Editorial Board

He is a Principal Investigator at Cancer Biology & Experimental Therapeutics Theme, School of Biomedical Sciences, CUHK. He is also the Principal Investigator at Shenzhen Research Institute, CUHK at Shenzhen. He is actively involved in molecular biology of pancreatic cancer and liver cancer. He is also an active reviewer of multiple grant agencies and peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Simone Mocelin obtained Doctorate in Oncology and Surgical Oncology from the University of Padova Italy. Dr. Mocelin is presently serving as an Associate Professor of Surgery and Gastroenterology in the same University and he is also a Surgeon at the Surgical Oncology Unit. He has contributed more the 250 Publications having citation around 9110. He is a member of the editorial board of several international peer-review medical journals and is an editor of the Cochrane Colorectal Cancer Group.

Prof. Daniele Santini obtained the PhD in Immunophysiology at the University of Palermo. He has been Associate Professor of General Pathology at the Campus Bio-Medical University and Head of the Oncologic Day Hospital's Simple Operational Unit (UOS) at the Politecnico Universitario Campus Bio-Medico in Rome. As Co-Head of the Laboratory of Transnational Oncology, he leads numerous preclinical and translational studies with the collaboration of his staff. He is a member of many scientific societies (AIOM, ISO, ESMO GOIM, etc). He is an effective member of the Editorial Board and a reviewer of papers of some international scientific journals. He is author of over 300 publications in national and international scientific journals featuring impact factors.

He obtained training for Oral Maxillofacial Pathology from Harvard School of Medicine and Dana –Farber Cancer Center and is presently the Director of Oral Maxillofacial Pathology Research at the College of Dentistry, University of Illinois. His first studies focused on viral carcinogenesis and immune regulation. In 1970s, he reported that early detection and prevention of oral cancer can be influenced by diet and molecular pathways that regulate epithelial cell growth and differentiation. These associations are examined through animal models to study mucosa responses to carcinogens and immunology and epithelial biology of normal and tumorigenic cells, cell lines.


Hongzhang Deng received his Ph.D. in Material Chemical Engineering from Tianjin University in 2018. During his Ph.D. study, he joined the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology and Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences from 2014-2018. He then moved to Dr. Xiaoyuan Chen's Laboratory at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a postdoctoral fellow from 2018-2021. In 2021, he joined the faculty of Xidian University as a Professor. His current research focuses on the development of advanced nanomaterials for cancer immunotherapy.


Dr. Janaina Fernandes obtained her Ph.D. in Biophysics from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (2005). In her initial works, she characterized the cell death induced by Pomolic acid against sensitive and resistant leukemia, following these studies, she reported that TPSA was responsible for the substrate specificity of Multidrug Resistance Associated Protein-1. Currently, she is an associate professor of molecular genetics at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, focusing on the subjects: Cancer, apoptosis, multidrug resistance, natural products, and contrast agents.

Prof. Lesetja Raymond Motadi has B.Med Sci, M.Med and PhD in medical biochemistry. An academic cancer researcher with over 17 years’ postdoctoral experience encompassing undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and supervision with extensive research experience. He has a record of publications in high impact international journals. His research interest is in cancer biology, genetics and drug discovery. Current National Research Foundation (NRF) rated him with a C2 rating in 2021. He has a research background in a highly specialized area of molecular oncology and apoptosis with international recognition, which are reflected through his review articles in the international journals of high standard for e.g. Cell death and Disease; and through his keynote lectures at the international conferences.


Dr. Xiaomin Niu is a medical oncologist and an Associate Researcher in the Department of Shanghai Lung Cancer Center, Shanghai Chest Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. She is good at multi-disciplinary diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies. Dr. Niu has attended lots of global and regional clinical trials of drugs and drug combinations focused on targeted therapy and immunotherapy. She has authored or co-authored around 50 medical articles on lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies, and has supervised several government projects on lung cancer. Dr. Niu has been an active IASLC member for over a decade and additionally participates in ASCO, ESMO, CSCO, and the International Thymic Malignancies Interest Group (ITMIG). She takes particular pride in mentoring junior lung cancer investigators as the teaching assistant for the writing skills of scientific research papers at the school of medicine of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Dr. Dong Hee Ryu did Doctor of Philosophy in Medicine from the Chungbuk National University Cheongju, Korea in 2011. He did Doctor of Medicine and Master of Medicine both from the same university in 1994 and 1998, respectively. He did Resident Training in Surgery in 1999 from Chungbuk National University Hospital. From 1999-2002, he served in the Military as an Army surgeon. From 2002-2005, he was Chief in the Department of Surgery at the Cheongju St. Mary`s Hospital. Dr. Ryu is a member of a number of societies, such as The Korean Surgical Society, The Korean Association of HBP Surgery, Asia Pacific HPB Association Member, and the European Association for Transluminal Surgery(EATS). Currently, Dr. Ryu is serving as a Professor at the Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, Cheongju, Korea since 2017.


