ASCO 2024, Hematology - Oncology, Lung Cancer, Thoracic Oncology
Leora Horn, MD, MSc, FRCPC is an Ingram Associate Professor of Cancer Research at Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center and Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dr Horn received her Honors Bachelor of Science and Masters of Science in Pharmacology from the University of Toronto where she also attended medical school and trained in internal medicine and medical oncology. She completed a sub-specialty fellowship in Thoracic Oncology at Vanderbilt University. Her fellowship was funded by an award from the Canadian Association of Medical Oncology.Dr Horn's clinical practice focuses primarily on the care of patients with lung cancer. She is the Clinical Director of the Thoracic Oncology Program at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. Her research interests include experimental therapeutics and medical education. Her work has been recognized with a VICC Impact award annually for the last eight years for her research contributions made to the Cancer Center.Dr Horn is currently completing a Masters in Health Professional Education through the University of Illinois Chicago and is the Assistant Vice Chairman for Faculty Development in the Department of Medicine where she runs the Schaffner Society to support the careers of clinician educators in the Department of Medicine.Dr Horn is Principal Investigator on several lung cancer clinical trials and educational projects. She has published over 100 papers and book chapters including original papers, reviews and the recent chapter on neoplasms of the Lung in Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 18th edition. She is an active member in the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
Oncology, Associate Professor of Medicine, Associate Program Director for Research, Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology-Oncology
UT Southwestern Medical CenterASCO 2024, Hematology - Oncology, Lung Cancer
Timothy Burns, research and clinical interests revolve around the development of targeted therapies for KRAS-mutant NSCLC as well as novel strategies to overcome resistance to targeted therapies for EGFR-mutant and MET-altered NSCLC. My four main research themes are 1) novel pre-clinical target validation and drug development (TWIST1 in oncogene driven NSCLC and TKI resistance; targeting metabolism in oncogene driven lung cancer); and 2) elucidating mechanisms of resistance for targeted inhibitors to develop rationale therapeutic combinations that can be tested in the clinic (Hsp90, ERK1/2 inhibitors and 4th generation EGFR TKIs) and 3) development of targeted therapy approaches for the treatment of brain metastases. The first line of research in my laboratory focuses on the role of the EMT transcription factor TWIST1 in oncogene-driven NSCLC. We have demonstrated the TWIST1 is essential for lung tumorigenesis for KRAS mutant, EGFR mutant and MET mutant/amplified NSCLC and TWIST1 overexpression leads to resistance to EGFR and MET TKIs. We are examining the mechanism(s) through which this occurs and developing therapeutic combinations to overcome this resistance. Importantly, we have developed a novel TWIST1 inhibitor which serves a tool compound for our therapeutic studies and serves as the basis for our current drug screening efforts to develop a clinical TWIST1 inhibitor. The second line of research in my lab focuses on studying the mechanisms of resistance to targeted agents currently in phase 1 and 2 trials to develop rationale therapeutic combinations in the clinic. This is typified by our previous work with Hsp90 inhibitors and ongoing work on ERK inhibitors and a novel 4th generation EGFR TKI. Finally, my lab is interested in lung cancer brain metastases, and we are exploring whether targeting the HGF-MET-TWIST1 pathway or downstream metabolic pathways can be an effective strategy for preventing or treating lung brain metastases. In additional to these preclinical studies, we are using both radiogenomic and cell free DNA approaches to predict molecular phenotypes of brain metastases to identify patients with brain metastases that can benefit from MET targeted therapy in the clinic.
Professor, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine Member, Developmental Therapeutics Program, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center
Case Western Reserve UniversityASCO 2024, Cancer, Gastroinestinal cancer, Hematology - Oncology
Alok A. Khorana, M.D., F.A.C.P, F.A.S.C.O, is Professor of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, the Sondra and Stephen Hardis Chair in Oncology Research, Vice-Chair for Clinical Services of the Taussig Cancer Institute (part of Case Comprehensive Cancer Center) and Director of the Gastrointestinal Malignancies Program at the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio. His clinical and translational research program focuses on predictive factors and drug development in cancer-associated thrombosis and gastrointestinal cancers and has been funded by grants from the National Cancer Institute, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the Hardis Family, the Porter Family Fund, VeloSano, the Cleveland Clinic Center for Excellence, the Scott Hamilton CARES Initiative, Stand Up To Cancer (Colorectal Cancer “Dream Team”) and the V Foundation.
