Speakers

Salwan Al Mutar MD, MS
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, Co-Director of the Pancreatic Cancer Program, Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, UT Southwestern, Dallas, TX

Saurin Chokshi, MD
Section Chief – Clinical Practice, Assistant Professor, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Division of Hematology & Oncology, Memphis, TN

Andrew Coveler, MD
Director, Pancreatic Cancer Specialty Clinic, Associate Professor, Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Associate Professor, Division of Hematology and Oncology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA

Nevena Damjanov, MD
Section Chief Hematology/Oncology, VA Medical Cente,r Director of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Professor of Clinical Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

Michael K. Gibson, MD, PhD, FACP
Associate Professor Medicine, Adjunct Associate Professor, Juntendo University Medical Center, Director of Translational Research for Esophagogastric Cancer, Associate to the Research Director for Head and Neck Oncology, Co-Chair, VICC Scientific Review Committee, Chair, Heme/Onc Subcommittee, Pharmacy, Therapeutics and Diagnostics Committee, VUMC, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center/Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN

S. Daniel Haldar, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Gastrointestinal (GI) Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

Ronan Hsieh, MD

Physician, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Assistant Professor, Division of Hematology and Oncology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

David H. Ilson, MD, PhD
Professor, Department of Medicine, Cornell University Medical College, New York, New York, Attending Physician, Department of Medicine, Gastrointestinal Oncology Service Memorial Hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering
Cancer Center, New York, NY

Mandana Kamgar, MD, MPH
Associate Professor, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Medicine, LaBahn Pancreatic Cancer Program, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI

Ronan J. Kelly, MD, MBA, FASCO
Director of Oncology at The Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center and the W.W. Caruth Jr., Endowed Chair of Immunology, Baylor University Medical Center, Chief of Oncology Baylor Scott & White Health Care System (NTX), Dallas, TX

Richard Kim, MD
Professor of Oncology, University of South Florida College of Medicine, Service Chief of Medical Gastrointestinal Oncology, Senior Member, Gastrointestinal Oncology Department, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL

Funda Meric-Bernstam, MD
Chair, Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics, Medical Director, Department of Khalifa Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

Ryan H. Moy, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, Assistant Attending, New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY

Sujatha Nallapareddy, MD
GI Medical Oncologist, Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers, Aurora, CO

Anne M. Noonan, MBBCh
Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

Paul E. Oberstein, MD
Director, Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology Program, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY

Aman Opneja, MBBS
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Member of Duke Cancer Institute, Duke Cancer Center,
Durham, NC

Wungki Park, MD, MS
Assistant Profession of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, Assistant Attending Physician, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY

Matthew Reilley, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine Director UVA Phase 1 Program Director GI Medical Oncology Research Division of Hematology/Oncology University of Virginia School of Medicine Charlottesville, VA

Mohamed Salem, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, Levine Cancer Institute, Atrium Health, Charlotte, NC

Nilay S. Sethi, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Gastrointestinal Medical Oncologist, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA

Shagufta Shaheen, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Associate Division Chief for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Department of Medicine, Division of Oncology, Stanford University School of Medicine,
Stanford, CA

Ardaman Shergill, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Section of Hematology/Oncology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Aditya Shreenivas, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research, City of Hope, Duarte, CA

Stacey Stein, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine, CINJ Rutgers University, Systems Medical Oncology Leader for Hepatobiliary Cancers, RWJBarnabas Health, New Brunswick, NJ

Weijing Sun, MD, FACP
The Sprint Professor of Medical Oncology, Director, Division of Medical Oncology, University of Kansas School of Medicine, Associate Director, University of Kansas Cancer Center, Westwood, KS

Mohamedtaki A. Tejani, MD
Medical Director - Gastrointestinal (GI) Oncology Program, AdventHealth Cancer Institute,
Orlando, FL

Jennifer Wu, MD
Director, Bellevue Cancer Center, Section Chief, Hematology Oncology, Bellevue Medical Center, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, Non-Tenured, Department of Medicine, New York University Grossman School of Medicine,
New York, NY

Linda Wu, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY

Dan Zhao, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

Dr. Salwan Al Mutar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center. A medical oncologist, he specializes in treating gastrointestinal cancers.\ and co directs the interdisciplinary Pancreatic Cancer Program in UTSW Dr. Al Mutar earned his medical degree at the Al-Mustansiriyah University College of Medicine in Iraq. He performed his residency in internal medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine and then received advanced training through a fellowship in medical oncology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and a clinical research fellowship in gastrointestinal cancer at The Ohio State University where he also finished his Masters in Translational Pharmacology with clinical trial design specialization in 2021 Board-certified in both internal medicine and medical oncology, he joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2020.