Ivan A. Stepanov did M.D., Ph.D., from Irkutsk State Medical University, in the department of Neurosurgery and Innovative Medicine, Irkutsk, Russia. He completed Fellowship in Neurosurgery from Irkutsk State Medical University during 2018-2021, and Residency from the same university in Neurosurgery during 2016-2018. He then became Consultant Neurosurgeon, Kharlampiev Clinic, from 2020 till date at the same university. He became the Assistant Professor at Irkutsk State Medical University in the Department of General Surgery in 2020 till date. Teaching Assistant, Irkutsk State Medical University, Department of Neurosurgery, 2016-2020. He received a number of grants such as the Grant of the Russian Science Foundation in 2015, Innovation Promotion Foundation Grant in 2017 etc. His H-index is 14 (Scopus author ID).


Xu Tian is currently a PhD candidate at Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Tarragona, Spain, and also the guest associate editor of Frontiers in Psychology and academic editors of Journal of Nursing Management, Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, and Nursing Research and Practice. He has been granted for about 10 funds at multiple levels and gained several governmental and academic awards. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles to date, served as editorial board members for 8 international journals and acted as peer reviewers of more than 20 academic journals.

Dr. Ablin is a Professor at University of Arizona College of Medicine, Arizona Cancer Center and BIO5 Institute and President, Robert Benjamin Ablin Foundation for Cancer Research, founded in memory of his father. He was honored as recipient of the First Award for Scientific Excellence. He discovered prostate-specific antigen (PSA), and was a nominee for the Lasker Award. He is a pioneer of cryosurgery and the concept of “cryoimmunotherapy” for the treatment of cancer. He is a member of Sigma Xi, Phi Beta Kappa and numerous professional societies. He has been an invited speaker, contributed numerous articles, co-editor of the book series Cancer Metastasis -Biology and Treatment and serves on the editorial board of several journals.

Professor Josep M. Argiles was born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain in 1956 and completed his undergraduate studies in Biology at the University of Barcelona graduating with a First Class Honours Degree and Special Prize for the best B.Sc. (1979). In 1981 he received his Doctorate in Biochemistry from the same university with Cum Laude obtaining the Prize for the best doctorate of that year. In 1987 he undertook further postdoctoral training in the Laboratory of Metabolism and Molecular Biology at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. He later became Full Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Cancer at the Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, and then became the leader of a research group interested in cancer cachexia.

Dr. Andrei V. Bakin obtained his Ph.D. degree (1990) in Molecular Biology from Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia. Since 2003, Dr. Bakin has been Associate/Assistant Professor of Oncology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, USA. Additionally, since 2014, he has also been performing the role of Research Associate/Assistant Professor, State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA. Dr. Bakin, as an author/co-author, has published more than 50 articles in various journals, having a noteworthy number of total citations, i.e. over 5,000. His professional memberships include the following: American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (1996-present), Metastasis Research Society (2004-present), American Society for Cell Biology (2004-present), and Tumor Microenvironment Society (2006-present).


Joseph R. Bertino, MD, is Professor at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and director of the school's Cancer Institute of New Jersey Bertino in New Brunswick. He has been internationally recognized for his role in finding curative treatments for leukemia and lymphoma. During his academic career. He received several awards and honors for his research accomplishments. Currently, he is the associate editor for Cancer Research and Clinical Cancer Research and also the editor of the Encyclopedia of Cancer. He is the author and co-author of more than 400 scientific publications. His research elucidated the mechanisms of methotrexate resistance in experimental models, and in cancer patients.

