Scientific Advisory Council

Fátima Carneiro, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor
Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of Porto University (IPATIMUP)
and Faculty of Medicine/Hospital S. João
Porto, Portugal

Dr. Carneiro is a Professor of Anatomic Pathology at the Porto University, Department Head of Anatomic Pathology at the Hospital S. Joao in Port, and Senior Investigator for IPATIMUP. She is president-elect of the European Society of Pathology, and a long-standing member of the Steering Group of the International Gastric Cancer Linkage Consortium.  Dr. Carneiro is also the Coordinator of the Portuguese Network of Tumor Banks.

Daniel C. Chung, M.D.

Clinical Chief, Gastrointestinal Unit
Director, GI Cancer Genetics Program, Cancer Center
Massachusetts General Hospital
Associate Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA

Mark Duncan, M.D., FACS

Associate Professor of Surgery and Oncology | Johns Hopkins University

Dr. Duncan specializes in gastrointestinal surgery and surgical oncology, including surgery of the esophagus, stomach, intestine, colon, and rectum, gallbladder and pancreas, adrenal and retroperitoneal sarcoma. He co-directs the Gastric Cancer Multidisciplinary Clinic and authored the Johns Hopkins Patient Guide for Cancer of the Stomach and Esophagus. He chairs the cancer committee and directs the tumor board at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Dr. Duncan gives lectures and presentations nationally and internationally on Gastric and GI cancer surgery and works with Johns Hopkins International on cancer programs and centers overseas.

Parry Guilford, BSc, MSc, Ph.D.

Professor
Centre for Translational Cancer Research
University of Otago
Dunedin, New Zealand

Professor Parry Guilford is a Principal Investigator in the Cancer Genetics Laboratory, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, and the Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of Pacific Edge Biotechnology Ltd. He completed his MSc at Otago in 1983, and his Ph.D. at Cambridge University in 1989. During postdoctoral studies at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, he led a team that localized the first genes for non-syndromic recessive deafness. His current research interests include the genetics of inherited cancers, in particular, stomach cancer, and the application of genetics to the diagnosis and management of cancer. He has worked for the last ten years with the Maori tribe Ngai te Rangi researching the causes and treatment of inherited stomach cancer.

David G. Huntsman, M.D., FRCPC, FCCMG

Interim Director, OvCaRe BC
Professor, Department of Pathology and Lab Medicine, UBC
Medical Director, Centre for Translational and Applied Genomics, BC Cancer Agency
Vancouver, BC

Dr. David Huntsman is a Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at The University of British Columbia (UBC), a Staff Pathologist at the BC Cancer Agency (BCCA), and a Consulting Pathologist at the Vancouver General Hospital.

Dr. Huntsman attended medical school at Memorial University of Newfoundland from 1984–88 and after completing a rotating internship practiced family medicine in Labrador for two years. Following his experience in family medicine, he entered and completed a pathology residency and trained in clinical molecular genetics at UBC and subsequently studied cancer genetics at Cambridge University, UK.

Dr. Huntsman is currently the Interim Director of the BC multidisciplinary ovarian cancer research team (OvCaRe), Medical Director of the Centre for Translational and Applied Genomics (CTAG) at the BCCA, co-Director of the Genetic Pathology Evaluation Centre (GPEC) at the Jack Bell Research Centre, VGH, and Associate Director of the Hereditary Cancer Program (HCP) at the BC Cancer Agency.

Dr. Huntsman has active research programs in hereditary gastric cancer as well as in the development of predictive and prognostic tissue-based cancer biomarkers of a wide variety of tumor types. As collaboration is critical in his field, Dr. Huntsman happily leads and engages in a wide number of multidisciplinary research groups.

Rachid Karam, M.D., Ph.D.

Associate Director
Ambry Translational Genomics (ATG) Lab
CDH1 Expert Panel
Aliso Viejo, CA

Dr. Rachid Karam obtained his medical degree in Brazil, at the Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre, one of the most reputable medical schools in the country. He has a Ph.D. in Oncogenetics, and focused his graduate studies on the regulation of the CDH1 gene expression in Hereditary Diffuse Gastric Cancer patients, at the University of Porto, in Europe, and at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. He did his postdoctoral studies at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, where he performed RNA biology research. 