Saurin Chokshi, MD
Section Chief – Clinical Practice, Assistant Professor, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Division of Hematology & Oncology, Memphis, TN

Saurin Chokshi, MD is a medical oncologist with a subspecialty focus on gastrointestinal malignancies. He earned his medical degree at University of Kentucky College of Medicine and did an internship in internal medicine at University of Texas Southern Medical Center. He completed a fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at Yale-New Haven Hospital, which is part of Yale School of Medicine; and participated in a clinical research training program at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Along with seeing patients at Regional One Health as a medical oncologist, Dr. Chokshi is an assistant professor of hematology/oncology at University of Tennessee Health Science Center. He also serves on the medical advisory board for Bayer Virtual Roundtable. In addition to seeing patients in the clinic and in the hospital, his research interests are in early and late phase cancer clinical trials. He also oversees the Cancer Center's Clinical Trials Protocol Office. His research has been published in numerous medical journals, including Oncology and Cancer Journal. During his career and education, he has been honored by the Society for Translational Oncology, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Arnold P. Gold Foundation and Joseph Collins Foundation. Dr. Chokshi is a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network panel for Management of Immunotherapy-Related Toxicity.

Andrew L. Coveler, MD, is an associate professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and in the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, Washington, USA.  He is a GI oncologist with an interest in early phase clinical trials and novel agents, especially ADCs and immunotherapy. He is the Medical Director of the Pancreas Cancer Specialty Clinic at the Fred Hutch. Dr Coveler received his medical degree from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. He completed his internship at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, his internal medicine residency at the University of Washington, and his hematology-oncology fellowship at the Fred Hutch.

Dr. Damjanov is Professor of Medicine at the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the Director of Gastrointestinal Oncology at the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. At the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center (CMCVAMC) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she is the Section Chief of Hematology/Oncology. She received her medical degree from Hahnemann University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and completed her Internal Medicine residency training at the MS Hershey Medical Center of the Pennsylvania State University in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Her Hematology/Oncology training was completed at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Damjanov has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles in the field of gastrointestinal medical oncology, with an emphasis in hepatobiliary malignancies.

Michael K. Gibson, MD, PhD FACP, is Director of Translational Research for Esophago-Gastric Cancer (EGC) at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC)/Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he also holds a faculty position as Associate Professor of Medicine. After receiving his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Dr. Gibson completed an Osler Medical Residency and medical oncology fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital while concurrently earning a doctorate of philosophy in clinical investigation at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Gibson’s goal is to integrate the multidisciplinary pre-clinical research and clinical trials programs in esophago-gastric cancers at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. He manages the trial portfolio for these diseases to integrate the research programs across disciplines and lines of care. Dr. Gibson is a member the NCI Esophago-Gastric Task Force and a member of the NCCN Esophageal/Gastric Cancers Panel. He is the study Co-Chair of EA2174 and EA 2183 and the Co-Leader along with Drs. Malcom Brock and Hajime Orita of the Juntendo/Johns Hopkins/Vanderbilt International Esophago-Gastric Collaboration. He also chairs the ECOG-ACRIN Microbiome Working Group. The overall goals of Dr. Gibson’s research efforts are to bring novel therapeutics to the treatment of esophago-gastric cancers based on rational pre-clinical investigation and in the setting of a focus on patient safety and outcomes.