Monica C. Botelho has completed her Ph.D with Distinction in 2011 from the Faculty of Medicine of Porto University. She is the Head of Lab of Health Promotion and Chronic Diseases Unit of the National Institute of Health (INSA) Dr. Ricardo Jorge, is a premier health service organization in Porto, Portugal and Researcher at Instituto of Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S), Group of Metabolism, Nutrition and Endocrinology, of Porto University, Portugal. She has published more than 50 papers and has an H Index of 17 (Google Scholar metrics). Her areas of expertise include: Neglected Tropical Diseases associated Cancers and Infertility, Molecular carcinogenesis of schistosome associated squamous cell carcinoma of the bladder with mouse experiments as models of carcinogenesis, Effects of schistosoma-derived estrogenic molecules on cell lines and the accumulation and biodistribution of these molecules in animal models, and their possible carcinogenic effect and schistosomiasis associated catechol-estrogens as biomarkers of cancer and infertility.

Dr. Bukowski is an emeritus staff at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and was recently the Deputy Director of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center and Director of the Experimental Therapeutics at the Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center. He held the James Zito Chair in Cancer Research at the Taussig Cancer Center from 2001 to 2008. Dr. Bukowski is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of numerous professional societies, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the American Society of Hematology. He is a lifelong researcher with interests in immunotherapy, the immunology and biology of renal cell carcinoma, and new drug development and investigation. Currently Dr. Bukowski is a member of the board of directors of the Kidney Cancer Association, & its medical committee.

Dr. Choy is the Director of Sarcoma Research at the Division of Hematology Oncology at MGH and Assistant Professor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He specialized in the medical management of patients with sarcomas, gastrointestinal stromal tumors, chordomas, and desmoid tumors. He works closely with a team of world class surgical, orthopedic, and radiation oncologists as well as connective tissue pathologists and radiologists to provide optimal care for his patients. He directs a clinical trials program at the MGH Center for Sarcoma and Connective Tissue Oncology that includes 9-12 active phase I-III clinical trials.

Robert Clarke, Ph.D., D.Sc. leads Georgetown University Medical Center’s high performance research community, expanding its extramural funding and promoting the efforts of its faculty. Also, he works in collaboration with the Georgetown University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences to cultivate and strengthen the research components of the University’s graduate programs and the quality of graduate biomedical education. Clarke is co-director of the Georgetown-Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center breast cancer program, a professor in the Department of Oncology, and an internationally known breast cancer researcher.

Kathleen A. Cooney, MD, is Professor and Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, H.A. and Edna Benning Presidential Endowed Chair, at the University of Utah. She received her M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine at Philadelphia in 1984. Her research led to the important discovery of a recurrent mutation in the HOXB13 gene that increases the chances of being diagnosed with prostate cancer. As an oncologist, Cooney focuses on treating advanced forms of prostate cancer.

Dr. John M. Daly was Dean of the School of Medicine at Temple University from 2002 to 2011. Prior to that, he had been the Stimson Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery at the New York Presbyterian-Cornell Medical Center in New York City since 1993. He was previously Professor of Surgery and Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Daly is an internationally renowned surgeon whose clinical work and research are in the fields of surgical oncology, metabolism, and nutrition, authoring more than 300 peer-reviewed publications and 100 book chapters. He has served on the editorial boards of dozens of medical publications.

Dr. Danforth received his M.S. degree in physiology from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM and M.D. degree from Northwestern University, Chicago IL. He received his residency training in general surgery at the New York Hospital-Cornell medical Center in NYC, and received fellowship training in surgical oncology at the National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD, and the M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute, Houston TX. He is a Staff Clinician in the Surgery Branch, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda. He has published more than 100 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Louis Dubeau received his M.D.C.M. in 1979 and his Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1981, both from McGill University in Canada. He moved to University of Southern California in 1985 to study cancer biology and epigenetics under the sponsorship of Dr. Peter Jones. He became assistant professor in the Department of Pathology at University of Southern California in 1989, where he is currently Professor of Pathology and Medical Director of Molecular Pathology. His research is focused on the biology of ovarian carcinoma. Significant contributions include the understanding of the site of origin of these tumors and the mechanisms underlying their hormonal and genetic risk factors.

Wafik El-Deiry, MD, PhD, FACP is the Deputy Cancer Center Director for Translational Research, co-Leader of the Molecular Therapeutics Program, Professor of Oncology, and the William Wikoff Smith Endowed Chair in Cancer Research at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. He earned MD/PhD degrees from University of Miami School of Medicine and completed internal medicine residency and medical oncology fellowship at Johns Hopkins. He discovered cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor p21(WAF1) as a p53 target gene and cell cycle inhibitor. This is the most highly cited original work published in Cell. He has >350 peer-reviewed publications and edited 5 books. He is an elected member of the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars.