He joined Ambry Genetics in 2014 and is now the Associate Director of Ambry’s Translational Genomics (ATG) Lab. Additionally, he is currently the Chair of the CDH1 ClinGen expert panel, a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded resource dedicated to building a central resource that defines the clinical relevance of CDH1 genomic alterations for use in precision medicine and research.

Pardeep Kaurah, MSc, CCGC

Research Genetic Counsellor
Hereditary Cancer Program
BC Cancer Agency
Vancouver, BC

Pardeep Kaurah is a research genetic counselor at the Hereditary Cancer Program at the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver. She received her master’s degree in Genetic Counseling from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec in 1995. She has been the clinical research coordinator for the Hereditary Diffuse Gastric Cancer Study in BC since 2002. She is also currently doing her doctoral degree which involves documenting and describing the clinical outcomes and quality of life in individuals who have had total prophylactic gastrectomy.

Gregory Y. Lauwers, M.D.

Senior Member
Gastrointestinal Pathology Service
Department of Pathology
Moffitt Cancer Center
Tampa. FL

Dr. Lauwers research has focused on oncologic surgical pathology in the areas of gastrointestinal. Dr. Lauwers has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles, editorials, reviews and book chapters and has been a regularly invited speaker at all major national and international pathology meetings. He is also Adjunct Professor of Pathology at Saitama Medical University in Japan. Dr. Lauwers serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Surgical Pathology, American Journal of Clinical Pathology, as well as Modern Pathology and is Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. He is the co-author of several textbooks and the upcoming 4th edition of the “Tumors of the Esophagus and Stomach” published by the AFIP and a co-editor of the 5th edition of Morson and Dawson’s Textbook of Gastrointestinal Pathology.

Paul F. Mansfield, M.D.

Vice President, Acute Care Services
Professor, Department of Surgical Oncology
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Houston, Texas USA

Paul F. Mansfield, MD, is vice president of Acute Care Services, and Professor of Surgical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He has won numerous awards throughout his career including the National Cancer Institute’s Research Fellowship Trainee in 1988, the American Cancer Society’s Clinical Oncology Fellowship Award in 1990, Outstanding Teacher Award in 1994, Faculty Achievement Award for Patient Care in 2002, the Ehrenzeller Award in 2009, and Patients’ Choice Award in 2009.

In 1983, he received his Doctorate of Medicine at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. After completing a Fellowship in Surgical Oncology at MD Anderson, he became Assistant Professor with the Department of Surgical Oncology in 1991 and went on to become Professor in 2003 and Deputy Chairman of this department in 2007. In May of 2011, he was named Vice President for Acute Care Services.

Dr. Mansfield is certified by the American Board of Surgery. He has special interests in appendiceal and gastric cancer. He has authored and co-authored over 140 articles and chapters in peer-reviewed publications and has given presentations at numerous national and international conferences.

Trevelyan Menheniott, PhD

Dr. Trevelyan Menheniott is a biomedical scientist of excellent accomplishment and reputation in the stomach cancer field. Trained as a molecular geneticist, he has over 16 years of experience and a well-established international record of accomplishment in the inflammatory basis of stomach cancer pathogenesis. Currently based at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, he leads a multi-Centre collaborative network of basic researchers and clinician-scientists, aiming to develop innovative ‘cancer stem cell’ -targeted therapies, tumor immunotherapies and ‘cell-free DNA’ predictive biomarkers for translation to the clinic.

Dr. Menheniott has a highly-credentialed record of research achievement, having authored over 35 career publications, with a strong track record of competitive funding success, charted by six project grant awards as Principal Investigator and a prestigious National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Career Development Fellowship, collectively totaling over AU$ 3 million.

The clinical utility and international standing of Dr. Menheniott’s research is exemplified by his 2016 paper in the ‘Journal of Clinical Investigation’, reporting novel therapeutic value of the gastro-kine-2 protein in stomach cancer, 2 further lead author papers in the high impact journal ‘Gastroenterology’, as well as senior author papers in ‘Oncogene’, and ‘Nature Communications’ in the last 5 years alone.