S. Daniel Haldar, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Gastrointestinal (GI) Medical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

Dr. Haldar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center with a clinical practice focused on pancreatic and colorectal cancer. Dr. Haldar graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College with a joint A.B./A.M. degree in Chemistry and Chemical Biology in 2013 and received his M.D. degree with honors from the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Program at Harvard Medical School in 2018. His graduate research focused on the biology of immunomodulatory drugs (iMiDs) in the laboratory of Dr. Benjamin L. Ebert at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He received his internal medicine training at the Osler Medical Residency Program and completed his fellowship in Medical Oncology at Johns Hopkins in 2024. Dr. Haldar is the recipient of several research awards for his work, including the ASCO-Conquer Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award, Hopper-Belmont Foundation Inspiration Award, and an NIH/NCI Loan Repayment Award. In addition, he was selected to participate in the 2023 ASCO-AACR Methods in Clinical Cancer Research Workshop and the 2023-24 FDA-AACR Oncology Education Fellowship. During his fellowship, Dr. Haldar led multiple investigator-initiated clinical trials and translational studies of an off-the-shelf mutant KRAS vaccine in patients with pancreatic and colorectal cancer under the mentorship of Drs. Nilofer S. Azad and Elizabeth M. Jaffee at Johns Hopkins. As a clinical/translational investigator, Dr. Haldar’s active research interests include the development of neoantigen vaccines, combinatorial immunotherapies, and KRAS-directed therapies for the treatment and early interception of gastrointestinal malignancies.

Ronan Hsieh, MD
Physician, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Assistant Professor, Division of Hematology and Oncology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Dr. Ronan Hsieh is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Hematology and Oncology, University of Washington. He also serves as physician at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. He graduated from National Taiwan University College of Medicine and completed his residency in Internal Medicine from Albert Einstein Medical Center and fellowship in Hematology/Oncology from University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Dr. Ronan Hsieh’s clinical focus is on gastrointestinal cancers. He is passionate about conducting clinical and translational research, including clinical trials, to develop novel treatments and improve the outcome of our gastrointestinal cancer patients. His research focus is on drug development using novel trial design and cancer models such as tissue slice culture and organoids, which he collaborates with translational scientists at Fred Hutch. He is also interested in the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve clinical care.

Dr. Ilson is a Professor in the Department of Medicine at Cornell University Medical College in New York, New York. He is also Attending Physician in the Department of Medicine, Gastrointestinal Oncology Service at Memorial Hospital of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York. Dr. Ilson received his MD and PhD from New York University (NYU) School of Medicine in New York, New York. He completed an internship and a residency in the Department of Medicine at NYU/Bellevue Hospital Center, and he served a fellowship in Medical Oncology and Hematology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. A Fellow in the American College of Physicians and the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Dr. Ilson is an active researcher, focusing on topics including combined modality therapy in esophageal and gastric cancer. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology, and belongs to a number of medical societies, including the American College of Physicians, the American Association for Cancer Research, and the American Society for Clinical Oncology. He is a recognized international expert in the management of gastrointestinal malignances and a frequent speaker and lecturer at national and international cancer conferences. He sits on a number of editorial review boards including Annals of Oncology and he is Associate Editor for Gastrointestinal Cancers for the New England Journal of Medicine Journal Watch. He sits on the GI Cancer Committee of the Alliance for Cancer/Legacy CALGB, and he is co-chair of the Upper GI Cancers committee for NRG/Legacy RTOG. He continues to sit on the U.S. NCI Esophagogastric Cancers Task Force, and he is the former task force chair.

Mandana Kamgar, MD, MPH
Associate Professor, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Medicine, LaBahn Pancreatic Cancer Program, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI

Dr Kamgar is an associate professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Mandana Kamgar, MD, MPH’s research focus is on pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, clinical trial development and translational research. Dr Kamgar and his collaborations are studying how different KRAS mutations lead to different treatment susceptibilities. She also works as part of the precision oncology team to deliver personalized targeted therapies to patients with pancreatic cancer and is the Principal Investigator of multiple trials, including a trial looking at utility of personalized therapies in the adjuvant setting in patients with pancreatic cancer at high risk of disease recurrence (PROTECT-PANC).

Dr. Ronan Kelly, M.B., B.Ch., M.B.A, FASCO is the Director of the Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center and the W.W. Caruth Jr. Endowed Chair of Immunology at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas Texas and the Chief of Oncology for the Baylor Scott & White Health System (NTx). Under the leadership of Dr Kelly, the Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center has improved 61 places on US News & World Report rankings in the last 5 years to become the most improved top 100 cancer center in the United States over this timespan and is now ranked the 2nd best cancer program in Texas and 32nd in the US by Newsweek. Dr. Kelly is a Clinical Professor at Texas A&M University and Professor Clinical Science Division at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGEN). He remains an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. He previously served as the Director of the Gastroesophageal Cancer Therapeutics Program at Johns Hopkins and as the Director of Global Oncology for John Hopkins International. In the latter role, he was responsible for improving the quality of cancer care in all John Hopkins-affiliated hospitals across four continents. He performs translational and clinical research encompassing the discovery and the development of new targeted and immunotherapeutic approaches in the prevention and treatment of gastroesophageal cancer and lung cancer. He is the National and International Principal Investigator on numerous ongoing phase II and phase III studies investigating single agent and combination immune checkpoint inhibitors in locally advanced and metastatic gastroesophageal cancer. Dr Kelly was the lead investigator and first author for the practice changing phase III global CheckMate 577 study across 29 countries and 170 sites, which demonstrated the efficacy of adjuvant nivolumab in resected stage II/III esophageal/gastroesophageal cancer post tri-modality therapy. The results of the CheckMate 577 study were published in the New England Journal of Medicine in April 2021 and adjuvant nivolumab received FDA approval in May 2021 and EMA approval in July 2021. It is now a new standard of care across the world. Dr Kelly is the co-chair and lead author of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) GI committee which has developed the most comprehensive immuno-oncology specific guidelines for GI malignancies published to date. Dr Kelly is the Founder and the Director of the Texas Immuno-Oncology Biorepository (TIOB), the Texas Multi Cancer Early Detection Registry (50,000 patients) and the Texas Cancer Interception Institute (TCII).

Dr. Kim is a Service Chief of Medical Gastrointestinal Oncology and Senior Member in the Gastrointestinal Oncology Department at Moffitt Cancer Center. He is a Professor of Oncology at the University of South Florida College of Medicine. Dr. Kim received his medical degree from the University of Miami School of Medicine and completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He pursued a postdoctoral fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at Yale University Comprehensive Cancer Center in New Haven, CT. Before coming to Moffitt in 2010, Dr. Kim was an associate physician in gastrointestinal malignancies at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center and a clinical assistant professor at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. Dr. Kim was named 2008 Teacher of the Year at the Cleveland Clinic and selected for the 2008 Southwest Oncology Group Young Investigator Program and SWOG’s Intergroup Colon Task Force for junior faculty. Dr. Kim’s clinical and research interests focus on gastrointestinal tumors, in particular hepatobiliary and colon cancer. He is a principal investigator in multiple investigator-initiated and pharmaceutical phase I, II , III trials using immunotherapy and novel targeted agents. Dr. Kim has published in many peer reviewed journals including Lancet Oncology, British Journal of Cancer, JAMA Oncology, Clinical Cancer of Research, Cancer and Journal of Clinical Oncology along with many book chapters. He has been an ad hoc editorial reviewer for many professional journals, including Journal of Clinical oncology, Annals of Oncology, Cancer and Lancet Oncology. Dr Kim has spoken at over 50 national and international events, most recently ASCO Direct Highlights, the annual meeting of the Florida Academic Cancer Center Alliance, and the Spring Managed Care Forum in Orlando, FL.

Dr. Meric- Bernstam is the Chair of the Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics -- the Phase I Program at MD Anderson Cancer Center, the Medical Director of the Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy (IPCT), and The Nellie B. Connally Chair in Breast Cancer at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Meric-Bernstam has a basic and translational research program that is focused on molecular therapeutics to delineate the mechanism of action of each agent targeting this pathway and the molecular alterations useful to prospectively identify patients who will benefit most from each agent, and optimal combination therapies. Her clinical research is focused on Phase I /II trials with focus on novel mechanisms of action, novel combination therapies and biomarkers to predict and monitor drug response. As the Medical Director of the Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy at MD Anderson, she has not only led large efforts of genomic testing within the institution, but has a) helped build a framework for rapid assessment of actionability of genomic alterations; b) established a Precision Oncology Decision Support Team who can provide point of care input for actionability; c) launched the public website “http://www.personalizedcancertherapy.org” providing access to expert curation of information on therapeutic relevance of specific genes/variants; d) created databases and clinical trial alert systems to facilitate accrual to genotype-selected trials across the institution; and e) monitors trial enrollment after genomic testing to identify approaches to obstacles to trial enrollment.