He studied the biological role of two Hsp90-binding immunophilins, FKBP51 and FKBP52. He postulated a novel model for the mechanism of action of steroid receptors, where FKBP52 links the receptor-Hsp90 complex to motor proteins favouring receptor retrotransport on cytoskeletal tracts, its passage through the nuclear pore and transcriptional activation. FKBP51 antagonizes these effects. The model was extended to other factors (HSF1, p53, NF-kB) and proposes that the FKBP52/FKBP51 expression ratio regulates the final biological response of factors with pleiotropic action. He also demonstrated that both immunophilins regulate neurodifferentiation, and have identified FKBP51 as a novel mitochondrial factor. It shows antiapoptotic action which is overexpressed in tumor cells and enhances telomerase activity.

Dr. Amato J. Giaccia obtained his Ph.D. in Pathology/Molecular Biology from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He is a Professor of Radiation Oncology, Associate Chair for Research & Director of the Division of Radiation & Cancer Biology in the Department of Radiation Oncology. He also is the Director of Basic Science at the Stanford Cancer Institute and heads the Radiation Biology Program in Stanford’s Cancer Center. He co-authored the sixth & seventh editions of the textbook, “Radiation Biology for the Radiologist,” with Professor Eric Hall from Columbia. In addition, he is currently the “Jack, Lulu and Sam Willson Professor in Cancer Biology” in the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Dr Raffaella Giavazzi obtained a doctorate (PhD) in Pharmacology from the University of Milan, Italy. She holds the Qualification of Professor in General Pathology and in Applied Biology. She was a post-doc Fellow at NCI-FCRDC, Frederick, (USA) and Assistant Professor at MD Anderson Hospital, Houston (USA). Currently Dr Giavazzi is Head of the Laboratory of Biology and Treatment of Metastasis at the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research and she is in the Board of Directors at the University of Trento, Italy. She has published approximately 200 articles in the field of Cancer Research and communicated approximately 400 studies in national and international congresses.

Dr. Grassilli received her Ph.D. degree from the University of Modena, Italy, and pursued her post-doctoral research at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia and European Institute of Oncology, Milan, studying the molecular mechanisms of apoptosis and their relevance in the response to chemotherapy. More recently, she co-founded Bionsil, a spin-off of the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy, aimed at identifying and characterizing novel targets for molecular diagnosis and therapy of drug-resistant cancers. From 2014 she is Assistant Professor at the University of Milano-Bicocca where she continues her work on p65BTK, a novel Bruton’s Tyrosine isoform previously identified as a new target of therapy in colon cancers.

Following Oncology Fellowship at Sidney Farber Cancer Institute, Dr. Won Hann joined Baruch Blumberg, the Nobel Laureate for discovery of HBV, at Fox Chase Cancer Center and worked on HBV, HCC, cancer enhancing effects of iron and anti-tumor effect of deferoxamine. Her new discovery included serum ferritin as the tumor and prognostic marker for neuroblastoma. Since 1988, she as the tenured Professor of Medicine and Director of Liver Disease Prevention Center at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, has continued work on HBV as the Site Principal Investigator of 32 clinical trials evaluating anti-HBV agents (Lamivudine, Adefovir, Telbivudine, Entecavir, Tenofovir and TAF (Tenofovir alafenamide).

Dr. Haq is a physician-scientist who specializes in metastatic melanoma. He received his MD and PhD at the University of Toronto and the Ontario Cancer Institute with various honors. His internal medicine training was in the Osler Housestaff Training Program at Johns Hopkins Hospital, followed by fellowship training in oncology at Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Care. At the completion of his clinical training, he was a post-doctoral fellow with Dr David E. Fisher (Massachusetts General Hospital). He has been a contributing author of numerous publications, including those published in Cancer Cell, Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. At Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, he is involved in developing the next generation of melanoma therapeutics and translating them to innovative investigator-initiated clinical trials. His clinical practice is dedicated to patients with melanoma.