Devanshi Patel, MS, CGC

Senior Genetic Counselor
Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
Boston, MA

Devanshi Patel is a licensed genetic counselor who earned her master’s degree in Genetic Counseling from Brandeis University in Massachusetts. After graduating she joined the cardiology department at Children’s Hospital Boston where she gained experience working with pediatric, adult and prenatal cardiovascular genetics patients in both clinical and research capacities. She then went on to join the Center for Medical Genetics at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare (now Northshore University Health System) in Illinois where she was involved in providing clinical care for adult patients. She was also the research coordinator for the Pancreatic Cancer Family Registry.

In 2005, she joined the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Cancer Risk Assessment. Devanshi provides cancer risk assessment and genetic counseling services to patients within the diverse clinical programs at the MGH Cancer Center. Her activities also include educating health-care providers and the lay-public in genetics, student supervision, and training. Devanshi’s primary interests lie in patient care and education outreach programs that facilitate the integration of genetics into medical care.

Raquel Seruca, M.D., Ph.D.

Group Leader of Cancer Genetics Group
Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of Porto University (IPATIMUP)
Affiliated Professor, Medical Faculty of Porto University
Portugal

Dr. Seruca serves as a group leader for IPATIMUP as well as Professor on the Medical Faculty at Porto University. She holds memberships in numerous scientific committees throughout Europe, as well as long-standing membership in the International Gastric Cancer Linkage Consortium.

Current research interests for Dr. Seruca include molecular mechanisms of cancer invasion, especially E-cadherin and P-cadherin, as well as clinical aspects and cytomolecular genetics of gastrointestinal cancer in both sporadic and hereditary forms. She has co-authored more than 160 publications in international journals and three book chapters.

Vivian E. Strong, M.D., FACS

Associate Attending Surgeon
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
And Associate Professor of Surgery
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY

Dr. Vivian E. Strong is a board-certified surgeon specializing in cancer operations who has advanced training in minimally invasive techniques (laparoscopy). She is dedicated to applying her technical expertise and clinical interests primarily to patients with stomach (gastric) cancer and adrenal tumors.

She is a member of Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Gastric Disease Management Team — a multidisciplinary team of surgeons, medical oncologists, pathologists, and other medical professionals who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer. The combined expertise of our specialized team allows us to come up with the best plan for each patient. Vivian E. Strong Bio

Recent Publications:
Gastric Cancer Etiology and Management in Asia and the West

Donna Walsh, MS, RD, CSO, LD

Nutrition & Wellness Coordinator

Maine General Health
Augusta, ME

Donna Walsh is a Registered Dietitian with over 30 years of experience in the field of nutrition and health education. She provides nutrition services for oncology patients at the Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care in Augusta. In addition, Donna also provides education and classes on nutrition and cancer prevention throughout the central Maine area.

Donna’s academic background includes degrees in Nutrition and Dietetics and a Master’s in Public Health with an emphasis on Community Health Education. She is a Certified Specialist in Oncology Nutrition by the Commission on Dietetic Registration.

Sam S. Yoon, M.D.

Chief, Division of Surgical Oncology
Vice-Chair of Surgical Oncology Research and Education
Columbia Surgery
New York, NY

Sam S. Yoon, MD, is a surgical oncologist at Columbia Surgery. Dr. Yoon specializes in the treatment of patients with upper gastrointestinal malignancies including gastric cancer and soft tissue sarcomas. Dr. Yoon is a graduate of Harvard University and received his medical degree from the University of California at San Diego. He completed his residency in general surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and his fellowship in surgical oncology at MSKCC. He was an Associate Professor of Surgery at MGH and Harvard Medical School for ten years before moving to MSKCC in 2012.

Dr. Yoon received additional training in gastric cancer surgery at Seoul National University Hospital, which performs nearly 1000 gastric cancer surgeries per year. He has published numerous articles on the staging and surgical treatment of patients with gastric cancer as well as on total prophylactic gastrectomy for patients with hereditary diffuse gastric cancer. Dr. Yoon’s clinical research focuses on the development of novel treatment strategies for patients with gastric cancer and sarcomas. Overall, he has published over 70 original research and review articles related to gastric cancer, sarcomas, and tumor angiogenesis in journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine and the Annals of Surgery.