Dr. Nishino is a Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School and a Thoracic Radiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, with expertise in imaging of precision cancer therapy and immunotherapy. Her research is on quantitative evaluations of tumor burden dynamics and image-based profiling of toxicities during novel cancer therapy, focusing on lung cancer and pneumonitis. Her work contributes to provide objective methods for treatment monitoring in cancer patients, which forms a basis for further advancement of cancer therapy.

Dr. Valerie Rusch has been a member of the Thoracic Surgery Service at MSKCC since March, 1989. A native New Yorker, she is a graduate of Vassar College and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She completed her general surgery and cardiothoracic surgery residencies at the University of Washington in Seattle. After an additional year of experience in thoracic oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, she returned to the University of Washington where she served on the faculty for six years prior to her appointment at MSKCC. Dr. Rusch was Chief of the MSK Thoracic Service from 2000 to 2013.

Dr. Rusch’s career has been devoted to thoracic surgical oncology and clinical and translational research, especially in the fields of malignant pleural mesothelioma and lung cancer. Over a period of 35 years, she has been principal investigator for trials performed by multiple NCI-sponsored Cooperative Groups, including LCSG, SWOG, RTOG, and ACOSOG, where she also held co- and vice-chair positions. She has been heavily involved with the development of TNM Staging systems for lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma through the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) and is the Chair-Elect of its International Staging and Prognostic Factors Committee. She served as Chair of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery from 2009 to 2011.

Dr. Rusch continues to have a busy clinical practice at MSKCC. In addition, she serves as Vice Chair for Clinical Research in the Department of Surgery, overseeing a large multidisciplinary clinical research program, and as Co-Chair of the Research Council, which is responsible for scientific review of all clinical trials performed at MSKCC. Over many years Dr. Rusch has held multiple leadership positions in the American College of Surgeons (ACS), the world’s largest surgical organization. Among other responsibilities she has served as Chair of the ACS Program Committee and Chair of the Board of Regents, and was the 2018 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award. During 2019-2020, she served as President of the ACS, functioning as global ambassador for the College and playing a central role in developing practice guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professor of Surgery, Chief, Division of Thoracic Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. Graduated from Keio University School of Medicine in 1983. Attending surgeon (Thoracic surgery, 1992-1998), Chief of Thoracic Surgery (1992-2014), and Deputy Director-Hospital (2012-2014) at the National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo. Professor of Surgery, Chief, Division of Thoracic Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine (2014-present). Doctor of Medical Science Degree from Keio University in 1997. IASLC activities include Chair of Staging and Prognostic Factors Committee (SPFC, 2016 - present), Executive Board Director (2012-2016), A Congress President for 18th World Conference on Lung Cancer. Vice President, Japan Lung Cancer Society.

Carolyn Dresler, MD, MPA retired in 2019 from the FDA Center for Tobacco Products where she was the Associate Director for Medical and Health Sciences in the Office of Science. Prior to this she was the Director for the Arkansas Department of Health Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program. Before Arkansas, she was the Head of the Group for Tobacco and Cancer at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France. In 2002-2003 she completed a Master in Public Administration at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She is a USA Board Certified Thoracic Surgeon (University of Toronto) with Surgical Oncology training (Memorial Sloan Kettering), with a specific interest in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of lung cancer. She is a former Board member for the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. Her academic practices of thoracic surgery were at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri and then at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her passion is utilizing the human rights framework to improve tobacco control and is the founding President of the Human Rights and Tobacco Control Network. Her goal is to have fewer people dying from tobacco, specifically from tobacco-caused lung cancer.

Dr. Janis Taube is the Director of Dermatopathology at Johns Hopkins University SOM, and co-Director of the Tumor Microenvironment Core at the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute of immunotherapy and the Mark Foundation Center for Advanced Imaging and Genomics. Her laboratory focuses on characterizing the local, pre- and on-treatment tumor microenvironment in pathology specimens using techniques ranging from routine histology to new multispectral tissue imaging platforms.

Fernando Lopez-Rios has recently joined the Department of Pathology at “12 de Octubre” University Hospital (Madrid). He received his medical degree and PhD from the Faculty of Medicine at Autonoma University and Complutense University respectively and completed his residency in Pathology at “12 de Octubre” University Hospital (Madrid). Dr Lopez-Rios has also been the Director of Pathology & Laboratory of Therapeutic Targets at “HM Hospitales” for 15 years and a visiting researcher at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York). His main clinical and research expertise is in lung cancer and mesothelioma biomarker testing. He is currently a member of the IASLC Pathology Committee.

I am professor of Medical oncology and head of early clinical trial unit. I am also director of an INSERM unit working on tumor immunology and translational immunology. Our work is foster on the immune effect of target therapies and cytotoxic agent and in the discovery of predictive or prognostic immune biomarkers in NSCLC and in Digestive oncology

short curiculum vitae:

Degrees and diplomas
- 1993 : Bachelor (Dijon, France)
- 2002 : Master in Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology University of Burgondy (Dijon, France)
- 2005 : PhD, in Cellular Biology and Immunology, University of Burgondy (Dijon France)
- 2006 : MD thesis, Faculty of Medicine (Dijon, France) (Internal Medicine)
- 2007 : Medical degree in Medical Oncology (DESC) (Strasbourg, France)

Additional training
- 2007-2008: Post-doctoral position at Institut Gustave Roussy (Villejuif, France) in Dr. Laurence Zitvogel Laboratory (INSERM U805, CIC BT507) : 1 years on “Poste d’accueil” from INSERM
- 2008. Laureate of the AVENIR INSERM program

University teaching responsibilities:
- 2009-2011: Maitre de conférence, Assistant Professor (Faculty of Medicine Dijon), Unviversity of Burgondy
- 20012-Ongoing : Professeur des University,¨Praticien Hospitalier,Full Professor (Faculty of Medicine Dijon), Unviversity of Burgondy

Current position
• Medical oncologist at center Georges Francois Leclerc, Department of Medical Oncology. 1 rue du Professeur Marion 21000 DIJON
• Head of early clinial trial unit: CLIPP Bourgogne Franche Comté
• Director of INSERM UMR1231. Faculty of Medicine 7 Bvd Jeanne D’Arc 21000 DIJON

Sanja Dacic, MD, PhD, is a professor of pathology in the Department of Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh , Director of Anatomic Pathology at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital and Director of Thoracic Pathology Center of Excellence. She is a member of the IASLC Pathology Committee.

Luis Corrales-Rodríguez, MD is a medical oncologist at Hospital San Juan de Dios (CCSS) and at the Centro de Investigación y Manejo del Cáncer (CIMCA) in San José, Costa Rica.

He obtained his medical degree at the Universidad de Costa Rica and completed his Medical Oncology residency program at the same university in 2009. He then pursued a Thoracic Oncology Fellowship at Hôpital Notre-Dame from the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) in Montreal, Canada.

He returned to Costa Rica joining the faculty at Hospital San Juan de Dios and becoming a pre-graduate and post-graduate professor at the Universidad de Costa Rica. He is the director and leading investigator for Costa Rica of several international clinical trials at CIMCA.

He is member of the Asociación Costarricense de Oncología Médica (ACOMED), Consorcio Latinoamericano para la Investigación del Cáncer de Pulmón (CLICaP), Oncology Latin America Association (OLA), ASCO, ESMO, and IASLC.

He has co-authored numerous abstracts and peer-reviewed publications. His interests include translational medicine, molecular biology, targeted therapies, and immune-oncology applied to thoracic, gastrointestinal, and breast oncology among others.