Dr. Ilson is attending physician and member at Memorial Hospital, and professor of medicine at Weill-Cornell Medical College. His research interest is upper gastrointestinal cancer with a focus on esophageal cancer. His research focuses on the study of new agents in advanced esophageal cancer and in combined modality therapy. He sits on U.S. NCCN Gastric Cancer guideline panel, and the GI Cancer committees of Alliance/CALGB and NRG/RTOG. He is the former chair of the U.S. NCI Esophageal and Gastric Cancers Clinical Trial Task Force.

Maurizio D'Incalci obtained his Medical Degree cum Laude from the University of Milan (1978). Then he specialized in Pharmacology in 1979 and in Oncology in1981. He worked in the Molecular Pharmacology Laboratory, NCI, Bethesda (1983-84). He is chief of the Cancer Chemotherapy Laboratory since 1986 and of the Oncology Department since 1996 at the Mario Negri Institute. He has been a member of the board of several National and International organizations as EORTC, SENDO, and SIC and he is currently a member of AIRC, MaNGO, Fondazione Mattioli, and Fondazione Buzzi. He is the author of more than 500 papers on cancer pharmacology and of several book chapters.

Dr. Bernd Kaina obtained his Ph.D. in genetics in 1976 from the University of Halle, Germany. He completed his postdoctoral training from the Institute of Genetics in Gatersleben and continued his studies on DNA repair at the Department of Molecular Biology in Leiden, the Netherlands, at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg and, as a Heisenberg fellow, at the Department of Genetics of the Nuclear Research Center in Karlsruhe, Germany. In 1993, he was appointed a full professor for molecular toxicology at the Institute of Toxicology of the University of Mainz, then became the director of the institute in 2003. He is the author of more than 280 scientific publications and serves as editorial board member and reviewer for several scientific journals.

Dmitri V. Krysko graduated from the Saratov State Medical University (Russia) in 1998 and then he moved to Belgium, where, in 2006, he obtained the Ph.D. degree from the Ghent University (Belgium). Dr. Krysko worked as a FWO Postdoctoral Scientist in the lab of Prof. Vandenabeele (VIB-Ghent University). From October 2016 Dr. Krysko has been appointed as Associate Professor at the Department of Basic Medical Sciences at Faculty of Medicine and Heath Sciences in Ghent University and a group leader of the CRIG (Cancer Research Institute Ghent). Dr. Krysko received several awards for his scientific work and serves as an Editorial Board Member of “Apoptosis” and “Mediators of Inflammation”. He published more than 60 articles in peer-reviewed international journals.


Ji-Liang Li is a full professor and chair in Cancer Immunology in Plymouth University Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry (PUFoMD), UK. He studied Medicine and had his postgraduate training with Master of Medicine from Sun Yat-Sen University in 1986. He received his PhD from London University London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1997 and experienced as Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Oxford from 1996-1999, Research Fellow at Imperial Cancer Research Fund from 1999-2002, Tenured Staff Scientist/Deputy Lab Head in Cancer Research UK from 2002 to 2007, and then Tenured Scientist/Deputy Lab Head in Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford from 2007-2015 prior to take the chair position at PUFoMD. Prof Li has published more than 80 peer-reviewed papers with an H- factor of 47. He serves as an editor/editorial board member for a dozen of international journals. His main fields of interests are within tumour microenvironment and its role in tumour invasion and metastasis, target and optimal therapies, and their translational medicine.

Daiqing Liao, Ph.D., conducted his postdoctoral training at Yale University School of Medicine and is currently an Associate Professor at University of Florida College of Medicine and a member of UF Health Cancer Center. The research in his laboratory focuses on cancer epigenetics, metabolism, and signaling pathways as well as development of small molecule therapeutics targeting lysine acetyltransferases (HATs), deacetylases (HDACs), and metabolism for cancer therapy.

Antonio Macrì is Associate Professor of Surgery at University of Messina and, in 2013, he became Full Professor of Surgery. Over the last 25 years, he has focused his scientific interests on the topics related to the abdominal oncology and, in the last 15 years, his principal field of research has become the treatment of peritoneal surface malignancies. He is responsible of the “Peritoneal Surface Malignancies and Sarcoma Program” of the University Hospital Medical School of Messina.

Dr. Monica M. Mita is a medical oncologist in Los Angeles, California and is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area, including Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA, and UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica, CA, USA. She received her medical degree from Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy and has been in practice for more than 20 years. She is currently co-director of the Experimental Therapeutics Program at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Her main research focus is on phase I clinical trials in oncology, novel drugs, and targeted therapies, with more than 50 peer-reviewed articles published. In addition, her clinical areas focus on breast cancers and sarcomas.