Dr. Ryan Moy is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and medical oncologist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center where he specializes in the treatment of GI malignancies, with a focus on esophageal and stomach cancers. He received his MD/PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and completed internship and residency training in Internal Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He then completed fellowship training in Medical Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and postdoctoral research at The Rockefeller University. Dr. Moy leads the gastric cancer clinical trial program at Columbia and is conducting research to discover key vulnerabilities in esophagogastric cancers, with the goal of translating these findings from the lab to develop more effective treatments for patients. His work has been supported by a NCI K08 Award and grants from the Department of Defense, Gastric Cancer Foundation, and AACR.

Sujatha Nallapareddy, MD
GI Medical Oncologist, Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers, Aurora, CO

Dr. Nallapareddy is a board-certified medical oncologist and hematologist and has been practicing at Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers for over 10 years. She specializes in gastrointestinal cancers, skin cancers, breast cancers, and non-cancerous blood disorders. She graduated from Osmania Medical College and completed her residency in Internal Medicine from State University – New York-Buffalo, and her fellowship in Hematology/Medical Oncology from University of Colorado. Dr. Nallapareddy has served as a principal investigator for many clinical research trials and emphasizes the importance of participating in clinical research trials when appropriate to ensure her patients are receiving the most up-to-date, cutting-edge treatment for their disease. She does presentations for the community about the risks, treatments, and prevention for colorectal cancers and works closely with Colon Cancer Alliance to increase awareness around cancer prevention. She participates in many tumor boards, where she collaborates with other cancer specialists including surgeons, radiologists, pathologists, and radiation oncologists. This allows her to provide a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary approach to cancer treatment recommendations such as chemotherapy, targeted therapies, and immunotherapies.

Anne M. Noonan, MBBCh
Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

Dr. Noonan is a medical oncologist who specializes in the treatment of breast cancer and gastrointestinal malignancies like esophageal, pancreatic and colorectal cancers, as well as hepatocellular carcinoma. Her medical degree, residency and initial fellowship in medical oncology were completed in Ireland followed by a second fellowship in medical oncology at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, where she focused on laboratory research and biomarker-driven phase I and II clinical trials. She currently serve as an assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at The Ohio State University and as section chief of the Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology Section. As a member of the Translational Therapeutics Program at the OSUCCC – James, her research interests include the development of biomarker-driven targeted therapies through clinical trials and translational research. In 2012, she received the Marsha Rivkin Scientific Scholar Award for my work on proteomic biomarker development to treat relapsed ovarian cancer. She has published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research and the British Medical Journal. She is committed to providing individualized, multidisciplinary care for my patients by incorporating supportive treatments as well as the most up-to-date cancer therapies, including clinical trials.

Paul E. Oberstein, MD
Director, Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology Program, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY

Dr. Oberstein focuses on cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, he treats people with various types of cancer, including stomach, pancreatic, colorectal, bile duct, and liver cancers. He works as the assistant director of the Pancreatic Cancer Center, part of NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, where they focus exclusively on research and treatment for people who have pancreatic cancer. His treatments are research-driven and he has participated in many clinical trials with the hope of providing our patients with newer and better treatment options, such as immunotherapy and novel chemotherapy combinations, along with better supportive and nutritional care. His research focus is on translational research, which means we collaborate with scientists who have made novel discoveries and help translate these discoveries into new treatments. He is also a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the American Association for Cancer Research and recipient of an ASCO Young Investigator Award for my work in clinical trials and a KL2 Career Development Award from the National Cancer Institute.

Aman Opneja, MBBS
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Member of Duke Cancer Institute, Duke Cancer Center, Durham, NC

Dr. Aman Opneja serves as Assistant Professor of Medicine and Member of Duke Cancer Institute at Duke Cancer Center. He graduated from Maulana Azad Medical College and completed his residency in Internal Medicine from Sinai Hospital of Baltimore and his fellowship in Hematology & Medical Oncology from Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Aman Opneja has expertise in treating prostate cancer, small intestine/colorectal cancer, among other conditions. He has an interest in clinical trials and improving access to clinical trials for gastrointestinal cancer patients.

