Dr. Armenian is a pediatric oncologist with expertise in pediatric cancer, epidemiology, and cancer survivorship. He is an associate professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Population Sciences, and serves as the Director of the Childhood Cancer Survivorship Program at City of Hope. His research is focused on understanding the pathophysiology and risk factors for cardiovascular complications such as therapy-related heart failure, coronary artery disease, and stroke in long-term survivors of cancer.

Conference Topic: Session 4 - Screening and intervention for cardiomyopathy

Taken together, these complications are a leading cause of mortality in survivors of cancer and pose one of the greatest challenges to clinicians taking care of these patients. As chair of the Children’s Oncology Group Survivorship and Outcomes Committee, Dr. Armenian plays a lead role in shaping national guidelines for the care of childhood cancer survivors. He has been the recipient of several awards including the American Society of Bone Marrow Transplantation HistoGenetics New Investigator Award, Paul Calebresi Clinical Oncology Career Development Award, the Ruby N. Roney Endowment at City of Hope, and is a past-fellow of the American Society of Hematology Clinical Training Institute.

Greg Armstrong MD, MSCE is the Principal Investigator of the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCCS).  The CCSS is a multi-institutional, collaborative cohort study initiated in 1994, which has successfully established and followed a cohort of 14,370 five-year survivors of childhood cancer diagnosed between1970-1986 and a population of sibling controls.

Conference Topic: Session 4 - Late onset cardiotoxicity: Incidence, risk and individual risk prediction

The cohort, derived through 26 original participating clinical centers, has collected detailed information on cancer diagnosis, therapy received, and outcomes encompassing over 248,000 person-years of follow-up. Under the leadership of Dr. Armstrong and Dr. Melissa Hudson, CCSS Co-PI the CCSS is expanding the cohort to include an additional 10,000 survivors diagnosed between 1987-1999. In addition to maintaining a clinical practice in both pediatric neuro-oncology and pediatric cancer survivor care, Dr. Armstrong, co-chairs the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort (SJLIFE) Cardiopulmonary Working Group and has published many of the early cardiac outcomes within the SJLIFE cohort.  He currently holds an RO1 that is evaluating novel echocardiography endpoints (myocardial strain) for early detection of cardiomyopathy, within the SJLIFE population.

Ana Barac, MD, PhD, is a noninvasive cardiologist at MedStar Heart and Vascular Institute and an Assistant professor of Medicine at Georgetown University. Her clinical and research interests focus on the mechanisms, diagnosis and treatment of cardiac complications of cancer therapies and she leads MedStar Heart and Vascular Institute’s Cardio-Oncology program.  

Conference Debate: "To Strain or Not to Strain" - We should all be doing this on all Echos for cardiotoxicity

Dr. Barac has basic science research background in signaling pathways and in vascular physiology research on endothelial function. She previously was a research fellow at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health. She holds KL2 Scholar Award from the Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science for investigations of cardiovascular toxicity in patients with breast cancer. Her clinical cardiac imaging expertise includes advanced training in cardiac MR and echocardiography. Dr. Barac led the Cardio-Oncology Working group within the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and was appointed chair of the new ACC Cardio-Oncology Council in 2015. She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), the Journal of Cardiovascular Translational Research and the Cardio-Oncology journal. 

Smita Bhatia has recently joined the University of Alabama at Birmingham to establish the Institute of Cancer Outcomes and Survivorship. She also serves as the Associate Director for Outcomes Research at the UAB Comprehensive School of Medicine.

Conference Topic: Session 4 - Genetic variants and the risk for cardiac toxicity

An internationally renowned leader in cancer survivorship research, she serves as the Associate Chair for the Children’s Oncology Group, coordinating survivorship research across 200 pediatric oncology institutions in the U.S. She was elected to membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation in recognition of meritorious and outstanding contributions as a physician scientist. She is the recipient of the Frank H Oski Lectureship Award from the American Society of Pediatric Hematology Oncology to honor outstanding investigation in Pediatric Hematology/ oncology. In 2012, she was elected to the Board of Directors for the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Dr. Blaes graduated from the University of Notre Dame and then received her M.D. degree from Loyola University Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine. She performed her residency at the University of Minnesota, where she was named the Resident Teacher of the Year and received the Gold Foundation Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award for her outstanding contributions as a resident role model. 

Moderator: Session 9 - Myeloma and Amyloid - A true case study in Cardio-Oncology

She served as Chief Resident in Internal Medicine and then subsequently completed a Hematology and Oncology fellowship and a Master of Science in Clinical Research degree at the University of Minnesota, prior to joining the faculty. Dr. Blaes has a special interest in cancer survivorship, the late effects of cancer therapy, and medical education. Her research interests, funded by a BIRCWH award, include quality of life, cardiac complications of chemotherapy, and the late effects of cancer therapy in cancer survivors, particularly breast and colorectal cancer survivors. In addition to mentoring medical students and residents on research projects, she teaches the Blood pathophysiology course and the Human Diseases IV course within the medical school. She received an Educational Excellence Award from the Department of Medicine in 2010, and has been named to Minnesota Monthly’s Best Doctors for Women in 2011 and 2012.

Dr. Borinstein is the director of the Pediatric Sarcoma and Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) oncology program at Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in Nashville, TN. His research and clinical interests are aligned to improve the treatment and outcomes of children, teenagers, and young adults with cancer.

Moderator: Session 4 - Childhood Cancer Survivorship, Late Cardiotoxicity, and CV Prevention

In addition to conducting translational research in Ewing Sarcoma, a malignant bone and soft tissue tumor, Dr. Borinstein is involved in the development and implementation of clinical trials for sarcoma and AYA cancer patients, with a goal of integrating new drugs and protocols into our current cancer therapies. Dr. Borinstein also is also actively involved in developing ways to improve supportive care and late effects for AYA and sarcoma patients during and after being treated with cancer.

