cancer in Nigeria. He is a Founder and until just recently was on the Board of Directors of Colon Cancer Alliance and he has published more than 70 papers in physics and cancer. He is editor of a book published in July 2017 on the cancer project for Springer/Nature (“Perioperative Inflammation as Triggering Origin of Metastasis Development”). |
 Asfar S. Azmi, PhD, Wayne State University, Michigan, USA – Assistant Professor in the Department of Oncology, Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan USA. Dr. Azmi has more than a decade of experience in the area of small molecule drug development against important cancer targets such as Bcl-2, Mcl-1, nuclear exporter protein CRM1 and p21 activated kinase 4 (PAK4). Dr. Azmi’s work has led to the clinical translation of a number of cancer drugs such as CRM1 inhibitor Selinexor and recently the PAK4 inhibitor KPT-9274. He has published >100 peer reviewed articles and numerous thematic volumes in the area of cancer drug discovery. He is the author of multiple cancer drug discovery books and is also the Editor in Chief of the journal Oncobiology and Targets. He has received numerous young investigator awards from premier scientific bodies such as American Association for Cancer Research and American Pancreatic Association. His lab is well funded by the National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health and by the pharmaceutical industry.
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 Azra Raza, MD, Columbia University, New York, USA – Dr. Raza is the Director of the MDS Center in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at Columbia University in New York, NY. Dr. Raza completed her medical education in Pakistan, training in Internal Medicine at the University of Maryland, Franklin Square Hospital and Georgetown/VA Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and her fellowship in Medical Oncology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York. She started her research in Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) in 1982, moved briefly to Cincinnati, Ohio and then to Chicago, Illinois in 1992, where she established a highly productive translational research program in MDS. This program, along with a Tissue Repository containing more than 40,000 samples from MDS patients was successfully relocated to the University of Massachusetts in 2004 and to St. Vincent’s Comprehensive Cancer Center (SVCCC) in 2007. Before moving to SVCCC, Dr. Raza was the Chief of Hematology at the University of Massachusetts in Worcester. Dr. Raza’s basic research has been strictly therapy-driven and is marked by her tireless efforts to move the advances in the laboratory to the bedside with alacrity for the improvement of treatment outcome of MDS patients. She is well known internationally for several landmark observations related to the biology and treatment of MDS and she has published the results of her laboratory research and a large number of clinical trials in prestigious, peer reviewed journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, Blood, Cancer, Cancer Research, British Journal of Hematology, Leukemia, Leukemia Research (250 full-length papers, 15 book chapters, 510 abstracts, and editor of a book devoted to MDS). |
 Gazala N. Khan, MD, Josephine Ford Cancer Center, Michigan, USA – Senior staff oncologist at the Josephine Ford Cancer Center and Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Michigan. Dr. Khan completed her residency and fellowship training at the university of Michigan health system. She then continued as faculty there and did translational research under the mentorship of Dr. Diane Simeone working on chemo-resistance mediated via Notch signaling in pancreatic cancer. Dr. Khan is the recipient of a “Career development Award” from the NCI/CTEP for the clinical development of a novel Notch inhibitor in pancreatic cancer. Dr. Khan’s current research focus lies in the clinical development of novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. At Henry Ford, Dr. Khan is the medical director of the pancreatic oncology program and is the recipient of the Mort Harris grant for pancreatic cancer research. Dr. Khan has designed and conducted several clinical trials using novel agents in pancreatic cancer. |
 Bassel El-Rayes, MD, Emory University, Georgia, USA.– Dr El-Rayes is an Associate Professor at the Emory University School of Medicine, Director of the GI Oncology Translational Research Program at the Winship Cancer Institute and Medical Director of the Clinical Trials Office at the Winship Cancer Institute. Dr. El-Rayes completed his internal medicine residency at Wayne State University, the hematology oncology fellowship program at the Wayne State University and then was an Assistant Professor (GI oncology) involved in translational pancreatic cancer research. Dr. El-Rayes joined Emory University in September 2009 and is designated as a Distinguished Cancer Scholar by the Georgia Cancer Coalition. |
