Carlos Chan, MD, PhD
University of Iowa
Proposal: “Clinical Translation of New Immunotherapy-based Concepts in Patients with Peritoneal Metastasis”
For more on Dr. Chan and his research click here.
*This award was made possible by donors to The SSO Research and Education Fund.
Christina L. Roland, MD, MS
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Proposal: “Characterization of Intratumoral B cells and Microbiome to Enhance Responses to Sarcoma Immune Checkpoint Blockade”
*This award was made possible by donors to The SSO Research and Education Fund.
For more on Dr. Roland and her research click here.
Clinical Investigator Award for Under-Represented (Black Indigenous People of Color/BIPOC) Surgeons
Chukwuemeka Ihemelandu, MD
Georgetown University
“Peptide-Based Imaging for Intraoperative Fluorescence-Guided Colorectal Cancer Surgery”
*Supported by a grant from Genentech, Inc.
For more on Dr. Ihemelandu and his research click here.
Vikas Dudeja, MD
University of Alabama Birmingham
Proposal: “Evaluation of the Effect of Gut Microbiome Composition on Response of Colon Cancer Metastases to Systemic Therapy”
This award was made possible by donors to The SSO Research and Education Fund.
For more on Dr. Dudeja and his research click here.
Ajay V. Maker, MD
Associate Professor of Surgery and Microbiology/Immunology, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine
Proposal: “Combination Immunotherapy to Treat Colon Cancer Metastases”.
This award was made possible by donors to The SSO Research and Education Fund.
For more on Dr. Maker and his research click here.
Christina V. Angeles, MD FACS
Assistant Professor of Surgery, Department of Surgery Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Proposal: Characterization of skin resident memory T cells in melanoma survivors
*Supported by a grant from Amgen.
Heather Neuman, MD, MS
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Department of Surgery
Proposal: Understanding Socioeconomic Disparities in the Receipt of Post-Mastectomy Breast Reconstruction
*Supported by an educational grant from Genentech, Inc.
For more on Dr. Neuman and her research click here.
Genevieve Boland, MD, PhD
Massachusetts General Hospital, Division of Surgical Oncology
Proposal: Tumor and Immune Monitoring via Exosomal Analysis in Patients on Targeted Therapy with Anti-PD1 Immunotherapy
Supported by an educational grant from Amgen
Genevieve M. Boland, MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and an Assistant in Surgery in the Division of Surgical Oncology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Her primary clinical focus is on melanoma and cutaneous oncology. Dr. Boland serves on the Surgical Oncology Program Committee for the Dana Farber/Harvard Surgical Oncology Fellowship, the Harvard Surgery Research Day Committee, the Resident Advisory Committee and the MGH Executive Committee on Research Subcommittee for Research Review. Her laboratory is currently focused on characterization of molecular and immunological changes that occur during immunotherapy and the identification of circulating biomarkers of cancer. As a Broad Institute affiliate, she is establishing analytic pipelines for blood-based biomarker development in cancer to transition novel biomarkers to CLIA-based assays and to prospectively validate their use through clinical trials.
Rebecca Gladdy, MD, PhD
Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health System, University of Toronto
Proposal: Metabolic Reprogramming in Sarcoma-Repurposing Statins as Anticancer Agents
Supported by an educational grant from Genentech
Dr. Gladdy is a Surgeon Scientist and Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto who joined the faculty in 2008 after completing a Surgical Oncology Fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Her independent research program at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute is focused on developing functional genomics platforms to inform the development of much needed effective therapies for sarcoma patients. Her clinical expertise is in the surgical management of soft tissue sarcoma. Dr. Gladdy is a member of the Sarcoma Program, which is the Centre of Excellence for Sarcoma Care in Canada and is affiliated with Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Mount Sinai Hospital (MSH),and the Hospital for Sick Children. In addition to having a translational research lab, she is the Director of the GI Sarcoma Clinical Research Group at MSH, which is dedicated to advancing clinical care through engaging in clinical trials and improving quality of life for sarcoma patients.
Robert Canter, MD
University of California Davis School of Medicine in the Department of Surgery, Division of Surgical Oncology
Proposal: Radiation and Natural Killer Cell Immunotherapy to Target Tumor Heterogeneity in Canine Bone and Soft Tissue Sarcoma
Supported by an educational grant from Genentech, a member of the Roche Group.