Dr. Daniela Cardinale graduated from the University of Milan in 1987 and specialized in Cardiology (Milan 1992). She holds a PhD in Cardiovascular Physiopathology from the same University (2009). She is currently Director of the Cardioncology Unit of the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, where she has been working since 1994.

Conference Topic: Session 6 - The practical use of cardiac biomarkers to optimally treat cardiac issues in cancer patients

She has previously worked at the Operative Unit of Intensive Cardiac Care of the Centro Cardiologico Monzino (1987-1990) and at the Cardiology Division of S. Raffaele Hospital of Milan (1990-1994). Her professional experience and investigational interests focus on prevention, early detection, monitoring and treatment of cardiotoxicity; screening of cardiotoxicity in patients with cardiac disease; malignant pericardial effusion evaluation and intrapericardial treatment. Since 2009, she is the Vice-President of the ICOS (International CardiOncology Society). She is a fellow of the European Society of Cardiology.

[Watch Presentation]

Dr. Joseph Carver is a Board Certified cardiologist. He is the Founding Editor of the American Journal of Managed Care and was a Senior Corporate Medical Director at Aetna U.S. Healthcare from 1992-2001 where he was responsible for new program development and directed the National Medical Excellence Program.

Moderator: Session 8 - Bone Marrow Transplantation - How Can We Maximize Cardiac Status?

From 1999-2001, he was Co-chairperson of the New Jersey and Michigan Working Groups that established voluntary agreements among the insurers in those states to cover the routine costs of clinical trial participation for cancer patients. He is one of the Founding Editors of Cardio-oncology Journal. He currently is the Bernard Fishman Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, the Chief Operating Officer of the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania and the Chief of Staff of the Abramson Cancer Center. His clinical practice is in the subspecialty of Cardio-oncology. He was the recipient of the IS Ravdin Master Clinician Award at Penn in 2012.

Dr. Cornell is an assistant professor of medicine. He received a B.S. in clinical laboratory science from Saint Louis University and then worked in clinical and molecular hematology at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He attended medical school at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Dr. Cornell then completed his Internal Medicine Residency and Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at The Medical College of Wisconsin.

Conference Topic: Session 9 - Amyloidosis: A systemic disease with a host of complications, particularly cardiac

He is currently obtaining his Master's in Clinical and Translational Science. He specializes in the treatment of plasma cell disorders including Multiple Myeloma, Smoldering Myeloma, Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance (MGUS), POEMS syndrome, Amyloid Light-Chain (AL) Amyloidosis, Plasma Cell Leukemia, Solitary Plasmacytoma and Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia. Dr. Cornell's research focuses on translational and early phase clinical trials for the treatment of multiple myeloma. He also conducts research and clinical trials for relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma. Dr. Cornell is an active member of the American Society of Hematology, American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. He is a member of the multiple myeloma

[Watch Amyloidosis: A systemic disease with a host of complications, particularly cardiac Presentation]

Dr. Jeanne DeCara is the director of the cardio-oncology program at University of Chicago Medicine. As such, her practice focuses on diagnosing and treating heart disorders among patients who have received or are about to receive chemotherapy with potential cardiac side effects and/or chest radiation as part of their cancer therapy.

Moderator: Session 7 - Cardio-Oncology: What is the Future?

Dr. DeCara has expertise in the area of echocardiography, including use of strain for early detection of left ventricular dysfunction in patients receiving potentially cardiotoxic chemotherapy. Dr. DeCara’s research focus is directed toward the application of noninvasive imaging techniques for the diagnosis and prognosis of patients with clinical and subclinical heart disease.

Michael Deininger, MD, PhD, is Professor and Chief of Hematology and Hematologic Malignancies in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Utah and Senior Director of Transdisciplinary Research at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. He has extensive experience treating patients with blood cancers, including chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and myeloproliferative neoplasms, a group of blood cancers related to leukemia.

Conference Topic: Session 1 - Newer CML therapy, nilotinib and ponatinib: A major advance but are vascular complications serious?

Dr. Deininger’s scientific focus is leukemia, specifically myeloproliferative neoplasms including chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). As a clinician - scientist with a translational research focus Dr. Deininger is heading an extramurally funded research laboratory that is dedicated to the study of signaling pathways, drug resistance and new molecular therapies in leukemia.

Dr. Dent is a Medical Oncologist at The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre and Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. She obtained her MD at McMaster University and completed her postgraduate training in Internal Medicine at the University of Ottawa. She continued her training in Medical Oncology in Ottawa, followed by a fellowship year in Clinical Research with the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group.

Conference Topic: Session 7 - Establishing a cardiac oncology clinic

Presently, she is a member of Cancer Ontario Breast Disease Site Group Practice Guidelines Committee, IND working group for the Breast Cancer Disease Site Committee of the National Cancer Institute for Canada Clinical Trials Group and Grant Review Panel member for the Canadian Institute of Health Research. She is Vice Chair of the Quality & Clinical Services Committee Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa. Her areas of interest include breast cancer, treatment toxicities and cardiotoxicity. She is the founder of the Ottawa Cardiac Oncology Program as well as the Canadian Cardiac Oncology Network, organizations dedicated to improving our understanding of how cancer treatments impact cardiovascular health with the ultimate goal of preventing cardiotoxicity.

[Watch Presentation]

Dr. Durand is the Medical Director of Cardiomyopathy Services, Director of Cardiovascular Genetics Research, and the Director of the Cardiology Fellowship Program at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre, in Houston, TX. He is also a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, Staff Physician of the Heart Failure/Heart Failure Transplant Service at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, and the Founder of the worlds first heart failure program dedicated to cardiotoxicity and cancer.

