NET CONNECT Scientific Projects presented at ENETS 2021

Dr Jorge Hernando is a Medical Oncologist at Vall d´Hebron University Hospital in Barelona, Spain. Jorge obtained his MD degree in 2010, and the Specialty in Medical Oncology in 2016 at the Miguel Servet University Hospital in Zaragoza, Spain. In 2017 he obtained his PhD and joined the Gastrointestinal and Endocrine Tumor Unit at Vall d´Hebron University Hospital. He is mainly committed to the clinical management of patients affected by gastrointestinal, neuroendocrine and endocrine malignancies. Jorge is involved in clinical and translational research projects at the Vall d´Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) and he is also coordinator of the gastrointestinal and neuroendorine patient advocacy group. Dr Hernando is involved in professional societies including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), European Society for Medical Onology (ESMO), European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (ENETS) and Spanish Group of Neuroendocrine and Endocrine Tumors (GETNE).

Aman Chauhan, MD, earned his medical degree from the Kasturba Medical College in Manipal, Karnataka, India, followed by a dual residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at Louisiana State University in New Orleans. Dr. Chauhan completed his fellowship in hematology and oncology at the University of Kentucky, especially focusing on neuroendocrine tumor (NETs). Additionally, Dr. Chauhan completed a Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) physician externship at the National Cancer institute (NCI) that focused on designing clinical trials and clinical research projects.

His clinical interests include treating NETs, including carcinoid tumors, high-grade neuroendocrine carcinomas, and small and large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma. Dr Chauhan leads the University of Miami Neuroendocrine Cancer Program and co-leads Sylvester Theranostics Drug Development Program. He is national principal investigator on several investigator initiated neuroendocrine cancer clinical trials. He has authored over 70 scientific publications and book chapters and has received career development award from NCI CTEP. Dr Chauhan also serves on AJCC and ASCO NET guideline committees and is an active member of NANETS communication committee.

Dr. Chauhan is board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology as well as the American Association of Cancer Research and the North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society.

Dr Jaume Capdevila obtained his medical degree from the University of Lleida, in Catalonia, Spain. In 2000-2001 he held a fellowship in the department of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Lleida. From 2002 to 2006 he attended a specialization in medical oncology at the Santa Creu i Sant Pau University Hospital, Barcelona and since 2006 served as medical oncologist at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) in Barcelona. Since early 2013 he is also leading the gastrointestinal and endocrine tumor unit at Teknon Cancer Institute. He is involved in research and treatment of patients with gastrointestinal cancer and endocrine tumors as well as in early-drug development. He has published over 82 articles in peer-reviewed journals and several book chapters. He is an active member of several oncology societies (ASCO, ENETS, EORTC, SEOM, TTD, GEMCAD, GETNE, and GETHI) and actively participates in national and international trials. He is member of the advisory board of the European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (ENETS), Secretary and Treasurer of the Spanish Task Force for neuroendocrine tumors (Grupo Español de Tumores Neuroendocrinos, GETNE) and funding member and Treasurer of the Spanish Task Force Group for Research in Orphan and Rare Tumors (Grupo Español de Tumores Huérfanos e Infrecuentes, GETHI). He is also a medical oncologist member of the Thyroid Cancer Working Group within the Spanish Society of Endocrinology and Nutrition (SEEN).

Dr Panpan Zhang works as a Medical Oncologist specialized in gastrointestinal carcinomas and neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) at the Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute, in Beijing, China. She gained her MD degree in Medical Oncology and currently is a PhD student at the Peking University. Her major research interests are neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) and gastrointestinal carcinomas. From 2014, her clinical work and research has focused on the development of innovative treatments for NETs. She has just returned from a short-term fellowship at the Erasmus MC, The Netherlands. She is actively involved in several prospective clinical trials in NETs and gastrointestinal cancers, aimed at achieving a better understanding of these malignancies and improving clinical management of patients. In addition, she is a member of the multidisciplinary team at Beijing Cancer Hospital and the Chinese Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (CNETS).

Dr Angela Lamarca is a Medical Oncologist (MD, PhD, MSc), specialised in gastrointestinal malignancies (hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) and neuroendocrine tumours (NETs)). She completed her training in Medical Oncology (including her PhD) in Spain (Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid). She moved to The Christie NHS Foundation Trust (Manchester, United Kingdom) in 2013, where she completed a 4-year fellowship programme in HPB and NETs; during this period she received funding from ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology) Translational Fellowship Programme, Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund and The Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM) Fellowship Grant Programme. Dr Lamarca has completed a Masters Degree in Molecular Biology of Cancer and a second Masters Degree in Biostatistics. She was awarded with an American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Conquer Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award in 2017 and was appointed as a Consultant in Medical Oncology at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in May 2017 where she continues her Clinical and Translational Research career in HPB and NETs. She is actively involved in clinical trial design with special interest in NETs and HPB, focused on achieving a better understanding of these malignancies and identification of new therapies for improving patients’ outcome. Dr Angela Lamarca is a member of the EORTC Gastrointestinal Cancer Group and a faculty member of the ESMO Neuroendocrine, Endocrine Neoplasms and CUP Group.