Dr. Khorana received his medical degree from Maharaja Sayajirao University’s Medical College in Baroda (now Vadodara, Gujarat), India. His postdoctoral training included a residency in internal medicine at the University at Buffalo in New York and a fellowship in hematology/oncology at the University of Rochester, New York. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and in 2018 was elected Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Dr. Khorana is Past Chair of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Clinical Practice Guidelines Panel (CPGC), Chair of ASCO CPGC’s Pancreas Cancer Working Group, Co-Chair of ASCO CPGC’s Multisite Advisory Group and Co-Chair of the ASCO Guidelines Panel on Resectable Pancreas Cancer. He is currently Chair of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Board of the National Blood Clot Association. He has also served or serves on the ASCO Scientific Program Committee and multiple Guidelines/Guidance Panels.
ASCO 2024, Breast Cancer, Cancer
ASCO 2024, Cancer Biology, Clinical Trials, Surgical Oncology
Sergei Iugai, is a ECFMG-certified and GCP-certified researcher in the Surgical Oncology Department of the Institute for Cancer Care at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. His current area of interest - surgical and medical treatment of Peritoneal Surface Malignancies (PSM).
Sergei Iugai am fully trained and qualified medical oncologist with experience in the field of inpatient and outpatient care of patients with solid tumors and hematological malignancies as well as palliative and supportive care in oncology. He received general medical degree at Saint Petersburg State University, Faculty of Medicine. After graduation he got the residency position in Saint Petersburg Pediatric Medical University (Department of Oncology and Radiology) and also went through 2-year postgraduate educational program 'Higher school of oncology' with 5% acceptance rate. His medical oncology expertise was confirmed by passing European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) examination in 2022.
ASCO 2024, Clinical Research, General Surgery, Surgical Oncology
ASCO 2024, Medical Error
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine Member, Developmental Therapeutics Program, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center
Case Western Reserve UniversityASCO 2024, Esophageal Cancer, Gastric Cancer, Hematology - Oncology, Hepatobiliary Disease, Immunotherapy, Rectal Cancer
Dr. David Bajor, is an oncologist in Cleveland, Ohio and is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area, including and . He received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and has been in practice between 11-20 years.
Professor, Department of Medicine Division of Hematology and Oncology, School of Medicine Associate Director for Clinical Research, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center
Case Western Reserve UniversityASCO 2024, Hematology - Oncology, Lung Cancer, Mesothelioma
Dr. Dowlati attended the University of Liege School of Medicine and after completing an internal medicine residency there in 1996, came to Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine for an internal medicine residency and a fellowship in hematology and oncology. He joined the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center in 2000 and became Co-Leader of the Developmental Therapeutics Program in 2007.
My expertise lies in both the biology and clinical management of thoracic malignancies. From a clinical standpoint, I have led the thoracic program at Case Western Reserve University since 2000. My research is focused on the translational aspects of target validation and drug development and I am uniquely positioned to perform preclinical studies of novel drugs in cancer models with an eventual goal of taking them into the clinic. A major effort of my research lab is to identify novel therapeutics for small cell lung cancer (SCLC). There has been little progress in the clinical management of this disease over the last three decades, due largely to our limited knowledge about the underlying mechanisms driving this malignancy. We have built up a research infrastructure to study this disease, the foundation of this being a retrospective clinical-pathologic database on all SCLC patients treated at our medical center over the last 15+ years, which now numbers >800 patients. We have added genomic and transcriptomic sequencing results to this database, and recently surpassed 100 patients with genomic data. This allows us to determine which genomic mutations are the most clinically significant, in terms of both survival and chemo-response. We intend to use cell line and mouse models of SCLC to study the role of genomic mutations in this disease and to generate preclinical data to support future clinical trial applications. To help achieve progress in this cancer, we are founding members of whose task is to advance our understanding and treatment of this malignancy. Most recently we started a new research branch to define the molecular drivers of response to immune checkpoint blockade in SCLC.