Moderator: Poster Presentations

His major research is dedicated to understanding the molecular genetics of cardiomyopathies, primarily the identification of genes responsible for cardiomyopathy of all etiologies. His work also focuses on defining the molecular mechanisms involved in chemotherapy-induced cardiomyopathy. Limited studies have been conducted to define the genetic basis of why patients undergoing cancer treatment develop heart failure and respond to standard medical therapy for treatment of heart failure. Dr. Durand has established the worlds largest database of DNA from patients with heart failure secondary to chemotherapy and have future plans to perform genotyping to identify heart failure susceptibility genes which may predispose patients to development of left ventricular dysfunction and potentially response and recovery of cardiac function. To this date they now have over 600 samples and have plans on obtaining 3000 samples. In addition, he has also developed a tissue bank for further expression studies to identify critical pathways which are common to cancer biology and cardiovascular biology. Dr. Durand's areas of scientific interests also includes genotyping single nucleotide polymorphisms of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor-related cardiomyopathy, and acute coronary syndromes in cancer patients with Thrombocytopenia.

Dr. Fradley is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of South Florida and Director of the joint University of South Florida-Moffitt Cancer Center Cardio-Oncology program. He is also has an appointment as an assistant member at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Centre and Research Institute.

Conference Topic: Session 8 - QT prolongation and other electrophysiologic considerations in cancer patients undergoing stem cell therapy

He earned his B.S at Yale University and his MD degree at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He remained at Johns Hopkins for internal medicine residency and then went on to complete fellowships in both cardiology and clinical cardiac electrophysiology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Following fellowship, Dr. Fradley joined the faculty at the University of South Florida where he partnered with Moffitt Cancer Centre and developed the Cardio-Oncology program. As a trained electrophysioloigst, Dr. Fradley’s clinical and research interests are focused on the diagnosis and management of arrhythmic complications associated with traditional and novel cancer therapies. He is actively involved in undergraduate and graduate medical education and also serves as the program director for the newly developed Cardio-Oncology Fellowship at the University of South Florida and Moffitt Cancer Center.

[Watch Presentation]

Dr. Sanjeev Francis graduated from Union College and Albany Medical College. He completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at NY-Presbyterian Hospital of Cornell University Medical Center, where he served as Assistant Chief Resident.  He then completed fellowships in cardiovascular medicine and advanced cardiac imaging at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Conference Topic: Session 2 - MRI: Utility for evaluation of cardiotoxicity

He was part of the Cardiology staff at Massachusetts General Hospital from 2009-2015, serving as the founding director of the Cardio-Oncology Program and member of the Cardiac MRI-CT program.  His clinical and research interests focus on the intersection of cancer and cardiovascular disease with a particular focus on advanced cardiac imaging. 

[Watch Presentation]

Gary M. Freedman, MD is an Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology in the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. His practice and academic focus is limited to breast cancer. His research interests have been focused on shortening radiation courses by hypofractionation, intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), proton beam radiation, and cardiac effects of radiation therapy/techniques to reduce cardiac dose in breast cancer.

Conference Topic: Session 3 - Cardiovascular issues in breast cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy

He has published over 75 peer-reviewed manuscripts, review articles and book chapters about breast cancer, radiation for early and advanced stage disease, radiation for intact breast and post-mastectomy indications, and radiation therapy techniques and side effects. He is a member of the NRG/RTOG breast cancer steering committee, co-author and co-Radiation Oncology principle investigator for protocol RTOG 1005 A Phase III Trial of Accelerated Whole Breast Irradiation With Hypofractionation Plus Concurrent Boost Versus Standard Whole Breast Irradiation Plus Sequential Boost For Early-Stage Breast Cancer. He has been awarded the Association of Residents in Radiation Oncology teaching award for his education of medical students and residents.

Dr. Eric E. Harrison is the CEO/President of PrivaCors Inc. and is the Director of Advanced Cardiac Imaging at the University of South Florida / HCA Memorial Hospital Joint Program and is Associate Professor of Cardiology at the Morsanni School of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.

Moderator: Session 3 - Cardiovascular Concerns from Radiation Therapy and Other Radiation Exposure

Dr. Dan Lenihan and Dr. Eric Harrison Co-founded the 501 (c) (3) ICOSNA foundation which is directed by Mr. John Fay and is based in Tampa , Florida . Dr. Harrison has a strong interest in Advanced Cardiac  Imaging and Cardio-Oncology and has a private Cardio-Oncology Clinic in cooperation with Florida Cancer Specialists , the largest private practice oncology group in the United States. Dr. Harrison is the Deputy Editor of ONCOReview . 

Dr. Joerg Herrmann graduated from Ruhr University medical school in Bochum, Germany and completed his internal medicine residency and cardiovascular diseases and interventional cardiology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Thereafter, he joined the division of cardiovascular diseases at the Mayo Clinic Rochester, and is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.

Moderator: Session 6 - Cardiac Biomarkers and Early Detection of Cardiotoxicity

He currently serves as the director of the Cardio-Oncology Clinic and the research director of the Ischemic Heart Disease program. His research interests focus on all aspects of cardio-oncology and the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of atherosclerosis. He has published over 90 articles in peer-reviewed journals and has received NIH grant funding. He also serves as the associated editor of Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine and PracticeUpdate.

Clifford Hudis, MD, is the Chief of the Breast Medicine Service and Attending Physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City where is co-Leader of the Breast Disease Management Team and a Professor of Medicine at the Weill Cornell Medical College. He is also MSK’s Vice-President for Government Relations and Chief Advocacy Officer.

Debate: Should all HER2-positive breast cancer patients still undergo serial imaging every 3 months?