Dr Louis de Mestier serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Pancreatology - Digestive Oncology at the ENETS Centre of Excellence of Beaujon University Hospital in Clichy (Université Paris-Cité), France. He obtained his specialist diplomas in Hepato-Gastroenterology and Digestive Oncology at the University of Reims, France. He has completed a PhD in Cancer Biology at the University of Paris-Cité in 2021. His clinical interests are on neuroendocrine tumors and pancreatic diseases. His main areas of clinical and translational research include tumor heterogeneity, molecular biomarkers and personalized treatment in NETs. He has been member of the Advisory Board of the French Neuroendocrine Tumor Networks (GTE, RENATEN) since 2020, and joined the Advisory Board of the European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (ENETS) in 2022. He has participated in more than 100 medical publications, including more than 50 indexed papers in the field of NETs.

Joakim Crona is a resident in clinical oncology and associate professor in molecular oncology at Uppsala Academic Hospital, Sweden. He’s had a particular interest for neuroendocrine tumors since more than eight years. This included successfully defending his thesis covering genetics of neuroendocrine tumors, as well as working as a physician at the clinic of endocrine oncology. Joakim has just returned from a short term fellowship at the Pheochromocytoma/Paraganglioma Program, US National Institutes of Health. He plans a future career in the field of endocrine oncology that will unite clinical science with molecular biology, aiming at improving treatment of patients with these rare diseases.

Dr Teresa Alonso Gordoa is a Medical Oncologist at the Medical Oncology Department of the Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal in Madrid. She finalized the degree of medicine by the University of Navarre in 2008 and the medical oncology specialization by the Hospital Universitario Clínico San Carlos in 2013. She is specialized in the care of patients with genitourinary, germ cell and endocrine tumors and in the early drug development unit. In addition, she is a member of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM), the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), the Spanish Society of Genitourinary Oncology (SOGUG), the Germ Cell Group (GG) and the Spanish Group of Neuroendocrine Tumors (GETNE). She participates actively in research projects and clinical trials with international impact. She is a member of the honorary faculty of the University of Alcalá and a reviewer of indexed international journals. She has presented communications in national and international congresses and has participated in the publication of scientific articles in national and international journals.

Dr Rachel van Leeuwaarde is an endocrinologist at the department of Endocrine Oncology at the University Medical Center of Utrecht, The Netherlands. She graduated cum laude from the Vrije University in Amsterdam and completed her Internal Medicine residency at the University Medical Center of Utrecht. During her endocrinology fellowship she developed an interest in endocrine oncology. Currently she is a staff member at the department of Endocrine Oncology at the University Medical Center of Utrecht and the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek hospital in Amsterdam. During her PhD trajectory on Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1, she completed a master in Epidemiology at the Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care at the University Medical Center of Utrecht. Her PhD study was on “The impact of screening in Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia type 1”. Dr van Leeuwaarde’s research focusses on endocrine tumor syndromes such as Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia type 1 & 2 and Von Hippel Lindau disease with a special interest in screening and the health related quality of life in these syndromes.

Dr Mauro Cives works as Assistant Professor of Medical Oncology in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Bari, Italy. He gained his MD degree and specialization degree in Medical Oncology at the University of Bari. From 2013 to 2016 Dr Cives worked as Research Associate within the Neuroendocrine Program of the Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa (FL, USA). Dr Cives’ work focuses on the preclinical and clinical evaluation of innovative treatments for neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). In 2017, Dr Cives was awarded by the European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (ENETS) for the project “CAR-T cells for GEP-NETs”. Dr Cives is co-author of over 30 peer-reviewed papers.