Wungki Park, MD, MS
Assistant Profession of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, Assistant Attending Physician, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY

Dr. Wungki park is a medical oncologist who specializes in caring for people with cancers of the pancreas, and bile system. He serves as Assistant Attending Physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He graduated from Yonsei University, Wonju College of Medicine and completed her residency in Internal Medicine from Mount Sinai West-St. Luke’s and fellowship in Medical Oncology from University of Miami, Jackson Memorial Hospital. Dr. Park works to develop new drugs for pancreatic cancer and other GI cancers. He designs and conducts clinical trials at institutional, national, and international levels. In the lab, he does mostly translational research to understand the resistance mechanism and to discover new putative therapeutic targets. His recent work is focused on immunogenomics of pancreatic cancer especially associated with DNA damage repair deficiency (MSI-H, BRCA2, 1, PALB2, ATM), novel therapies against KRAS, cell surface targets such as CLDN18.2 and TF.

Matthew Reilley, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Director UVA Phase 1 Program, Director GI Medical Oncology Research, Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Virginia

Matthew Reilley, MD, is an associate professor of medicine at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He manages patients with gastrointestinal cancers, including those in the stomach, esophagus, liver/bile ducts, pancreas, small intestines, colon, and rectum, as well as neuroendocrine tumors. Dr. Reilley’s research is focused on developing new and effective therapies for patients with advanced cancer. He has led dozens of clinical trials and directs the phase 1 clinical trial program at the UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Reilley earned his medical degree from Brown University. He completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Pennsylvania and a fellowship in hematology & medical oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he served as chief fellow. He has been recognized for his outstanding patient care and excellence in research. Dr. Reilley is board-certified in medical oncology and internal medicine.

Mohamed Salem, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, Levine Cancer Institute, Atrium Health, Charlotte, NC

Dr. Mohamed Salem, is an associate professor and gastrointestinal medical oncologist at Levine Cancer Institute. Dr. Salem specializes in the treatment of GI malignancies, particularly colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer and state-of-the art approaches for advanced malignancies. He also has a special interest in treating colon cancer in young adults. Dr. Salem graduated from University of Alexandria and completed his residency from Wright State University School of Medicine and his fellowship in experimental therapeutics at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Taussig Cancer Institute, and a fellowship in hematology and oncology at the Wayne State University Karmanos Cancer Institute At Levine, Dr. Salem is the principal investigator on several clinical trials and is an investigator on other GI cancer clinical trial teams. He is a member of numerous professional associations and has presented his research results at national and international meetings and has published several important papers. Dr. Salem has won several awards for his work, including a Merit Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology and Molecular Cancer Research Michael B. Kastan Award for Research of AACR.

Nilay S. Sethi, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Gastrointestinal Medical Oncologist, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA

Nilay S. Sethi, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, a gastrointestinal medical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), and an Associate Program Director of the DFCI medical oncology fellowship. Dr. Sethi earned his BS from The College of New Jersey, his MD from Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and his PhD in molecular biology from Princeton University. Following residency in Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, he completed a medical oncology fellowship at DFCI, pursuing postdoctoral research in functional genomics of gastrointestinal cancers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute. In 2020, Dr. Sethi established his laboratory at DFCI, where he now balances his clinical care of patients with gastrointestinal cancers and a robust research program aimed at understanding these complex diseases. His lab employs an integrative and multidisciplinary approach, merging patient-derived models and data, advanced mouse models, and detailed cellular studies. The research group particularly focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying differentiation barriers and aberrant plasticity in colorectal cancer, examining gene-environment interactions and epigenetic regulation. Dr. Sethi is deeply motivated by the hope that insights from his lab will open novel pathways toward preventive strategies and innovative therapies for gastrointestinal cancers.