Dr. Hudis is a past President of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and currently serves as the Chairman of BCRF’s Scientific Advisory Committee, co-Chair of the Breast Committee of the Alliance (formerly the CALGB) and a member of the Steering Committee of the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC).  In addition, he is a member of the Board of Governors for ASCO's CancerLinQ. This project will use the data generated by practices around to improve the quality of care for patients regardless of where they live.   A 1983 graduate of an accelerated degree program at the Medical College of Pennsylvania (a combined 6 year BA/MD with Lehigh University), Dr. Hudis trained in Internal Medicine in Philadelphia before completing his fellowship in Medical Oncology at MSKCC where he joined the faculty in 1991. Dr. Hudis’ research has included the development of a wide range of novel drugs and the study of relevant correlative science endpoints in breast cancer. His team developed taxanes, dose-dense adjuvant chemotherapy, and the use of targeted anti-HER2 agents in the advanced and adjuvant settings. They recently identified the utility of targeting the androgen receptor in advanced triple negative breast cancer as well as the safety of several anti-androgens in women. With his collaborators, both at MSKCC and beyond, his personal research has recently been focused on understanding the mechanisms that link diet, obesity, inflammation, and breast cancer risk and outcomes. Building on their discoveries of low grade inflammation in association with overweight and obesity, he and his colleagues are studying interventions that may reduce the risk of breast cancer and its return. 

Moderator: Session 4 - Childhood Cancer Survivorship, Late Cardiotoxicity, and CV Prevention

Her research interests include: Protocol development and clinical investigations in Hodgkin lymphoma; Late effects of cancer therapy; and Health education and promotion in childhood cancer survivors.

Dr. Humphreys is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine where he is Chief of the Renal Division. He also directs the Onco-Nephrology Clinic. He received a bachelor's degree from Harvard College and MD and PhD degrees from Case Western Reserve University.

Conference Topic: Session 6 - Can novel biomarkers be used to assess tumor responsiveness and risk of cardiotoxicity?

He completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and a fellowship in Nephrology at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. The recipient of the National Kidney Foundation Young Investigator Award, the American Society of Nephrology Gottschalk Research Scholar Award, the American Heart Association Established Investigator Award and a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, he has published 46 peer-reviewed original publications and 35 review articles or book chapters. He has had a longstanding interest in all forms of cancer-related kidney disease and in human studies, he investigates the mechanisms of kidney toxicity induced by targeted therapies, including hypertension and proteinuria in cancer patients receiving anti-VEGF therapies.

[Watch Presentation]

Zaza Iakobishvili is a director of Emergency Cardiology Services and Cardio-oncology clinic at the Beilinson hospital in Rabin Medical Center, Petah Tikva. He received his medical degree in 1988 from the Tbilisi State Medical University and completed his postdoctoral training in Tbilisi Institute of Human Physiology. In 1996 he immigrated to Israel, completed 2 year residency in Internal medicine and received Board certification in Internal medicine after successful completion of qualifying examinations.

Conference Topic: Session 7 - Can cardio-oncology really deliver improved practice internationally?

He applied to cardiology fellowship in the Department of Cardiology, Rabin Medical Center and successfully passed Board certification examinations in cardiology in 2001. He worked as attending physician in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit from 2002 till 2009 when he was appointed to lead Emergency Cardiology Services. In 2008-2010 was appointed to the secretary of National Cardiology Board examination committee. From 2009 he is a secretary of Biannual International Meeting on Acute Cardiac Care. From 2011 he was elected secretary of Israel working group on Acute Cardiac Care. Recently he was elected as the chairman of the working group on Acute Cardiac Care in Israel Heart Society. Zaza Iakobishvili is actively engaged in teaching at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at the University of TelAviv, repeatedly named among “best teachers” of the University. He is actively involved in scientific process and is author and co-author of more than 60 papers, published in peer-reviewed journals in the field of cardiology as Am Heart J, Am J Cardiol, Int J Cardiol, etc. He is the author of chapters on cardiogenic shock in European Society of Cardiology Textbook on Acute Cardiac Care (2010), Medical Clinics of North of America, American Heart Association book on cardiogenic shock (2011). He presents on international medical meetings as invited faculty of ESC in 2007, ESC Acute Cardiac Care meeting in Copenhagen, 2010, etc. Now he takes active participation in the European Society of Cardiology Acute Cardiac Care Association working group on quality of acute care. Main field of scientific interest is: cardio-oncology, epidemiology of cardiotoxicity of anti-cancer therapy, prevention and treatment of cardiotoxicity, cardiogenic shock, acute coronary syndromes and acute heart failure, diabetes treatment in cardiac patients, cardiac biomarkers. In 2013 he established and leads the clinic of cardio-oncology where the more than 1000 patients with cancer and heart problems are getting follow-up and treatment. Now he is organizing Israel registry on cancer treatment cardiotoxicity supported by the grant from Israel Association of Cardiovascular Trials.

[Watch Presentation]

Dr. Jagasia serves as the Co-leader of the Translational Research and Interventional Oncology Research Program at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. He has a Masters of Science in Clinical Investigation with a research focus in translational and clinical studies in stem cell transplantation (SCT) and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD).

Conference Topic: Session 8 - Stem cell transplantation: Current role and emerging strategies

He is an active member of the Center of International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) Leukemia and GVHD subcommittees. He is a steering committee member of the NIH 2014 Consensus Criteria for Chronic GVHD, and co-chair of working group for Diagnosis and Scoring of Chronic GVHD. He established the Long Term Transplant Clinic at Vanderbilt, for the systematic multidisciplinary care of patients with chronic GVHD and late effects after SCT. He has led many multi-center investigator initiated clinical trials in SCT, prevention and therapy of GVHD. He is Chief of Section of Hematology and SCT. He has been instrumental in implementation of diagnostic management team and development of tissue banks for hematological malignancies in collaboration with hematopathology. As the Associate Fellowship Program Director, he is involved in teaching and mentoring of trainees.

[Watch Presentation]

Dr. Lee W. Jones is a Member and Attending Physiologist in the Department of Medicine and Director of the Cardiology-Oncology Research Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Jones completed PhD and Postdoctoral Fellowship in Physical Education (Exercise Oncology) at the University of Alberta (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada).

Conference Topic: Session 8 - Exercise in a cancer patient: Is this the way to enhance cardiac reserve?