Dr Kjell Öberg is Professor of Endocrine Oncology at the Medical Faculty of Uppsala University. He was the former head of the Department of Endocrine Oncology, University Hospital, and he is a specialist in endocrinology and internal medicine. He founded the Department of Endocrine Oncology at Uppsala University Hospital and has 40 years’ experience in the field of neuroendocrine tumors. Between 1986 and 1992 he was clinical associate director of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. From 1998 to 2002 he was chairman of the Department of Medical Sciences at the Medical Faculty of Uppsala University. July 2002 until June 2008 he was the Dean of the Medical Faculty. He was the chairman of the Centre of Excellence of Endocrine Tumors and Vice chairman of the Department of Endocrine Oncology, University Hospital, Uppsala until May 2013, at present time he is senior advisor at the same department. Currently, Adjunct Professor of Surgery at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA. Dr Öberg was one of the founders and coordinator of the European Neuroendocrine Tumor Network (ENET) 1995-2000 and was past chairman of the Nordic Neuroendocrine Tumor Group. He has pioneered the treatment of carcinoid tumor patients with interferon and somatostatin analogues and developed assays for tumor markers such as Chromogranin A and radiological procedures, including specialized PET scans. In 1988 he was the first to describe a genetic deletion in multiple endocrine neoplasia Type 1 (MEN1). Dr Öberg has given many hundreds of presentations at international meetings and published more than 500 papers within his research field, H-factor 67 and 14,850 citations. In addition he is the author of numerous chapters on Carcinoid tumors in several international textbooks including William’s Textbook of Endocrinology, Leslie de Groot’s Textbook of Endocrinology, Clinical Endocrinology and Fordtran’s Textbook of Gastroenterology. Dr Öberg is Editor-in Chief of World Journal of Gastroenterolgy (WJG). In 1991 Dr Öberg received the European Interferon Research reward. In 2003 he received the award “Eminent Scientist Year 2003” by the International Research Promotion Council (IRPC) and World Scientist Forum and in 2004 he was awarded the European Gold Medal in Endocrinology from the English Endocrine Society. In November 2006 he received the Harry Boström Award Lecture at Swedish Medical Society, and in 2011 the University Hospital Clinical Research Award. In 2014 he received the Rudbeck Medallion for excellence in research and the Life Time Achievement Award from North American Neuroendocrine Society. January 2017 Dr Öberg was awarded with The Swedish Endocrine Society Gold Medal for prominent research and clinical activities and in March 2017 he received Lifetime Achievement Award by European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (ENETS). In October of 2017, Lifetime Achievement from Asian Pacific Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (AP-NETS). Dr Öberg is a member of the Royal Society of Sciences, member of Swedish Society of Medical Research, Honorary member of Finnish Oncology Society, Finnish Endocrine Society and Honorary member of Spanish Neuroendocrine NET-work. Dr Öberg is Vice President of ENETS since March 2012 and also a member of NANETS Advisory Board as well as several other national and international research and scientific boards and many scientific journal review boards.

Prof. Emily Bergsland is a Professor of Medicine and the Ernest Rosenbaum, MD, Endowed Chair in Medical Oncology at the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF). She has spent twenty years developing a clinical and research program focused on neuroendocrine tumours. Her clinical and research efforts are focused on advancing the care of patients with neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs), understanding why NENs develop, and the development and testing of novel, biologically based therapies for NENs. Dr Bergsland is the Director of the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) Centre for Neuroendocrine Tumours, Chair of the UCSF GI Oncology Site Committee and an active member of the Phase I Site Committee. Nationally, she is Chair of the Neuroendocrine Tumour Task Force of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Gastrointestinal (GI) Steering Committee, a member of the NCCN Neuroendocrine Tumours Guidelines Panel, and is the current Vice-Chair (Chair-elect) of the North American Neuroendocrine Tumour Society (NANETS). She was also study chair for ALLIANCE A021202 (a randomized phase II trial of pazopanib v placebo in patients with progressive carcinoid tumours), a completed study which included a prospective plan for central review and archiving of serial radiologic images and blood sample collection for angiome profiling (analyses are pending).

Alia Munir trained in Medicine at the University of Wales College of Medicine and began her basic clinical training in Cardiff and South Wales. She then began her specialist training in Guy’s and St Thomas’ London and later completed her higher medical training in Diabetes, Endocrinology and General Internal Medicine at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals (STH). She was awarded The Society for Endocrinology Clinical Trust Research Fellowship and obtained a PhD in Professor Newell-Prices’ laboratory, focussing on RNA interference as a Therapy for Cushing’s Disease, leading to a patent and orphan drug designation. She was also awarded the Yorkshire Enterprise Fellowship. She was chair of the Young Endocrinologists Scientific Steering Committee for the Society for Endocrinology during this time. She was appointed Consultant in Diabetes and Endocrinology in Pinderfields Hospital, Mid Yorkshire 2011-2015. She was also appointed Consultant Endocrinologist in STH and coordinated Sheffield’s successful European Neuroendocrine Tumour Society Centre of Excellence award in 2016. She has lead in a joint working partnership with Novartis and been part of the 4th Wave Education programme with Ipsen. Dr Munir’s main clinical interests are in neuroendocrinology and high risk diabetic pregnancy, and is responsible for general medical inpatients and participates in the medical take.

Dr Francesca Spada is a Medical Oncologist at the Division of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology and Neuroendocrine Tumor, European Institute of Oncology (IEO IRCCS, Milan, Italy). She has been part of this team for the last eight years. Francesca completed her specialty in Medical Oncology in 2011 at the University of Sassari. She is involved in clinical management of patients affected by neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs), educational activities in NENs, and she is also involved in NENs translational research projects. In January 2019, she plans to finish her PhD in Translation and Experimental Medicine at the University of Insubria (Varese, Italy), focusing on the development of mixed adeno-neuroendocrine carcinomas (MANECs). She is also responsible for the IEO Neuroendocrine Multidisciplinary Group activity as quality coordinator. She is a member of the Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM) while also serving on the AIOM Young Directive Board. She is a member of the Directive Board of the Italian Association of Neuroendocrine Tumors (Ita.NET). She is also member of the European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (ENETS), the North American Neuroendocrine Society (NANETS), and the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO). In the last three years, Francesca co-authored several peer-reviewed studies, in particular a notable Italian multicenter analysis of oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy in NET patients as a lead author, and an Italian multicenter study of octreotide and everolimus as first-line therapy in patients with well-differentiated NETs.