Activation of tyrosine kinase receptors plays a major role in thoracic cancer and leads to downstream activation of the JAK-STAT pathway, particularly STAT3. We have found, however, that an alternative pathway for STAT3 activation in cancer is by down-regulating PIAS3, an endogenous inhibitor of activated STAT3. This is particularly true for mesothelioma and squamous cell lung cancer. Given the limited therapeutic options for these malignancies, we are focused on determining 1) the mechanism of PIAS3 down-regulation in thoracic cancer, and 2) ways to increase the expression of endogenous PIAS3. Our approach is innovative in that it seeks to activate a tumor suppressor of STAT3, rather than inhibit oncogenic STAT3 directly, which has proven problematic.
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine Member, Population and Cancer Prevention Program, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center
Case Western Reserve UniversityASCO 2024, Hematology - Oncology, Oncology
Dr. Bruno is a medical oncologist and clinical researcher with a focus on lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies such as thymomas/thymic carcinomas as well as mesothelioma. As such, she conducts clinical trials investigating the safety and efficacy of new and promising therapies for those diseases, and is the institutional Principal Investigator of many NCI- and industry-sponsored studies at all phases of clinical drug development.
Participation in clinical trials is an opportunity for patients with cancer to receive not only therapies that are potentially more effective than current standard of care, but also to receive treatment under highly regulated protocols, a practice that likely enhances the quality of care delivered. Working tirelessly to promote the safe and efficient conduct of clinical research, Dr. Bruno is the Medical Director of the William T. Dahms Clinical Research Unit (DCRU) at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. As such, she is responsible for developing and sustaining a productive and effective clinical research unit that supports consortium-wide principal investigators in the process of discovery providing clinical research subjects with novel research studies.
The translational scientific nature of clinical studies goes beyond bridging bench to bedside research, as they may generate practice changing results requiring implementation in the “real world” and often lead to health disparities. Dr. Bruno is particularly interested in studying disparities in lung cancer treatment and developing interventions to overcome them. She has discovered the existence of racial disparities when it comes to comprehensive genomic testing for patients with advanced lung cancer throughout the US and demonstrated that biomarker and NGS testing are independently associated with clinical trial participation. She then proceeded to look at biomarker testing rates in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer throughout the US and found similar racial disparities as well as an independent impact of NGS testing and clinical trial participation. This is a particularly important finding that may explain in part racial inequities when it comes to representation in oncology clinical trials.
At University Hospitals, she has been responsible for developing and implementing a precision medicine service for all patients with advanced/metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. The ultimate goal of this project is to promote ample and equitable biomarker testing, targeted therapy use and clinical trial participation to all patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer treated at this large hybrid academic-community practice Institution. This quality improvement study/project launched in August 2021, leading to a significant increase not only in biomarker testing rates but also in the detection of genomic alterations that allow for the use of the most efficient targeted therapies. The project ultimately is the result of a close collaboration with University Hospitals Molecular Pathology Lab, diagnostic teams as well as Information Technology services and positively affects at large patients treated by community oncology providers. Since its launch, this service has identified clinical trial eligibility for the majority of the patients tested.
Dr. Bruno is the Co-Chair of the Case CCC Committee on Disparities in Clinical Research. This Committee is invested in assessing and addressing the barriers for achieving equitable representation of minority patients with cancer in all interventional studies at Case CCC.
Assistant Professor, Hematology and Oncology, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center Member, Population and Cancer Prevention Program, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center
Case Western Reserve UniversityASCO 2024, Hematology - Oncology, Lung Cancer, metastic cancer
I am a thoracic medical oncologist at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University, specializing in the care of patients with lung cancer, mesothelioma, and thymoma. My primary career objective is to investigate the experiences and optimize the care of long-term survivors of lung cancer patients. This interest has been deeply personal, as both of my parents were diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) 6 months apart in 2007. At the time, I was fortuitously working in a lab that was studying EGFR mutations in NSCLC, and I was thus able to influence my father's medical care, helping him to obtain erlotinib off-label for the treatment of his metastatic disease. Although my father unfortunately passed away 16 months after his diagnosis, my mother is a long-term survivor over a decade later. These formative experiences have been the driving force in my pursuit of a career in thoracic oncology.