Dr. Jones joined MSKCC in February 2014 after eight years at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Jones’s research program focuses on a translational approach to investigation of the efficacy of targeted exercise training to: (1) mitigate cancer therapy-associated cardiovascular injury, and (2) inhibit tumor growth and progression. He has published numerous scientific articles and book chapters. He also serves on several working groups at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). His research program has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, American Cancer Society, and U.S. Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program.

[Watch Presentation]

Michel G Khouri, MD is a cardiologist with expertise in advanced Echocardiography as well as advanced Heart Failure and Transplantation. His primary interest is the emerging field of cardio-oncology where he hopes to advance efforts to improve the identification and prognostication of cancer patients at higher risk for developing cardiovascular disease and heart failure during cancer therapy and into survivorship.

Conference Topic: Session 2 - Is it the "best practice" to use imaging core labs for all major studies?

He is part of a growing cardio-oncology program at Duke University Medical Centre where he runs a cardio-oncology clinic for at-risk cancer patients in addition to pursuing his research interests.

Dr. Bonnie Ky, MD, MSCE is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Division of Cardiology, a Senior Scholar in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and is the Director of the Penn Center for Quantitative Echocardiography.

Debate: "To Strain or Not to Strain" - We should all be doing this on all Echos for cardiotoxicity

In this role, she leads a highly active NIH-funded translational research program aimed at identifying the underlying mechanisms and predictors of cancer therapy cardiotoxicity in many populations, including breast, renal cell, lung cancer and lymphoma. Specifically, her study objectives are to determine the role of mechanistic biomarkers and echocardiography-derived measures of myocardial mechanics in understanding and predicting incident cardiotoxicity and adverse cardiovascular outcomes with cancer treatment. She has specialized training in clinical epidemiology, the study of cardiovascular biomarkers, and the use of quantitative echocardiography as tools to understand cardiac remodeling and risk prediction. Dr. Ky received her a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She received her Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She completed her residency and cardiology fellowship as well as a Masters of Science in Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the American College of Cardiology (Cardio-oncology Council), American Heart Association, American Society of Echocardiography (Cardio-oncology Guidelines Writing Committee), American Society of Clinical Oncology (Cardiac Dysfunction in Survivors Writing Committee), Heart Failure Society of America (Chair, Research Committee), International Cardio-Oncology Society (Director, Scientific Committee), National Cancer Institute (NCI) Community Oncology Cardiotoxicity Task Force, and is an invited member of many cardio-oncology expert consensus groups.

Dr. Lenihan, has been active in clinical research in cardiology, and specifically in heart failure, for nearly 20 years. The main focus of these efforts have included hemodynamic assessments, angiogenic growth factor response, novel cardiac biomarkers as well as optimal methods to prevent or detect heart failure at the earliest stage possible in patients undergoing treatment for cancer.

His current projects include early phase clinical trials in heart failure, including the recently presented Phase 1 trial of GGF2 in cooperation with Acorda, Inc. As the Director of Clinical Research in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Dr Lenihan is managing over 100 clinical trials in conjunction with all of VHVI faculty and continues to enhance and foster collaboration among a host of colleagues both internally and throughout the world. He is the current president (US/Canada) of the International CardiOncology Society, a professional association whose primary goal is to eliminate cardiac disease as a barrier to effective cancer therapy.

Dr. Lindenfeld began her career investigating the role of anemia in the regulation of cardiac output, which subsequently led her to develop the heart failure and transplant program at the University of Colorado. She has extensive experience in the direction and oversight of large multicenter randomized clinical trials in heart failure, heart transplantation, and mechanical circulatory support and has served on steering committees, data and safety monitoring committees, and end point committees of numerous national and international multicenter trials.

Moderator: Session 7 - Cardio-Oncology: What is the Future?

Dr. Lindenfeld is currently a member of the steering committee for four national and international trials, including COAPT, FIX-HF, Parachute, and CAT-HF. She has served on the FDA Cardiorenal Advisory Panel for 8 years, the Cardiovascular Devices Panel for 4 years, and continues to be an ad hoc member of both panels. She was Chair of the Heart Failure Society of America Clinical Practice Guidelines published in 2006 and 2010, served as Vice-President of the Heart Failure Society of America from 2012 to 2014, and is currently the President of the Heart Failure Society of America. Her recent work has contributed to improved anticoagulation in recipients of left ventricular assist devices (LVADs), development of models to predict the risk of peripartum cardiomyopathy, the value of cardiac resynchronization therapy in patients with New York Heart Association Class IV heart failure, the discovery that women with heart failure are more likely to have heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, the development of a model that determines specific phenotypes of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, and most recently, the discovery that the aorta remodels significantly when subjected to non-pulsatile flow. She is a member of the Heart Failure Society of America, a Fellow of the American Heart Association, a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, a member of the American Society of Transplantation, and a member of the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation. She has presented at national and international academic conferences on her work in heart failure, heart transplantation, and mechanical circulatory support. Dr. Lindenfeld has authored 126 manuscripts, 17 book chapters, and 22 invited reviews. Her work has informed national policy makers on the implementation of heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support. As Director of the Heart Failure and Transplantation Programs, she currently leads the clinical research efforts of the group, which is reorganizing advanced heart failure and transplantation services within the Department of Medicine Division of Cardiovascular Medicine to improve delivery of all types of treatment for patients with heart failure.

Dr. Alexander Lyon is a British Heart Foundation Senior Lecturer in Cardiology at Imperial College London and a Consultant Cardiologist at the Royal Brompton Hospital. He studied medicine at Oxford University where he gained a first class degree, and studied for his PhD thesis in myocardial gene therapy at Imperial College London.

Conference Topic: Session 9 - Proteasome Inhibition: Is there any concern?

