Luca Cantini, MD, (birth date 26.06.1989) is a medical oncologist and PhD Candidate at Università Politecnica delle Marche (UNIVPM) actively involved in translational research in Immuno-Oncology with a special focus on thoracic cancers. He has recently been awarded with the 2021 ESMO Translational Research Fellowship, to carry on (during the first months of 2021) a project titled “ENSURE study - dENdritic cell therapy combined with SURgEry in mesothelioma” (Host Institute: Department of Pulmonary Diseases, Erasmus MC Cancer Center, Rotterdam (NL)). As a clinical scientist, his research projects mainly look at understand why, despite last advances in the field of passive and active immunotherapy, still some thoracic cancer patients seem not to benefit from it. His goal is better elucidate the immunotherapy rationale, investigate potential combinations, while facing new methodological challenges in this field. In previous years, he has been awarded with the ESO Grant for participating in the “18th ESO/ESMO Masterclass in Clinical Oncology” and the ESMO Grant for participating in the “Translational Research Unit Visit”. He authored several indexed papers (9 as first author), showing a strong predisposition to work in team with colleagues and other professionals (also from different departments and institutions). He has been co-investigator of some studies about biomarkers of cancer immunotherapy, like the IDIGE study and the PEMBRO-REAL study, which both investigated biomarkers of efficacy (such as the use of concomitant medications, e.g. statins) in thoracic cancer patients treated with ICIs. He is principal investigator of the COVID-DELAY study, which investigated COVID-19 outbreak impact on access to lung cancer diagnosis and treatment. Data from this study will be presented at the WCLC 2021 Congress in the form of on oral presentation and Dr Cantini has been awarded with an Early Career Award for this presentation.

Dr. Fred R. Hirsch is Executive Director at the Center for Thoracic Oncology in The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai (TCI) and the Joe Lowe and Louis Price professor of Medicine (Hematology and Medical Oncology) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He is also Associate Director of Biomarker Discovery for TCI.

Before joining Mount Sinai, he was a professor of Medicine and Pathology at the University of Colorado for 18 years and chief executive officer of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) for five years. Dr. Hirsch’s career in lung cancer research spans more than 25 years and includes translational research, targeted therapies and early detection of lung cancer. His research has helped identify and validate prognostic markers for lung cancer outcomes and biomarkers for personalized lung cancer therapies that illustrate how these therapies work and who is most likely to benefit from them

Dr. Hirsch has received a number of awards and honors, including the IASLC Mary Matthews Award for Translational Research in Lung Cancer in 2007; the Japanese Lung Cancer Society Merit Award in 2010; the Addario Foundation Lecture Award in 2015; and the Waun Ki Hong Lectureship Award in 2019. The CURE Media Group / MJH Life Sciences honored Dr. Hirsch as the inaugural “Lung Cancer Hero 2020”. Dr. Hirsch received both his doctor of medicine and PhD degrees from the University of Copenhagen. He has contributed to more than 400 publications in peer-reviewed journals.