Dr. Canter obtained his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed general surgery training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania followed by subspecialty training in Surgical Oncology at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In 2007, he joined the faculty of the University of California Davis School of Medicine in the Department of Surgery, Division of Surgical Oncology. Dr. Canter’s research focuses on sarcoma cancer stem cells as a mechanism of resistance to standard anti-proliferative anti-cancer therapies, and he is studying natural killer (NK) cellular immunotherapy as a mechanism to target the cancer stem cell population following standard cancer treatments such as radiotherapy. His goal is to translate these studies to early phase clinical trials for canine and human patients with advanced bone and soft tissue sarcomas. He currently holds the title of Associate Professor.
Kelly Olino, MD
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
Proposal: Therapeutic Synthetic Peptide Nanofiber Vaccines Targeting Melanoma
Supported by an educational grant from Amgen, Inc.
Dr. Kelly Olino was born in Queens, New York, and earned her BS from Cornell University in Biological Sciences and her MD from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine where she completed her residency in General Surgery. She completed a three year T32 research fellowship in tumor immunology during her residency training and was awarded the Anthony Imbembo Resident Teaching Award three times. Dr. Olino went on to complete a clinical fellowship at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City where in collaboration with Diane Reidy, MD, she conceived of and wrote a human clinical trial using pembrolizumab for the treatment of adrenocortical carcinoma which is currently accruing patients.
Dr. Olino is currently a Provost Scholar at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston where she is an Assistant Professor of Surgery. Dr. Olino is developing the tumor immunology program and currently focusing on utilizing nanofiber technology to develop cancer vaccines directed at melanoma.
George Miller, MD
New York University School of Medicine
Modulation of tumor-promoting influences of y&T cells in pancreatic carcinoma in a Phase II clinical trial utilizing perioperative gemcitabine + nab-paclitaxel
Supported by an educational grant from Genentech
George Miller is a hepatobiliary surgical oncologist at NYU School of Medicine and one of the leading academic surgeons in the world. He is Vice Chair of NYU’s Surgery Department, Director of NYU’s Cancer Immunology Program, and is PI on the only T32 training program in GI Oncology in the country. His research interests include understanding immune regulation of pancreatic and liver oncogenesis. Dr. Miller leads one of the most dynamic tumor immunology labs in the country. In 2016 alone he was the senior author on papers in Nature, Cell, and Nature Medicine. He is the PI on 3 active R01 grants and has been awarded 12 federal grants, and more than 40 awards total, over the past 6 years. Dr. Miller’s areas of investigation include novel target identification, development of new biologics, and translation to clinical trial. Dr. Miller is also an accomplished HPB surgeon and has been nominated for University-wide teaching awards.
Ryan C. Fields, MD
Barnes-Jewish Hospital and the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine
Identifying Novel Mechanisms of Metastases in Colorectal Cancer
Supported by an educational grant from Genentech
Ryan C. Fields, M.D., F.A.C.S. is an Assistant Professor of Hepato-pancreato-biliary, Gastrointestinal, and Oncologic Surgery at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. He also serves as an Associate Program Director for the General Surgery Residency Program and is Director of Resident Research. Dr. Fields completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan where he was mentored in Cancer Immunology and Biology by Drs. Alfred Chang, Vernon Sondak, and James Mulé. He received his MD degree from Duke University where he was mentored by Dr. Douglas Tyler and completed a General Surgery Residency at Barnes-Jewish Hospital at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he worked with Drs. Timothy Eberlein, David Linehan, William Hawkins, and Jeffrey Moley. After completing a Surgical Oncology Fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center under the leadership of Drs. Murray Brennan and Ronald DeMatteo, Dr. Fields joined the faculty at Washington University. His clinical interests include the treatment of primary and secondary/metastatic liver tumors, pancreatic cancer, gastric cancer, sarcoma, and melanoma/skin cancer. His research focuses on the biology and genetics of cancer metastases. Through collaborations at The Genome Institute at Washington University and the Department of Medical Oncology, Dr. Fields and his team are applying cutting edge genomic techniques to investigate the changes a tumor undergoes from primary malignancy to metastatic disease
Cleveland Clinic
The Microbiome and Human Breast Cancer
Supported by an educational grant from Amgen
Swati Kulkarni, MD
University of Chicago Medicine & Biologic Sciences
Bariatric surgery alters estradiol availability and estrogen receptor alpha activity in postmenopausal women
Supported by an educational grant from Susan G. Komen for the Cure®
Dr. Kulkarni is an Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Her clinical practice is focused in breast cancer. Dr. Kulkarni received her MD degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania. She completed her general surgery residency at The New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center and a breast fellowship at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. After completing her training, Dr. Kulkarni joined the faculty at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in 2004 where she received funding from the NCI for her research and was the director of the Breast Cancer Risk Assessment and Prevention Program. She moved to the University of Chicago in 2011 where she continues to be an active clinical and translational researcher with a primary interest in breast cancer prevention.