He continued his gene therapy research during a postdoctoral research year in the laboratory of Roger Hajjar at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. His clinical interests are in the field of heart failure, cardio-oncology and Takotsubo syndrome, and he is the theme leader for heart failure research in the NIHR-funded Biomedical Research Unit at the Royal Brompton Hospital. He is the clinical lead for the new Cardio-Oncology service at the Royal Brompton hospital, specialising in surveillance and cardioprotection from modern cancer drugs, risk stratification and treatment of all cardiac complications of cancer treatment. He is the president of the British Cardio-Oncology Society and a member of the European Society of Cardiology Taskforce on Cardio-Oncology. He is the clinical advisor to the british cancer patient charity Macmillan Cancer and helped to write the first patient information leaflet – Heart health for Cancer Patients. He is the UK national lead investigator for two gene therapy trials for chronic heart failure (CUPID2 and SERCA-LVAD), and is the heart failure lead for the RDN-HFpEF study assessing the role of renal sympathetic denervation for individuals with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. He is leading both a laboratory research programme understanding the influence of stress and high catecholamine levels upon myocardial function, and he is coordinating both a national and European strategy to advance knowledge and improve care for individuals with Takotsubo syndrome. He runs a specialist clinic for patients with Takotsubo syndrome focussing on risk prediction and management of refractory symptoms.

[Watch Presentation]

Giorgio Minotti is Professor of Pharmacology, Head of Drug Sciences and Clinical Pharmacology, Chief of Clinical Trial Center, at the University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome. He earned his degrees in Medicine and Oncology at the Catholic University School of Medicine in Rome. He was fellow of the Italian Association for Cancer Research, Fulbright Scholar and Fulbright Visiting Professor at the Departments of Biochemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, and Physiology and Biophysics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH.

Conference Topic: Session 7 - Developing a dedicated cardio-oncology journal

He has authored some 90 papers in Medline-based journals, mostly focusing on pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and clinical correlates of anticancer drugs cardiovascular toxicity. He edited books for Wiley and Sons Ltd. (Cardiovascular toxicity of non cardiovascular drugs, 2010), and guest-edited special issues of Cell Biology and Toxicology, Cardiovascular Toxicology, and article series for Chemical Research in Toxicology. He is Editor-in-Chief of Chemotherapy, Deputy Editor of the newly founded Journal, Cardio-Oncology, Associate Editor of Cardiovascular Toxicology, member of the Editorial Board of Chemical Research in Toxicology, Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Journal of Regenerative Medicine. He is member of the Italian Societies of Pharmacology and Toxicology, American Society for Clinical Oncology, International Cardio-Oncology Society. His work has been awarded by Italian Associaton for Cancer Research, Italian Reasearch Council, Academic Press Inc., NATO Scientific Affairs Division, Southern Europe New Drugs Organization. He organized and chaired international meetings or workshops for the European Society of Toxicology, the European Society of Cardiology, Menarini International Foundation.

[Watch Presentation]

Dr. Moslehi is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and the Director of the Cardio-Oncology Program at Vanderbilt School of Medicine. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University and University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He then completed an internal medicine residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Moderator: Session 1 - Tyrosine kinase inhibitors in hematologic malignancy: Should we be concerned?

Following the completion of clinical cardiology fellowship at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, he started a basic science post-doctoral fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute focusing on the role of angiogenesis (formation of new blood vessels) in heart disease. In 2009, he founded the Cardio-Oncology program at Brigham and Women's Hospital/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School with a clinic and research program focused on the cardiovascular care for cancer patients and cancer survivors. In 2014, he joined Vanderbilt. Dr. Moslehi is an expert clinician on the management of cardiac complications associated with radiation and both novel and traditional chemotherapies. His clinic and research program is focused on the mechanisms of toxicities associated with novel targeted therapies and how this knowledge can be modulated to understand human cardiovascular biology.

Dr. Anju Nohria graduated from Harvard Medical School and completed her residency and Chief residency in Internal Medicine from Yale New Haven Hospital, CT. She completed her fellowship in general cardiology with sub-specialty training in heart failure and transplantation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, MA.

Conference Topic: Session 3 - Autonomic dysfunction in patients treated with mediastinal or neck radiation

She is a faculty member in the advanced heart disease section at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and is the director of the cardio-oncology program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, MA.

[Watch Presentation]

Juan Carlos Plana Gomez, M.D, is Chief of Clinical Operations of the Section of Cardiology, Department of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, Director of the Cardio-Oncology Center, and co-Director of the Center for Advanced Cardiac Imaging at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center. He is the Don W. Chapman Chair in Cardiology and tenured Associate Professor of Medicine. Dr. Plana is board certified in Cardiology and Echocardiography.  

Moderator: Session 2 - Imaging for Cardiotoxixity: Many Issues, Many Question

Debater: Should all HER2-positive breast cancer patients still undergo serial imaging every 3 months?

Dr. Plana earned his medical degree from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Santafé de Bogotá (Colombia). His extensive training included internship, residency, chief resident year and fellowship in Cardiovascular disease and Cardiac Imaging (echocardiography and Nuclear Cardiology) at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Plana’s academic career started at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center where he served as Director of Cardiac Imaging and Medical Director of the Echocardiography laboratory. In 2010, he was recruited to Cleveland Clinic, where he opened as served as Co-Director of the Cardio-Oncology center. Dr. Plana's clinical and research interests include Cardio-Oncology, valvular heart disease, diseases of the aorta, and advanced cardiac imaging. The major focus of Dr. Plana’s clinical and scholarly interest is the development and application of novel echocardiographic techniques in the early detection of cardiac dysfunction caused by chemotherapeutic agents. His work has led to 38 reports published in the peer-reviewed literature, as well as 8 invited reviews and book chapters. He authored the Expert consensus for multi-modality Imaging evaluation of cardiovascular complications of radiotherapy in adults, and more recently chaired the Expert consensus for the multi-modality Imaging evaluation of adult patients during and after cancer therapy: a joint effort of the American Society of Echocardiography and the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging. His national and international stature in the field of Cardio-Oncology and cardiac imaging is reflected by his 122 invited presentations at national and international conferences; his invited service to 5 journal editorial boards (including his current service to the International Board of the Journal of Cardiovascular Echocardiography); and his invited service to, and leadership of multiple committees of the American Society of Echocardiography (for which he currently serves on the Board of Directors) and other professional societies (representing the United States on the Echocardiography Section of the Inter-American Society of Cardiology) , as well as to the NIH (NCI/NHLBI) (member of the Expert Panel on Cardio-toxicity) and the FDA. In addition to his scholarly efforts, Dr. Plana has been a dedicated educator, having received major teaching awards from BCM (Excellence in Teaching Award, 2000), M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (Teacher of the Year Award, Section of Cardiology, U. Texas Health Science Center, 2007), and the Cleveland Clinic (Teacher of the Year Award, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, 2011).

