Suresh S. Ramalingam is Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology and the Roberto C. Goizueta Chair for Cancer Research at the Emory University School of Medicine. He is also the Deputy Director of the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University 
 
Dr. Ramalingam’s research is focused on the development of novel treatment approaches for patients with lung cancer. Specifically, his group has developed novel treatment options for lung cancer patients harboring an EGFR mutation, resulting in FDA approval of third generation inhibitors for standard therapy of metastatic NSCLC. He also leads clinical and translational investigations of novel immunotherapy approaches for the treatment of lung cancer. He has published more than 350 original manuscripts, review articles, editorials and book chapters. He serves as the principal investigator for the Emory University Lung Cancer SPORE award from the National Cancer Institute. He is also the contact principal investigator for the ECOG-ACRIN Thoracic Malignancies Translational Science Center Award from the National Cancer Institute.

As the Deputy Director of Winship Cancer Institute, Dr. Ramalingam provides oversight for the scientific research programs and leads the Scientific Research Council. Dr. Ramalingam serves as the Chair of the ECOG-ACRIN Thoracic Malignancies Committee and Deputy Chair for Therapeutics Programs at ECOG-ACRIN. He is the section editor for ‘Chest malignancies’ for ‘Cancer’ journal (American Cancer Society). Dr. Ramalingam is the recipient of several awards, including the James R. Eckman Award for Excellence at Emory University, and the Distinguished Cancer Scholar Award, Georgia Cancer Coalition. In addition, he is a recipient of the ASCO Career Development Award (2006–2009), the ECOG Young Investigator Award (2013), and the NCI ‘Clinical Investigators Team Leadership Award’ (2010-12). Dr. Ramalingam serves as a member of the board of directors for the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) and as a member of the NCI Thoracic Malignancies Steering Committee. He is past president of the Georgia Society of Oncology and a former member of the Emory Healthcare board of directors. 

Dr. Ramalingam received his medical degree at Kilpauk Medical College, Madras, India. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, where he also served as Chief Medical Resident. He then completed a fellowship in Hematology and Medical Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA. 

Luis E. Raez, MD, FACP, FCCP; is the President of the Florida Society of Clinical Oncology (FLASCO). He works as Chief of Hematology/Oncology & Medical Director of Memorial Cancer Institute (MCI), he is also Director of the Thoracic Oncology Program. He is also Clinical Professor of Medicine at Florida International University (FIU). He designs phase I-III clinical trials with new chemotherapeutic agents and combinations. Dr. Raez does translational research and clinical research. He has been funded by NCI and the pharma industry. He has given oral presentations and lectures in national and international meetings in the US, Europe, Latin-America, Africa and Asia.

I am a thoracic medical oncologist at the University of Michigan and I take care of patients with thoracic malignancies as well as esophageal cancers. My research interests include clinical trials and immunotherapy in NSCLC.

Dr. Sonam Puri MD. is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Medical Oncology and the Department of Internal Medicine at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah. She specializes in medical oncology with a clinical and research focus on thoracic malignancies. She is the physician leader of the lung cancer clinical trial research group at HCI and also serves as a panel member of the NCCN Small Cell Lung Cancer Clinical Practice Guidelines.

Katerina Politi, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Pathology and Medicine (Section of Medical Oncology) at Yale University. She studied Biology at the University of Pavia in Italy then moved to New York, where she obtained her PhD in Genetics and Development working with Argiris Efstratiadis at Columbia University. Following graduate school, she joined Harold Varmus's lab at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and began her work on the molecular basis of lung cancer. She is a cancer biologist and expert in mouse modeling of lung cancer with a specific focus on EGFR mutations in lung cancer. In this regard, her laboratory studies the molecular mechanisms that underlie sensitivity and resistance to targeted therapies in lung cancer using genetically engineered mouse models, patient-derived models and direct analysis of patient specimens. Additionally, she also studies the role of lung cancer-associated genetic alterations in metastatic progression and cell signaling. Finally, her laboratory is investigating the role of the tumor microenvironment in lung cancer with special emphasis on understanding its contributions to tumorigenesis and response to therapy including to new drugs that target the immune system.

Dr. Piotrowska is an attending thoracic medical oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Piotrowska’s research focuses on understanding mechanisms of acquired resistance and developing novel therapies for both non-small and small cell lung cancer. Dr. Piotrowska is the lead investigator of national and international lung cancer clinical trials and has received grant support from the LUNGevity Foundation, the American Cancer Society and Uniting Against Lung Cancer. She received her MD from Yale University School of Medicine and trained in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and in hematology/oncology at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Pennell is a professor of medicine, and is Vice Chair of Clinical Research and director of the lung cancer medical oncology program at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute.

My clinical and research interests include a focus on precision oncology in the management of patients with lung cancers. I am particularly interested in novel biomarker development, management of patients with oncogene driven cancer (such as ALK, ROS1, EGFR, MET, etc.) and understanding mechanisms of acquired resistance.

Associate Professor, Medical Oncology, UCSD
Co-Leader, Experimental Therapeutics
Deputy Director, San Diego Center for Precision Immunotherapy
Director, Clinical Trials Office

Jyoti D. Patel is Director of Thoracic Oncology and Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University. She is the Vice Chair of Clinical Research in the Department of Medicine and Assistant Director of Clinical Research of the Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Patel specializes in the treatment of patients with lung cancer and other thoracic cancers. She has authored numerous publications, served as the principal investigator of multiple clinical trials. She has served on national and international cancer committees including IASLC, ASCO, the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, National Comprehensive Cancer Network, Hoosier Oncology Group, and the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group.