Educational Programmes

Dr. Teresa Troiani

Teresa Troiani is an Associate Professor at Medical Oncology, Department of Precision Medicine of University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”. She was awarded her degree as specialist in Medical Oncology in 2004 and her PhD in 2008. She completed her research training for almost 2 years at the University of Colorado Health Science Centre, Denver, CO, USA. During these 2 years she was involved in a translational programme for developing new targeted agents in colorectal cancer disease. After completing her medical school studies, she was awarded a Fellowship in Oncology at the “Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II” and decided to join the laboratory of Prof. Ciardiello and Prof. Tortora.

Dr Troiani has worked in their laboratory since 1998, studying the role of growth factors and their receptors in neoplastic transformation and the novel therapeutic strategies targeting growth factor receptor signalling.

Her long-term interest is translational oncology, developing new therapeutic strategies and initiating clinical trials. She has run a series of translational research projects, with both clinical and basic science investigational arms, at an academic medical centre. During her career, she has learnt that to fight cancer is a big challenge and only by connecting the preclinical with the clinical work it is possible to make one piece of the wider puzzle. She is an active member of ESMO.

Dr. Tracy L. Stockley

Dr. Stockley is the Head of the Department of Clinical Laboratory Genetics at the University Health Network in Toronto. The Department is the largest molecular pathology laboratory service in Canada and consists of two labs, the translational Advanced Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory at the Princess Margaret Cancer Center, and the clinical Genome Diagnostics Laboratory at Toronto General Hospital. Dr. Stockley’s role at UHN includes oversight of genetic testing for oncology including companion diagnostics, genomic test development for clinical laboratory use, and applications of next-generation sequencing to clinical care. Dr. Stockley has an interest in quality improvement related to high-complexity laboratory testing, and has participated in standard development for molecular diagnostics with multiple national and international organizations including Health Canada, Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), European Molecular Quality Network and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Dr. Stockley is an Associate Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto, and the current President of the Canadian College of Medical Geneticists.

Prof. Fernando López-Ríos

Fernando López-Ríos is Director of Pathology and the Targeted Therapies Laboratory at the Hospital Universitario HM Sanchinarro in Madrid (Spain) and Professor of Pathology and Molecular Pathology at Universidad CEU San Pablo in Madrid. He received his medical degree and PhD in Madrid from the Faculty of Medicine at Autónoma University and Complutense University respectively, and completed his residency in pathology at the University Hospital ‘12 de Octubre’ in Madrid. Dr López-Ríos has also been a visiting researcher at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, USA. His main clinical and research expertise is in cancer biomarker testing with a special emphasis in lung cancer and mesothelioma. He is currently a member of the IASLC pathology committee.

Prof. Andrea Sartore-Bianchi

Dr. Erin Rudzinski

Dr. Erin Rudzinski completed her undergraduate degree at Berry College, graduating magna cum laude in 1999. She obtained her medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia in 2003. Dr. Rudzinski completed her anatomic and clinical pathology residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2007. Following her residency, she completed an additional anatomic pathology fellowship year at Vanderbilt, followed by a pediatric pathology fellowship at Seattle Children’s Hospital/University of Washington Medical Center. She joined the staff at Seattle Children’s Hospital in 2009, and she is currently a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Washington.

Dr. Rudzinski specializes in pediatric solid tumors, with a focus on pediatric soft tissue tumors. The goal of her research is improving the morphologic and molecular classification of pediatric soft tissue tumors, including the development of ancillary diagnostic biomarkers (ie. immunohistochemistry). Dr. Rudzinski is an active member of the Children’s Oncology Group, the College of American Pathologists, and the Society for Pediatric Pathology.

Prof. Viktor Grünwald, MD

Viktor Grünwald is a professor for Interdisciplinary Urooncology at the University Hospital Essen. Professor Grünwald specialises in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology. His main areas of research interest are in renal cell carcinoma, soft tissue sarcomas, head and neck cancers, with an emphasis on the development of molecular and immunotherapies.

Prof Grünwald graduated from the Medical School Hannover in 1998, after which he was appointed as a Private Lecturer in Haematology and Oncology at the same institution. He became professor for Haematology and Oncology at the Medical School Hannover in 2014. Professor Grünwald was appointed to the steering committee for genitourinary (GU) cancers (non-prostate) at the ESMO and ESMO ASIA Congress and is part of scientific committees of the International Kidney Cancer Symposium (EIKCS), German Cancer Congress (DKK) and the German Society for Hematology and Oncology (DGHO). He has co-chaired the Phase 3 Working Group of the Central European Society of Anticancer Drug Research (CESAR) studies group and a former member of the board of the German Medical Oncology studies group (AIO). Prof. Grünwald chairs the AIO Head and Neck (SCCHN) Working Group and within the AIO he is the former spokesman of the Sarcoma (STS) Working Group. Within the German Cancer Society, he chairs the Working Group for renal tumors (RCC) and is co-chair of the interdisciplinary head and neck tumors group. He chairs the ESMO preceptorship on SCCHN and is part of the faculty of the ECCO-AACR-EORTC-ESMO workshop on methods in clinical cancer research. His current trial proposals explore novel concepts in RCC, STS and SCCHN, focusing on translational research and drug development of immunotherapies in these indications.

Dr. Luca Toschi

Luca Toschi, MD is a Medical Oncologist currently serving at Humanitas Cancer Center in Milan, Italy, where he is involved with patient care and translational research programs in lung cancer.