Dr. Porter specializes in cardiovascular disease with special expertise in heart failure and heart transplant cardiology. He is the medical director of the Cardio-Oncology program at The University of Kansas Hospital's Cancer Center. Dr Porter's clinical focus is on heart disease during cancer chemotherapy, especially during breast cancer treatment. Prevention of heart disease, exercise for cardiac patients and heart disease in women are also areas of special interest.

Moderator: Session 1 - Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in Hematologic Malignancy: Should We Be Concerned?

His focus is on delivering state-of-the-art cardiac care tailored to match the individual patient. He has been involved in clinical research for new treatments for heart failure since the 1980s. 

Dr. Pritchard is a medical oncologist and clinical trials research scientist. In 2005, Dr. Pritchard was awarded the O. Harold Warwick Prize for Cancer Control in Canada by the Canadian Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute of Canada for her work in clinical and translational trials in breast cancer. As chair of the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Breast Cancer Site Group, Dr. Pritchard has guided the development and performance of multicentre Canadian clinical trials of new therapies for women with breast cancer for more than 15 years.

Conference Topic: Keynote - Comprehensive cancer care include addressing potential impact of cardiovascular toxicity

Her research has included clinical trials and translational approaches in the areas of adjuvant therapy, hormonal therapy, chemotherapy and optimal locoregional therapy for breast cancer. She has also been a member of the team conducting prevention trials comparing tamoxifen and raloxifene (NSABP). Some of Dr. Pritchard's achievements include the following: First to show that tamoxifen is effective in premenopausal women with metastatic disease, and describe its role in postmenopausal adjuvant therapy; One of the first to describe the frequency of thromboembolic complications associated with chemotherapy and tamoxifen, and lead a randomized trial of low-dose coumadin to prevent such thromboemboli; Helped to develop the CEF regimen (cyclophosphamide, epirubicin and 5-fluorouracil), which became a standard adjuvant chemotherapy for premenopausal women with node-positive breast cancer in Canada; Demonstrated the relationship between her-2-neu and Topo II over expression and improved response to CEF compared to CMF (cyclophosphamide methotrexate fluorouracil) in the adjuvant therapy of breast cancer, thus helping to describe a new predictive factor in the adjuvant chemotherapy of breast cancer. Dr. Pritchard holds a major leadership role in national and international multicentre clinical trials. She is a frequent consultant for scientific and clinical groups, and a member of scientific advisory boards and independent data monitoring committees for clinical trials worldwide. Dr. Pritchard is also widely published in cancer journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, The Journal of Clinical Oncology, The Lancet, and The Lancet Oncology. Dr. Pritchard serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the European Journal of Cancer, The Oncologist, Clinical Breast Cancer and The Breast. Her areas of interest include the following: multicentre clinical trials: design, conduct and analysis; adjuvant therapy for breast cancer; correlative and translational research in breast cancer; tumour/tissue/serum/data banking; predictive and prognostic factors in breast cancer hormonal therapy for breast cancer; and biologic therapy for breast cancer.

[Watch Presentation]

Dr. Paul Richardson received his medical degree from the Medical College of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, UK. His postdoctoral training included internship in the Departments of Medicine & Surgery at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital; residency in the Department of Medicine at Newcastle University School of Medicine; appointment as Chief Resident in Medical Oncology at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London and Surrey; and additional residency training at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, USA.

Conference Topic: Session 9 - Contemporary treatment of multiple myeloma

He completed fellowships in hematology/oncology and medical oncology at Tufts University School of Medicine, Baystate Medical Center, and Harvard Medical School, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute before coming on staff at DFCI in 1994. Dr. Richardson currently holds leadership positions in several professional bodies and serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the Journal of Oncology, The Oncologist, Clinical Cancer Research, and the British Journal of Hematology. He is the prior Chairman of the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium, Clinical Trials Core, a position he held for 5 years as a founding member and as part of a rotating tenure, and for which he continues to serve on the Steering Committee and Project Review Committee. He now chairs the newly formed Multiple Myeloma Committee for the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology (the former CALGB). His honors include several Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Dana-Farber Partners in Excellence Awards; The Brigham and Women’s Hospital Teaching Scholars Award; The Tisch Outstanding Achievement Award for Clinical Research; and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s George Canellos Award for Excellence in Clinical Research and Patient Care. For his contributions in hematology and oncology, and in particular myeloma, he was awarded an honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) in 2009, and he was also more recently a co-recipient of the prestigious Warren Alpert Prize in 2012. Dr. Richardson has published more than 280 original articles, and more than 180 reviews, chapters, and editorials in leading peer-reviewed journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Blood, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Leukemia, Clinical Cancer Research, and British Journal of Haematology. His primary research interest is in novel therapies, and he has been a leader in the clinical development of bortezomib, lenalidomide and pomalidomide. Currently, he is leading multiple efforts studying the use of combination therapies in relapsed and refractory myeloma, an area of primary interest to him, and he has pioneered the development of lenalidomide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone (so called RVD), which is now one of the most widely used combinations nationwide in the upfront treatment of myeloma. He is also serving as a principal investigator for several clinical trials relating to other areas of myeloma treatment, including the use of combination therapies in earlier disease designed to target resistance and reduce toxicity.