Dr. Shaheen is a medical oncologist specializing in gastrointestinal malignancies, with a particular focus on neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). Following her fellowship in Hematology and Oncology, she pursued an advanced fellowship in Neuroendocrine Tumors at Stanford University. This pioneering fellowship, the first of its kind in the United States, was initiated by Dr. Pamela Kunz, the founding Director of the Stanford Neuroendocrine Tumor Program established in 2015. After completing her advanced fellowship, Dr. Shaheen joined the Stanford Oncology division as a Clinical Assistant Professor. In this role, she has continued to develop and expand the neuroendocrine oncology program, actively engaging in research and clinical trials focused on neuroendocrine tumors. In addition to her research contributions, Dr. Shaheen is deeply committed to promoting equity in both the workforce and patient care. She currently serves as the Associate Division Chief for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Division of Oncology at Stanford. Dr. Shaheen is also the Chair of the NANETS Diversity and Membership Committee, where she works to enhance diversity and inclusion within the field of neuroendocrine tumors.

Ardaman Shergill, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Section of Hematology/Oncology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Dr. Shergill is a skilled oncologist who specializes in providing care to patients with all kinds of gastrointestinal cancers: colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, rectal cancer, appendix cancers, anal cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, gastric cancer and liver cancer. In combination to her clinical work, Dr. Shergill uses research to improve care for her patients. Currently, she is developing novel therapies so she can offer her patients’ innovative clinical trials for gastrointestinal cancers. Dr. Shergill is also an executive officer for at Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, a National Cancer Institute funded oncology research organization. She graduated from Wayne State University School of Medicine and completed her residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Medical Oncology from University of Illinois. Dr. Shergill is an active researcher, and she has been published in several peer-reviewed journals, including Annals of Surgical Oncology, Anticancer Research, Cancer Informatics and the Journal of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics. Her research focuses on clinical investigations of targeted therapies for gastrointestinal cancers, especially treatments aimed at the KRAS pathway found in some gastrointestinal cancers. Dr. Shergill is developing clinical trials that use novel therapies to advance clinical care. She serves as executive officer and part of the leadership team for the gastrointestinal cancers committee at the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, a National Cancer Institute funded oncology research organization.

Aditya Shreenivas, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research, City of Hope, Duarte, CA

Dr. Aditya Shreenivas is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutic Research at City of Hope. He earned his medical degree at JSS Medical School in Mysuru, India, then completed a residency in internal medicine at Bronx-Lebanon Medical Center and a fellowship in hematology-oncology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where he also earned a master’s degree in clinical research. Board-certified in hematology and oncology, Dr. Shreenivas takes an individualized approach to treating cancer with leading-edge options, with a particular focus on gastrointestinal cancers and head and neck cancers. As a researcher, he focuses on studying innovative therapeutics and pioneering new approaches to precision medicine. Dr. Shreenivas will also be affiliated with City of Hope's experimental therapeutics and early drug development program. He believes in the concept of vertical research, and the overall thrust of his research work has been focused on creating a small but significant impacts in the field of oncology. Dr. Shreenivas remains committed to a career focused on symptom management, experimental therapeutics, and precision medicine. He has co-authored several peer-reviewed articles

Stacey Stein, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine, CINJ Rutgers University, Systems Medical Oncology Leader for Hepatobiliary Cancers, RWJBarnabas Health, New Brunswick, NJ

Dr. Stacey Stein joined Rutgers Cancer Institute as an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and as the System Medical Oncology Director for Hepatobiliary Cancer for RWJ Barnabas Health. She graduated from Rutgers University and RWJ Medical School. She then completed Internal Medicine training at Montefiore Medical Center in New York and completed a Medical Oncology fellowship at NYU Medical Center. Dr. Stein has expertise in treating patients with all GI cancers and has been a clinical investigator on numerous GI cancer clinical trials with a focus in hepatobiliary cancers. She is passionate about patient care and provides excellent clinical care and opportunities for patients to participate in clinical trials at CINJ and across the entire RWJ Barnabas Health network. She collaborates with colleagues across many specialties, including surgery, GI, radiation oncology, and interventional radiology as a multidisciplinary team to coordinate the best treatment plan for every patient.

Weijing Sun, MD is currently the Sprint Professor of Medical Oncology; Professor of Medical Oncology and Cancer Biology; the Director of Medical Oncology Division, University of Kansas School of Medicine; and the Associate Director of University of Kansas Cancer Center. He graduated from Shanghai Medical University (now mergied with Fudan University). He had his Internal Medicine residency training at Loyola University Medical Center, and Hematology-Oncology fellowship training at University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Sun focuses on the treatment and clinical research of GI malignancies, mainly on the development of new drugs and biologic/targeted oriented agents in treatment/therapy (including translational and immune research) of GI cancers with great experiences in the early phase clinical trial (phase I, II) designing, protocol development and conduction, and many of these have been published. He has served as a member of ECOG-ACRIN GI core committee; a member of NCI GI Cancer’s Steering Committee Hepatobiliary Task Force. He has served as PI for many investigate initiated studies and pharmaceutical companies’ trials. Dr. Sun has authored many publications including original clinical research articles, reviews, and invited editorial comments in a variety of peer-reviewed journals. He has also written chapters as a GI oncology expert for several medical textbooks including WebMD, Textbook of Gastroenterology. He is the editor-in-chief of the textbook of Multidisciplinary Therapy of GI Malignancies. He has had more than 130 publications.

Mohamedtaki A. Tejani, MD
Medical Director - Gastrointestinal (GI) Oncology Program, AdventHealth Cancer Institute, Orlando, FL

Mohamedtaki A. Tejani, MD, received his Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude from Amherst College. He later earned his medical degree from Dartmouth Medical School. Dr. Tejani went on to complete his residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, CT, achieving the rank of Chief Resident. Following this, he completed his fellowship training in hematology/oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center/Temple University in Philadelphia. Dr. Tejani has authored numerous oncology-related publications. His research experience and areas of interest include gastrointestinal cancers, biomarkers and therapeutics, patient-provider communication and the culture of medicine. Dr. Tejani firmly believes that patient care is a privilege. Listening and responding to a patient's unique story is critical in helping that family on their cancer journey. Originally from Tanzania (East Africa), he is fluent in Swahili, Hindi, Urdu and Gujarati.

Jennifer Wu graduated from Albert Einstein College of Medicine located at New York in 2000, trained at Montefiore Medical Center for Internal Medicine, and completed fellowship at NYU School of Medicine in Hematology and Oncology. Jennifer joined faculty of Hematology Oncology Division at NYU Perlmutter Cancer Center and specialized in GI Oncology, is an Associate Professor of Medicine. Her research interest is in upper GI Oncology, and worked on clinical trials utilizing immunotherapy. She is also an advocate for peer education and passionate about increasing access to oncology care and biomarker testings for underserved oncology patient population.

Linda Wu, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY

Linda Wu, MD is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Dr. Wu earned her MD degree from Weill Cornell Medical College and completed residency training in Internal Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. She then completed fellowship training in Hematology and Medical Oncology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. As a medical oncologist, she specializes in the treatment of gastrointestinal malignancies, with particular focus on pancreatic and hepatobiliary cancers. Dr. Wu is actively involved in research to improve treatments for cancer. She is involved in developing and leading clinical trials, including multicenter investigator-initiated trials, to investigate novel therapeutic strategies for pancreatic and biliary cancers as well as other gastrointestinal malignancies. Her research interests also include discovering biomarkers predictive of response and resistance to therapy and understanding the tumor microenvironment to improve the effectiveness of immunotherapy for gastrointestinal malignancies, and she has published multiple articles in these areas. Dr. Wu works closely as part of a multidisciplinary team to deliver compassionate care at the highest levels, utilizing a personalized approach to offer cutting-edge therapies.

Dan Zhao, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

Dr. Dan Zhao is a medical oncologist specializes in pancreatic cancer. She is an assistant professor at the department of Gastrointestinal medical oncology (GIMO) at MD Anderson Cancer Center. She graduated from Tongji Medical College, China and complete her residency in Internal Medicine from Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center and fellowship in Hematology/Oncology from City of Hope National Medical Center. Dr. Zhao is board certified in internal medicine, hematology and oncology. She is the co-leader of the cellular therapy program at GIMO. Dr. Zhao is a member of the GI committees of SWOG and Alliance for clinical trials in oncology. She conducts clinical and translational cancer research and has published more than 30 research articles.