Ramaswamy Narayanan earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1980 from the National University of Dublin, Ireland. He has worked at the NCI, CDC, the Yale University, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and at the Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc. He has published over 140 peer-reviewed publications and numerous book chapters. He is a Professor at Florida Atlantic University for the last seventeen years, where his work has led to two issued patents and the first Biotech spin-off company for the University. His research revolves around the genomics of cancer and other diseases.

Kavindra Nath is a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, Department of Radiology, Molecular Imaging Laboratory. He did his M.S. in Biochemistry, and Ph.D. in Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy (MRI/MRS). In Ph.D. His current research at University of Pennsylvania is utilizing multi-nuclear (1H, 31P, 13C) MRS and other techniques in vitro and in vivo in order to delineate the mode of action of various monocarboxylate transport (MCTs), mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC) and electron transport chain (ETC) inhibitors, which distinguishes normal cells from malignant cells and potentiates the activities of various chemotherapeutic drugs, hyperthermia and radiation therapy in a variety of human cancers.


Rafael Roesler is the Deputy Director of Zenit Scientific and Technological Park of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). He is Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Basic Health Sciences of UFRGS and Researcher level 1A of the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). He did PhD in Biochemistry, from UFRGS, 1999, and another Ph.D. as a visiting doctoral student from the University of California, Irvine, USA, 1997. He is currently a coordinator of the Laboratory of Cancer and Neurobiology, Center for Experimental Research, Hospital of Clinics of Porto Alegre. He has 275 publications to his credit. His expertise are in Biomedical Science, Cell Culture, and Cancer Biology.


Trained as a developmental neurobiologist, Nicolai Savaskan worked on axon guidance molecules and the PRG family before entering the cancer research field. Trained at the NKI and ETH Zurich, Nic is working on glutamate signalling in brain tumours and angiogenesis. Recently, Nic expanded his research on clinical brain tumour imaging including intraoperative fluorescence and MRi imaging leading to DiVA and vDiVA inventions. Major findings are heterogenic tumour zones in gliomas.

Dr. Jeffrey Schlom, PhD is a Co-Director of the Center for Immuno-Oncology (CIO) in the Center for Cancer Research at the National Cancer Institute, NIH, Dr. Schlom directs a translational research program in cancer immunology and immunotherapy. Dr. Schlom has pioneered the use of novel immunotherapeutics, both as monotherapy and in combination therapies, for a range of human cancers. His studies involve the translation of hypothesis-driven preclinical studies to science-driven clinical trials. Dr. Schlom works closely with clinicians in the CIO and with investigators in multiple Laboratories/Branches of the NCI and NIH, and at extramural Cancer Centers. Dr. Schlom also works closely with investigators in multiple Biotech and Pharma companies, via Cooperative Research and Development Agreements, to rapidly translate preclinical findings into agents for clinical studies. Dr. Schlom's studies involve the design and development of novel therapeutic cancer vaccines, immunocytokines, checkpoint inhibitor monoclonal antibodies, inhibitors of immune suppressive entities, as well as agents and strategies to modify the tumor microenvironment to render tumor cells more susceptible to immune-mediated therapy. Dr. Schlom serves on the editorial boards of numerous scientific journals, has authored more than 800 scientific publications, and holds numerous patents for monoclonal antibody and recombinant vaccine generation and uses.

Dr. AbulKalam M. Shamsuddin is Professor of Pathology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. He received his medical degree from Dhaka University, and PhD from University of Maryland. He is the pioneering scientist to demonstrate the anti-cancer and immune enhancing function of inositol and inositol hexaphosphate (www.ip-6.net). Dr. Shamsuddin has published several books, many book-chapters and numerous scientific papers. He serves on the editorial board of several cancer related journals; and is a highly sought after speaker in international scientific meetings.

Frank A. Sinicrope, is Professor of Medicine and Oncology at Mayo Clinic, Co-leader of the GI cancer program at the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, Director for GI Translational Research for the North Central Cancer Treatment Group legacy studies, member of the GI Cancer Steering Committee of the National Cancer Institute, and vice-chair of the Cancer Prevention Committee and GI Committee of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology. Dr. Sinicrope is a board-certified medical oncologist and gastroenterologist, a recognized leader in molecular-based risk stratification of colon cancer and conducts research on experimental therapeutics approaches to reverse drug resistance.