My research interests in the functional aspects of survivorship such as psychosocial aspects, cognitive dysfunction, and physical function have evolved during my training. During my Internal Medicine residency, I worked with Dr. Lois Travis at Indiana University exploring survivorship in testicular cancer, identifying markers of inflammation which could be tracked longitudinally and inform risk of the development of subsequent cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome after platinum chemotherapy. Subsequently, I have found that lung cancer survivors face unique challenges which have changed over the years with the advent of TKI's and immunotherapy. These advances in therapeutic options have resulted in increased survival for many lung cancer patients, and there is now a larger need for lung cancer specific survivorship programming.
My undergraduate psychology experience and my consumer research training at Procter and Gamble have provided me with a background in qualitative research. During my Medical Oncology fellowship, under the mentorship of Dr. Jarushka Naidoo and Dr. Josephine Feliciano, I leveraged my qualitative assessment skills while gaining clinical research experience to identify needs of long-term, advanced stage lung cancer survivors treated with immunotherapy,. Through a qualitative survey of patients, I retrospectively identified that 25% of NSCLC survivors required continued management of long-term toxicities from immunotherapy over one year after the start of their treatment. This was further emphasized in a qualitative interview study done exclusively in survivors with metastatic NSCLC treated with immunotherapy, which identified several themes including long-term psychosocial and physical toxicity, sources of support, financial toxicity, and surveillance. My final fellowship project was a cross-sectional survey exploring physical, social, emotional, financial, and medical needs of patients with all stages of lung cancer which is in the final stages of data analysis. I am expanding this assessment to a more diverse population and will use the preliminary data to inform interventions to address the long-term needs of survivors of lung cancer. I will include patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and emphasize the enrollment of racial and sociodemographical underserved population. My ultimate goal is to study and identify ways to prevent and ameliorate the issues of long-term survivors of lung cancer to provide evidence-based survivorship care.
ASCO 2024, Cardiology
Dr Vikash was born and brought up in India and belongs to the family of Doctors. His passion and love towards clinical aspects of Medical science push him towards the research field. He is interested in Cardiovascular outcomes research and hospital work includes playing cricket, soccer, volleyball, cooking, and singing.
ASCO 2024, Internal Medicine
ASCO 2024, Internal Medicine
Dr. Rupal Chhabra, DO is an internal medicine specialist in West Harrison, NY and has over 17 years of experience in the medical field. She graduated from New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2006. She is affiliated with medical facilities White Plains Hospital and Phelps Hospital. She is not accepting new patients.
ASCO 2024, Family Medicine
Dr. Rohit Singh, MD is a family medicine specialist in Gurnee, IL and has over 10 years of experience in the medical field. He graduated from Case Western Reserve University in 2013. He is affiliated with Advocate Condell Medical Center. He is not accepting new patients.
ASCO 2024, Hematology - Oncology, Internal Medicine
Attending Physician, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition
Corewell HealthASCO 2024, Gastroenterolgy, Hepatology, Nutrition
Dr. Yanjia Zhang, MD works in Boston, MA as a pediatrics specialist.
They are board certified in pediatrics. They are affiliated with Boston Children's Hospital. Their office is not accepting new patients at this time. Dr. Zhang practices at Boston Children's Hospital in Boston, MA.
ASCO 2024, Cancer
ASCO 2024, Thoracic
ASCO 2024, Hematology - Oncology
I was born and raised in Nawanshahr, Punjab. I did my Medical School training at Government Medical College and Hospital Chandigarh. I took a year hiatus to work in an immunology lab at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City and then started my residency at Mount Sinai West-Mount Sinai Morningside in New York City. This was followed by a year of training in Palliative Care at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. I am currently a first year fellow at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.
I am interested in solid tumors (mainly Genitourinary, Gastrointestinal, Thoracic Oncology). I am also interested in advocating for Palliative Care integration in these specialties. I would like to be a physician in an academic setting where I could be involved in designing clinical trials for novel therapies in cancers, also I would like to be involved in medical education involving both oncology and palliative care. I have been on the house staff council and actively involved in the medical education during my residency. I was selected for the Mazumdar/Shaw fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in my Palliative Care Fellowship year for excellence in clinical and research achievements.
I am an avid soccer fan ( you will find me on the weekends watching Arsenal's games, forever gooner), I love to cook (my favorite cuisines are Indian, Italian and French), Fun fact: My alternate career choice would have been a standup comedian.