Current and Future Gastroesophageal Cancer Treatments

Yelena Y. Janjigian MD, is Associate Professor and Chief of Gastrointestinal (GI) Oncology Service in the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). Her research career and clinical practice are focused on improving treatment outcomes for patients with GI malignancies. She is an international expert in the management of cancers of oesophagus and stomach and lead several seminal studies that changed practice and set the standard of care for these diseases. She produced high impact publications describing the genomic basis for oesophagogastric cancer pathogenesis and secure federal grants to fund future studies. Her research is focused on developing new treatments, with a special emphasis on defining the therapeutically relevant molecular characteristics of tumors in the GI tract, with 120 peer-reviewed publications to date.

Dr Janjigian received her BS from the University of California, San Diego and her MD from the New York University School of Medicine. She did her internal medicine residency at New York School of Medicine/Bellevue Hospital and her haematology/oncology fellowship training at MSKCC. She joined the MSK faculty in 2009 as a member of the GI Oncology Service.

Dr Janjigian is an active member of American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) and European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) holding an array of leadership positions. As Chief of the GI Oncology Service, Dr Janjigian’s mission is to foster research and innovation that transform the future of GI oncology to help patients worldwide. 

Elizabeth (Lizzy) Smyth is a consultant in gastrointestinal oncology. Dr Smyth commenced her oncology training in Dublin, Ireland. In 2009 she was awarded a fellowship from the Irish Society of Medical Oncology to train at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Centre, New York. Following this, she worked at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London from 2011-2018. Her research focus is on clinical trials and translational research in gastroesophageal cancer, and she has worked on trial design and management of national and international trials. She is a member of the European Society for Medical Oncology GI Faculty and leads the EORTC GI Trials Group Gastric Cancer Taskforce. Dr Smyth is committed to furthering national and international collaboration in GI trials research.

Dr Samuel J. Klempner is a GI medical oncologist with research and clinical focus on esophagogastric cancers and cancer genomics. Dr Klempner completed his residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, followed by a combined hematology-oncology fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School. While at Harvard, Dr Klempner studied the mechanisms of resistance to targeted therapies in tumor cells in the lab of Dr Lewis Cantley, PhD. Dr Klempner is board certified in medical oncology, hematology, and internal medicine. Prior to joining The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute Dr Klempner served as an Assistant Clinical Professor in the division of Hematology-Oncology at the University of California Irvine. Dr Klempner’s research interests include the intersection of genomics and immunotherapies, oncogene-driven tumors, acquired resistance, and experimental therapeutics. Dr Klempner is involved in professional societies including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO).