Dr. Yu Sunakawa is a medical oncologist at St. Marianna University, Japan and previously worked as an instructor at Showa University Northern Yokohama Hospital in Yokohama, Japan. He also completed postdoctoral research fellowship training at University of Southern California/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in United States. In 2011, Dr. Sunakawa received the board certification of the Japanese Society of Medical Oncology. Dr. Sunakawa’s research interests are the identification and determination of molecular markers in cancerous tissues or blood that could predict cancer risk and clinical outcome in gastrointestinal cancer. He is also focusing on research regarding tumour immunity and received a Merit Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology in 2014, for the research of genetic variations in immune checkpoint-related genes.

Sebastian Stintzing (M.D.), Professor of Medicine, is Head of the Division of Oncology and Haematology, Department of Medicine (CCM), Charité Universitaetsmedizin Berlin. His research focuses on predictive and prognostic biomarkers in the treatment of GI cancer with a special focus on colorectal cancer. From 2012 to 2014, he was a research fellow at the Sharon Carpenter Laboratory at the University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, U.S.A. He coordinated the translational part and assisted the clinical study conduct of several studies and earned his Postdoctoral Lecture Qualification with a thesis on prognostic and predictive factors in the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. In 2012, he received the prestigious Research Fellowship Award from the German Cancer Aid in Germany and started work at the University of Southern California. Dr. Stintzing is member of national and international cancer associations and speaker of the steering committee of the working group Colorectal Carcinoma of the German AIO.