Jonathan Wright, MD
Assistant Professor
University of Washington Department of Urology, School of Medicine
Research: “A Phase 1-2 Study of Rapamycin and Cisplatin/Gemcitabine for Treatment of Patients with Bladder Cancer”
Supported by an educational grant from Amgen
Dr. Wright is a board certified urologist at the University of Washington and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. After finishing his Urology Residency at the University of Washington, he completed a two-year Society of Urologic Oncology Accredited Fellowship in Urologic Oncology at the University of Washington. He performs both open and robotic surgery for the management of urologic malignancies. Dr. Wright is also an Affiliate Investigator at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and has a Masters Degree in Epidemiology. His research interests include biomarkers in bladder cancer and improving outcomes for patients with bladder cancer. In addition to the Society of Surgical Oncology, Dr. Wright is also a member of the American College of Surgeons, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Society of Urologic Oncology and the American Urological Society.
Tina Yen, MD
Associate Professor, Division of Surgical Oncology
The Medical College of Wisconsin
Research: “A population-based study of sentinel lymph mode biopsy adoption among breast cancer patients: Does efficacy translate to effectiveness?”
Supported by an educational grant from Genentech
Dr. Yen is an Associate Professor of Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) with a clinical practice focused in breast cancer and endocrine surgery. She has a primary affiliation with MCW’s Center for Patient Care and Outcomes Research and is the Director of MCW’s Cancer Center’s Observational Methods Shared Resource. Dr. Yen received her MD degree from Harvard Medical School and completed her general surgery residency at the University of Washington and surgical oncology fellowship at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. She joined MCW in 2004 and received a Masters of Science degree in Epidemiology in 2006. Dr. Yen recently completed a 5-year NCI K07 career development award and competitive ARRA administrative supplement on lymphedema after breast cancer treatment, utilizing survey data, SEER and Medicare claims. Her health services research interests focus on studying breast cancer quality of care, patterns of care, and the relationship of these patterns of care to outcomes of breast cancer survivors in the United States.
Jacqueline S. Jeruss, MD
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine/Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center
Synergistic Action of Carboplatin/Eribulin in Combination with CDK Inhibitor Therapy for the Treatment of Triple Negative Cancer
Supported by an educational grant from Susan G. Komen for the Cure®
Charlotte Eielson Ariyan, MD, PhD
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Combining CTLA-4 Blockade with Regional Chemotherapy to Augment Anti-Tumor Immunity in Melanoma
Supported by an educational grant from Genentech
Jen Jen Yeh, MD
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Circulating Tumor Cells as a Biomarker for Treatment Response in Patients with Pancreatic Cancer
Supported by an educational grant from Amgen
Isabelle Bedrosian, MD
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Assessment of the Interaction Between DNA Damage Response Pathway and IGF-1 Signaling in Predicting Breast Cancer Risk
Supported by a grant from Susan G. Komen for the Cure®
Julie E. Lang, MD
University of Southern California
Isolation and Molecular Profiling of Circulating Tumor Cells in Breast Cancer
Supported by an educational grant from Myriad Genetics
Steven C. Katz, MD
Roger Williams Medical Center
Clinical and Preclinical Evaluation of Regional Immunotherapy for Liver Metastases
Supported by an educational grant fromGenentech
Sunil Singhal, MD
University of Pennsylvania
Nanotechnology for Intraoperative Cancer Detection and Image-Guided Surgery
Supported by an educational grant from Amgen