Prof. Riccardo Soffietti is a professor of neurology and neuro-oncology at the University of Turin, Italy. He has been the president of the European Association of Neuro-Oncology (EANO), chairperson of the scientific panel of Neuro-Oncology of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN), member of the steering committee of Brain Tumor Group (BTG) of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), etc. His specific research experience includes designing and coordinating clinical-translational trials in gliomas, lymphomas, ependymomas, medulloblastomas, brain metastasis, and neoplastic meningitis with new drugs and monitoring treatment effects with advanced neuroimaging. He published many papers in highly impacted scientific journals, with a few books and book chapters.

Dr. Sanjay K. Srivastava is currently a Distinguished Professor and Chair of Department of Immunotherapeutics and Biotechnology specializing in Cancer Biology, Chemoprevention and Therapeutics. He is also the Associate Dean for Sciences. Previously, he was a Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences. Prior to his arrival at TTUHSC, Dr. Srivastava served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and was a full member of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. He did his post-doc from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Texas. Dr. Srivastava’s research is focused on melanoma, brain cancer, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, and ovarian cancer and is funded by grants from the National Cancer Institute, NIH. He has authored around 150 research papers and is the Editor of three books. Dr. Srivastava is on the editorial board of several journals and is the member of societies including American Association for Cancer Research, Society of Toxicology and AAPS. He also serves in the grant review panels of National Institute of Health (NIH), Department of Defense and Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. His research work has been featured by news agencies including BBC, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, Science News etc.


Dr. Clinton Stewart is a Full Member in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Professor of Pediatrics and Clinical Pharmacy at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis. He received a B.S. in Pharmacy from Auburn University and a Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Tennessee in Memphis. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at St. Jude in the laboratory of Dr. William E. Evans, he joined the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy faculty and in 1991 he joined the St. Jude faculty. Dr. Stewart is a fellow in the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and the American College of Clinical Pharmacy. Dr. Stewart has authored or co-authored more than 300 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. He is the Director of the St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center Pharmacokinetics Shared Resource and co-chair of the Pharmacology Committee of the National Institutes of Health-funded Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium. Current research efforts include the use of preclinical models to enhance design of clinical trials of new agents in children with cancer, the use of pharmacokinetics as a method to optimize drug exposure in children with cancer, addressing clinically relevant problems of cancer therapeutics in children, and developing a better understanding of the CNS penetration of anticancer drugs.

Peter Storz, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor at the Mayo Clinic. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Stuttgart, Germany, and was a postdoctoral fellow and instructor at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School in Boston, before he joined Mayo Clinic. Work in his laboratory focuses on inter- and intracellular signaling that leads to development and progression of pancreatic cancer. Specific interests are to understand the roles of acinar-to-ductal metaplasia and immune cell infiltration in these processes.

Dr Stanley Stylli is a cancer research scientist at the Department of Neurosurgery, The Royal Melbourne Hospital and an Honorary Fellow of the Department of Surgery (RMH) at The University of Melbourne, Australia. He received his Master of Science and PhD degrees from the University of Melbourne. His research interests include glioma biology, invasion and identifying novel therapeutic targets for glioma. Currently he is investigating the influence of invadopodia in glioma invasion, the response of invadopodia to various therapeutic approaches and the role of tumour-derived exosomes (TEX) for invadopodia biogenesis in glioma.


Dr. Wu is a Professor in the Department of Pathology and the Peggy and Charles Stephenson Endowed Chair in Cancer Translational Research at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Recently, Dr. Wu discovered recurrent JAK1 truncating mutations in endometrial cancer and frequent JAK2 deletion in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) involving tumor immune evasion, and as a potential mechanism of resistance to immune checkpoint therapy. Dr. Wu has authored 80 original research papers plus additional review articles and book chapters. He has served on National Institutes of Health (NIH), NCI, DOD, and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) grant review panels.


Dr. Xu is a professor at Daping Hospital and Research Institute of Surgery, Third Military Medical University, China. He received Ph.D from Seoul National university of Korea. He completed his postdoctoral training in the Department of Molecular Oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute. His research interests include non-coding RNA function in development and progression of cancer and the development and evaluation of novel therapies for cancer.

