Prostate cancer: Pre-analytical phase challenges and biomarker testing

Dr. Wyatt is an associate professor in Urologic Sciences at the University of British Columbia, Canada. He is a senior research scientist at the Vancouver Prostate Centre and a senior scientist at BC Cancer. Dr. Wyatt has a DPhil in genetics from the University of Oxford. His research goals are to identify associations between genomic alterations and patient outcomes in metastatic prostate and bladder cancer, and to translate these findings into clinical biomarkers. Dr. Wyatt has developed novel laboratory and computational techniques to study plasma circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA). Through application of these methods to clinical trial cohorts, his team has demonstrated that ctDNA is highly representative of metastatic lesions, and that somatic alterations detected in ctDNA can help predict prostate cancer therapy resistance or response.

Dr. Petros Grivas is board-certified medical oncologist with vast experience and high expertise in genitourinary (GU) cancers. He is the Clinical Director of the GU Cancers Program and Professor at the Dept. of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of Washington, and Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. He received M.D. and Ph.D. in Greece in 2005 and 2009, respectively. He completed Internal Medicine Residency at Hahnemann University Hospital/Drexel University College of Medicine (Philadelphia) in 2010, and Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) in 2013. He was a Clinical Lecturer before he was recruited as Assistant Professor at Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland). He has had main role in several clinical trials leading to FDA approval of new drugs for urothelial cancer. He is considered a key opinion, thought leader and international expert, giving lectures in several countries, educating oncologists and other healthcare providers, mentoring numerous trainees, leading large innovative clinical trials, reviewing grant proposals and manuscripts, and publishing novel and important research. He is dedicated to personalized and outstanding patient care, efficient clinical operations, and believes in optimal patient-physician relationship as well as community outreach.