Dr. Toschi obtained his Medical Degree at University of Bologna and completed his residency in Medical Oncology at the University of Milan. In 2001 and 2002 he served as a short term research intern at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, where he studied genetic aberrations in oxyphilic thyroid tumors. In 2004 he joined the Cytogenetics Core at Colorado Cancer, Aurora, CO as a research intern to investigate the use of Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors. From 2007 to 2010 he served as research fellow at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA in Pasi Jänne laboratory where he focused on the characterization of mechanisms of acquired resistance to EGFR and c-MET inhibitors in NSCLC. Dr. Toschi’s research has been supported by Associazione Italiana perla Ricercasul Cancro and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.

Prof. Ezra Cohen

Ezra Cohen, MD, is co‐Director of the San Diego Center for Precision Immunotherapy and an internationally renowned translational researcher. A physician‐scientist, Dr. Cohen led an independently funded laboratory interested in mechanisms of action of novel therapeutics. He has made major contributions to targeted and immunotherapy. His research has received peer-reviewed funding in the study of epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors, cell therapy, and immunotherapy in head and neck cancer. He has made major contributions to the understanding of critical signaling pathways, integration of novel agents into standard of care, and definition of mechanisms to overcome resistance to drug therapy. He has also recently co‐developed a personalized neoantigen vaccine using unique cancer mutations to boost an anti‐tumor immune response.

Dr. Cohen is Associate Director for Translational Science and leader of the Solid Tumor Therapeutics research program at Moores Cancer Center. He brings his expertise and preeminent reputation in head and neck cancer research and patient care to solid tumor therapeutics. Among other roles, he is chair of the Protocol Review and Monitoring Committee (PRMC) and serves as a member of the Cancer Council, and the Cancer Center’s Executive Committee.
Dr. Cohen recently served as editor‐in‐chief of Oral Oncology, the highest impact specialty journal in head and neck cancer, and currently serves as senior editor for Clinical Cancer Research. He has been the principal investigator on multiple studies of novel agents in head and neck cancer and other solid tumors in all phases of development including chemoprevention, phase I, II, and III trials. Dr. Cohen has authored more than 170 papers and has presented his research at national and international meetings. In addition, he has served as a grant reviewer for the NIH, American Association for Cancer Research, American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research.

Dr. Cohen completed residencies in Family Medicine at the University of Toronto and in Internal Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed a Hematology/Oncology fellowship at the University of Chicago where he was named chief fellow. Prior to his arrival in San Diego, Dr. Cohen was Co‐Director of the Head and Neck Cancer Program, Associate Director for Education and Program Director for the Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center. A dedicated educator, Dr. Cohen also mentored and developed young faculty in his program.

Prof. Frédéric Bibeau

Frédéric Bibeau, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Pathology at the head of the Pathology Department of the Caen University Hospital, Normandy University. He is involved translational research, in immunoncology of solid tumors and in gastrointestinal tumor pathology, notably colorectal cancer, both at the diagnostic and research levels. For ten years his work has been focused on rectal cancer, microsatellite instable colorectal cancer, liver metastases after induction treatment, peritoneal carcinomatosis and predictive factors linked to targeted therapies and immunotherapy. He also involved national and international groups specialized in rare tumors of the peritoneum. He is one of two coordinators of the BIG-RENAPE network, corresponding to a biological and clinical database dedicated to peritoneal carcinomatosis of digestive origin.
Professor Bibeau is author or co-author of 179 publications. He belongs to the board of national and international reviews. He is a member of the French Society of Pathology, International Academy of Pathology and the European Society of Medical Oncology.

CATERINA MARCHIÒ, MD PhD

Caterina Marchiò, MD PhD, obtained her medical degree at The University of Turin graduating summa cum laude in 2004. She completed her PhD in 2008 after working in collaboration between the University of Turin and the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre at the Institute of Cancer Research in London between 2006 and 2008. Upon completion of the residency in Pathology at the University of Turin she visited as a Research Scholar the Department of Pathology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York in 2014.

She joined the faculty at the University of Turin as an Assistant Professor of pathology at the end of 2014 and she was appointed Associate Professor of Pathology in 2018. Between 2017 and 2018 she served as Visiting Professor at the Pathology Department of Institut Curie in Paris, as a Mayent-Rotschild grantee.

Prof. Caterina Marchiò is a diagnostic and experimental pathologist at the Pathology Unit of FPO-IRCCS Candiolo Cancer Institute (University of Turin). Her routine diagnostic activity focuses on breast pathology and molecular diagnostics of solid tumors, including sign-out for in situ hybridization, DNA sequencing and RNA-based assays applied to diagnostics. Her research interests span from histopathogenesis of breast carcinomas to molecular pathology of special histologic types of breast cancer and genetics of HER2-positive carcinomas. A specific interest in HER2-equivocal breast cancer has been funded by the Italian Association of Cancer Research (AIRC), Regione Piemonte and the Ministry of University, Education and Research. She has also actively worked on the standardization of the preanalytical conditions in Pathology to ensure optimal tissue preservation and quality of DNA, RNA and antigens. She is part of the SPIDIA4P consortium, funded by the European Community (H2020-SC1-2016-2017, EU project 733112 – “SPIDIA4P – SPIDIA for Personalized Medicine).