 Costas A. Lyssiotis, PhD, University of Michigan, Michigan, USA –.-Dr. Lyssiotis is an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan Medical School with appointments in the Departments of Physiology and Medicine. His lab, located in the UMHS Comprehensive Cancer Center, studies the biochemical pathways and metabolic requirements that enable tumor survival and growth and, in particular, how this information can be used to design targeted therapies. Among his many contributions, Dr. Lyssiotis has defined several new metabolic pathways in pancreatic cancer cells and tumors that are required for growth. For this work, he has been awarded the Dale F. Frey Award for Breakthrough Scientists, the Tri-Institutional Breakout Prize for Junior Investigators and the American Gastroenterological Association Augustyn Award in Digestive Cancer. He is also a Sidney Kimmel Foundation Junior Scholar, a Lefkofsky Family Foundation Scholar, a Melanoma Research Alliance Young Investigator and a V Foundation Junior Scholar. |
 Gloria Huang MD, Yale University, Connecticut, USA –. Associate Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences: Gynecologic Oncology at Yale Medicine, Connecticut, USA. Dr. Huang is an internationally known expert in the treatment and prevention of ovarian, uterine and cervical cancers. Dr. Huang is skilled at minimally invasive surgery and is the principal investigator of a federally funded cancer research laboratory. A board-certified gynecologic oncologist, Dr. Huang enjoys providing exceptional, individualized, comprehensive care to patients, bringing together multi-disciplinary clinical teams to achieve the best outcomes. She is passionate about advancing the field of gynecologic oncology through innovative scientific research and hopes her discoveries will lead to better treatments for patients. |
 Nuzhat Ahmed, PhD, The Fiona Elsey Cancer Research Institute, Victoria, Australia – Inaugural John Turner Professorial Cancer Research Fellow, The Fiona Elsey Cancer Research Institute and Adjunct Professor, Research & Innovation, Federation University Australia, Ballarat, Australia. Professor Ahmed is an experienced cell and molecular biologist with a longstanding interest in understanding the molecular mechanisms of ovarian cancer spread. She did her postdoctoral research training in Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, Wellington, New Zealand, University of New Castle, Australia and University of British Columbia in Canada. From 2002-2014, Professor Ahmed led the Ovarian Cancer Research Group in Women’s Cancer Research Centre, Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne and currently leads the Ovarian Cancer Research Program in Fiona Elsey Cancer Research Institute, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. As chemoresistance associated with recurrence after chemotherapy treatment is the major cause of mortality in women with ovarian cancer, Professor Ahmed’s current work is focused in understanding the mechanisms of survival of ovarian cancer cells in response to chemotherapy treatment and re-growth of these cells to cause clinical recurrence. These studies have utilized isolated tumour cells (primary, and also from ascites) from patients diagnosed with the advanced-stage disease before and after chemotherapy treatments and also animal models to model profiles of genes/proteins associated with chemotherapy resistance. |
 Barbara Vanderhyden, PhD, The University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada – Corinne Boyer Chair in Ovarian Cancer Research at The University of Ottawa, in Ontario, Canada. Barbara Vanderhyden completed her Ph.D. in Reproductive Physiology at the University of Western Ontario in 1988. She then did postdoctoral studies at The Jackson Laboratory in Maine, where she learned to climb mountains, both literally and scientifically. In 1991, she joined the Cancer Research Group at the University of Ottawa, which has evolved into the Cancer Therapeutics Program at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, where she is a Senior Scientist. Dr. Vanderhyden is also a Professor at the University of Ottawa and has held the inaugural Corinne Boyer Chair in Ovarian Cancer Research since 2000. She established and ran the university’s transgenic mouse facility for 14 years |
 Swapan K. Ray, PhD, University of South Carolina, South Carolina, USA –.Tenured Professor of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, SC, USA. Dr Ray’s research interests include the understanding of the histological, cellular, and molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis of malignant diseases, with a special emphasis on glioblastoma, and development of novel therapeutic strategies for their treatments in preclinical models. Dr. Ray’s research has been funded by Federal, State, and Private funding agencies. He has served in NIH, NSF, and DoD study sections as well as in State, Private, and International grant review panels. Dr. Ray serves as editorial board member in many biomedical journals. He has presented 318 abstracts in national and international scientific meetings and published 26 book chapters and 194 peer-reviewed papers. Also, he has edited 2 books and 2 journals. Dr. Ray has trained many undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty members in his laboratory. |
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