Celebrating the 10th anniversary of GI CONNECT

Dr Gerald Prager is an Associate Professor of Medicine, Board Certified for Internal Medicine Board and Certified for Haematology and Medical Oncology. In 2009, he received his M.D. from the University of Vienna. Currently, Dr Prager is Director of the Colorectal Cancer Unit of the Department of Medical Oncology at the Medical University of Vienna. He is also a member of the ESMO 2014 Scientific Committee. The research interest of his lab focuses on (tumour-) angiogenesis via regulation of endothelial cell survival and migration by cell / extracellular-matrix interaction. Through his clinical training in haemato-oncology, he became a member of the sought-after group of medical researches. He achieved his expertise in international renowned labs at University of California, San Diego, the Norris Cancer Center, Los Angeles and the Department of Vascular Biology, Mississippi University for Women (MUW). His work is honoured by 19 international awards and resulted in publications in international highly renowned journals. Dr Prager’s young research group is embedded in an international cancer research campus associated with Medical University of Vienna (MUV).

Dr Joleen Hubbard is Deputy Director of Clinical Research and Academic Affairs for the Allina Health Cancer Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  She was previously Assistant Professor of Medical Oncology at Mayo Clinic. She completed medical school and residency at the University of Minnesota and haematology/oncology training at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. Dr Hubbard specialises in the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers, focusing on colorectal cancer. Dr Hubbard is the PI of several phase I clinical trials, investigating novel agents for gastrointestinal cancers. Her research interests also include geriatric oncology with a special interest in clinical and biologic markers of frailty. She serves as a member of the Cancer in the Elderly, as well as the Health Reported Outcomes and Translational Research committees for the North American Alliance of Clinical Trials in Oncology Network. 

Dr Thomas Winder is board certified for haematology and medical oncology. Since January 2020 he has been Head of the Department for Haematology and Oncology at the University Teaching Hospital Feldkirch, Austria. In addition, since 2017 he has been President of the Swiss Tumor Molecular Institute in Zürich Switzerland. Dr Winder’s research focuses on molecular markers to individualize medical treatment of cancer patients. He achieved his expertise in internationally renowned laboratories at University of Southern California, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles and University Hospital Zürich, Switzerland. His research activity has been honoured by several national and international awards and high impact publications.

Andrea Sartore-Bianchi is the Director of the Division of Clinical Research and Innovation at Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Niguarda in Milano, Italy, and Associate Professor of Oncology at the University of Milano. He received his MD and postgraduate degree in Oncology at the University of Pavia, Italy, and subsequently conducted preclinical research at Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.

His main clinical and research interests include precision oncology and the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers, particularly colorectal carcinomas, focusing on biomarkers of sensitivity/resistance to targeted therapies. He is principal and co-investigator in Phase I-III clinical trials for solid tumours and carried out initial studies paving the way for the use of RAS and Her2 as tumor tissue/ctDNA biomarkers in colorectal cancer. He has published 200 peer-reviewed articles in various medical journals with a H-index of 62 (Scopus).

Prof. Dr Dominik Modest studied medicine at the Charité in Berlin, Germany and at the University of Bern, Switzerland. Currently, after 10 years at the LMU in Munich, Germany, he is a physician at the Charité Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, Germany. His research activities focus on metastatic colorectal cancer and include the concept and coordination of trials for the FIRE study group and the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Internistische Onkologie (AIO). Prof. Dr Modest also coordinates the translational research components of these trials, aiming to identify prognostic and predictive biomarkers of metastatic colorectal cancer. His research has been published in several papers in scientific journals. In 2015, he received a postdoctoral qualification on factors for personalisation of metastatic colorectal cancer therapy and a full professorship in 2020.  Prof. Dr Modest is an active member of several national and international cancer associations and served as spokesman for the Young Medical Oncologists of the AIO until 2014.