Prof. Guoxiong Xu (MD, PhD) is a Scientist and Director of Center Laboratory in Jinshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. He obtained his PhD degree in Biology from York University in Canada. Dr. Xu is a molecular and cell biologist and has a proven track record on the molecular biology of cancer. He has presented his work in many national and international scientific conferences. His research works are supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai, Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality, and Shanghai Municipal Commission of Health and Family Planning.

Feng Yang is a Principal Investigator at the School of pharmacy, Guangxi Normal University. Feng Yang is also the Principal Investigator at State Key Laboratory for the Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Medicinal Resources. Feng Yang has been interested in research on protein oriented anti-cancer drugs. Feng Yang is also an active reviewer of multiple grant agencies and peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Paul Zarogoulidis, M.D, MS.c, Ph.D, is a pulmonary physician with expertise in interventional pulmonology and lung cancer treatment. He is a member of CABIP, ERS, ATS, EABIP. He is an associate editor in 3 journals and editor in 14 journals. He has 250 publications on pub med. He has written 3 chapters in 3 books. He is the president of `The Society for Diagnosis and Lung Cancer Treatment`. One of his main interests is the development of novel inhalational drugs and inhalational delivery systems. He is currently working in the Pulmonary Department-Oncology Unit, `’Theageneio’ Anticancer Hospital, Greece and 3 different private hospitals.


Dr. Hettie is an NCI/NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Fellow (PI/PD) in the Departments of Radiology and Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery within the School of Medicine at Stanford University that specializes in the design, development, and implementation of near-infrared-I/II peptidyl-, nucleic acid-, and immuno-based activatable bio-/molecular probes, biosensors, theranostics, and nanoparticles targeting biomarkers of brain cancers and their tumor microenvironment for their early detection, direct visualization, and surgical removal via utilizing image-guided surgery. He focuses on their rational design, bio-/chemical synthesis, and bio-/analytical evaluation of novel diagnostics and therapeutics in basic science research, preclinical, and clinical setting.


Dr. Manish Kumar is an Assistant Professor in Botany at S.D. College, Barnala, Punjab, India. Dr. Kumar is M.Sc., M.Phil. & PhD in Botany from Guru Nanak Dev University and has qualified CSIR-NET and GATE. He has over 3 years of teaching and 9 years of research experience and his areas of specialization include Cancer Chemoprevention, Genetic Toxicology, Environmental mutagenesis and Medicinal plants. He has published more than 30 research articles in journals and books of international repute with a cumulative impact factor of more than 35. He has been a member of the editorial board and reviewer board of many journals. He has been recognized for outstanding contribution in Reviewing for the Journal “Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine (Elsevier)” in 2017. He has been a member of various national and international conferences/programs. Recently, Dr. Kumar has edited a book with Bentham Science Publishers.

Dr. Sudip Kumar Mandal is working as a faculty at Dr. B. C. Roy College of Pharmacy and A.H.S., Durgapur, India. His research interests focus on discovery and development of bioactive organic compounds and related derivatives from synthetic routes and natural sources against inflammation, pain, arthritis, microorganism, and cancer. He has published 30 articles in peer reviewed journals of repute. He was also invited as the Keynote Speaker at the International Conference organized by Kafrelsheikh University, Egypt in 2019. He is honoured as an Editorial Board Member in many reputed journals and serves as an Editor of Egyptian Journal of Chemistry.

Dr. Seema Nara is an Associate Professor in Department of Biotechnology, MNNIT Allahabad, India since April 2009. She has completed her doctorate from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India in 2009 in the field of Immunodiagnostics. She has been working in the area of developing diagnostic solutions for detecting pathogens, cancer biomarkers, food/environment contaminants using antibodies and aptamers. Her group is actively engaged in exploring the applications of nanostructures diagnostics as well as therapeutics. She has successfully completed extramural projects in the area of her interest. Her research outcome is published in International journals of repute, as book chapters and is also evident from 03 filed patents.

Dr. Mirela Sedic is Associate Professor at the University of Rijeka Department of Biotechnology in Croatia. She has authored more than 30 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals including high-impact journals such as Molecular Cancer, The Journal of Pathology, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, and Cancer Treatment Reviews. She is co-author of book chapters in Bioinformatics and Drug Discovery (Humana Press, 2012), Personalized Medicine: A New Medical and Social Challenge (Springer International Publishing, 2016), and has one international patent (WO/2010/052510). Her main research interests include cancer biology and signalling, experimental oncology, chemoresistance, sphingolipids in cancer and proteomics.