[Watch Presentation]

Michael Savona, MD, received his MD from Wake Forest and completed post graduate training at the University of California, Davis, University of California, San Francisco, and the University of Michigan. He is a medical oncologist specializing in myeloid malignancies, and Director of the Hematology Early Therapeutics Program, at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

Conference Topic: Session 1 - A revolution in the treatment of leukaemia, but opening of Pandora's Box?

He is a leader in development of new therapies for hematology patients, and has been a key investigator involved in the development and approval of several new therapies including, proteosome inhibitors, PI3 kinase delta inhibitors, Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitors, JAK inhibitors, and epigenetic therapy. His area of research interest is MDS/MPN overlap syndromes for which he led the development of response criteria and several clinical trials. At Vanderbilt, his team is designing new assays for novel compounds in the laboratory, and taking these therapies to the clinic. He is board certified in medical oncology, hematology and internal medicine, an elected fellow of the American College of Physicians, and United States Air Force veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF). 

[Watch Presentation]

Dr. Doug Sawyer trained in medicine and cardiology at Brigham and Women’s hospital, and served on faculty at Boston University where he was a member of the BU Amyloid program, and subsequently at Vanderbilt University where he helped to found the Cardio-Oncology and Amyloid Programs.   Doug has been the Chief of Cardiac Services at Maine Medical Center in Portland Maine since 2014.

Moderator: Session 9 - Myeloma and Amyloid: A true case study in Cardio-Oncology

Ronald G. Schwartz MD MS, FACC, FAHA, ABNM, FASNC is Attending Cardiologist and Professor of Medicine and Imaging Sciences and serves as Director of Nuclear Cardiology and Cardiac PET CT at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Over the past three decades, Dr. Schwartz has published guidelines for the detection of cardiotoxicity and management of heart failure risk in adult and pediatric cancer patients receiving radiation and / or chemotherapy using conventional and novel approaches.

Conference Topic: Session 3 - Radionuclide Ventriculography: Safety and Proven Clinical Effectiveness to Manage Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy Risks of Heart Failure

Dr. Schwartz attends in clinical and nuclear cardiology at Strong Memorial Hospital and the outpatient Strong Cardiology Associates clinic at Clinton Crossings. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Diseases, Nuclear Medicine and Nuclear Cardiology. Dr. Schwartz completed his undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Rochester. He earned the MS Degree in Human Nutrition at Columbia University, and conducted his Masters thesis research on diet and heart disease at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. His residency training in internal medicine was completed at the Hennepin County Medical Center of the University of Minnesota. His cardiology, nuclear cardiology and nuclear medicine training were completed at Yale University. He is Past President of the Cardiovascular Council of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging and is a Founding Member and Fellow of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology.

[Watch Presentation]

With more than 25 years of experience as a clinician, researcher, and educator in cardiovascular diseases, Dr. Steingart joined Memorial Sloan Kettering as Chief of the Cardiology Service in 2003. Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Cardiology program is one of the world’s largest devoted exclusively to the management of cardiovascular diseases in cancer patients.

Moderator: Session 6 - Cardiac Biomarkers and Early Detection of Cardiotoxicity

Their clinical programs include inpatient and outpatient consultative services, longitudinal follow up clinics, device management, and basic and advanced cardiac imaging.   The service has training programs in cardio oncology for practicing cardiologists, cardiology fellows,  medical house staff and advanced practice providers.  Research interests include cardiac amyloid, detection and treatment of cardiac toxicity of cancer treatments, cost effective cardiac screening, survivorship, exercise training, cardiac tumors, and stem cell models of cardiac toxicity.

Conference Topic: Session 1 - Is dasatinib-related pulmonary hypertension a concern and is it manageable?

In 2006, at the beginning of his work in oncology, there were no algorithms of cardiological management in patients with cancer, and many patients with diagnosed neoplasms had to wait a long time for a cardiological consultation. At that time, the first alarming reports on the cardiotoxocity of trastuzumab were published. Everyday clinical practice in Poland also confirmed the need of cooperation between cardiologists and oncologists. Together with prof. Krzysztof J. Filipiak, Dr. Szmit tried to implement the basic principles of pharmacological cardioprotection in clinical oncology. His pioneering work in the oncology department was followed by changes in the standards of cardiological care of patients with neoplasms. It is noteworthy that the International CardiOncology Society (ICOS) was founded in 2009, which supported the idea of close cooperation between the two specialties. Dr. Szmit's first paper in cardio-oncology was published in 2007 and he was the first in the world to publish two case reports documenting two key issues connected with angiogenesis inhibitors: (1) these drugs may be effective in patients with renal carcinoma metastasing to the heart muscle; (2) they may lead to severe iatrogenic heart failure, but discontinuation of antiangiogenic treatment is not necessary, instead dose reduction is sufficient, together with pharmacological treatment typical for cardiac dysfunction. In 2011, he was appointed the executive editor of the Task Force of National Consultants in Cardiology and Clinical Oncology, to develop the Polish document "Recommendations of National Team of Cardiologic and Oncologic Supervision on cardiologic safety of patients with lung cancer - management of cardiovascular complications in lung cancer”.  In 2012, Dr. Szmit joined the Department of Pulmonary Circulation and Thromboembolic Disease at the Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education in the European Health Centre in Otwock. Under the supervision of prof. Adam Torbicki, Expert of European Society of Cardiology, Dr. Szmit continued his scientific work connected with the problem of toxic heart damage during chemotherapy, and also took care of patients with diagnosed neoplastic pericarditis and venous thromboembolic disease in the course of neoplastic process. His clinical observation comprised a group of cancer patients who received intrapericardiac chemotherapy due to recurrent fluid in the pericardium. Also, his scientific interests covered the problems of thromboembolic risk in oncology, the role of prothrombotic factors resulting from the cancer disease progression, as well as the type of treatment (chemotherapy, hormonotherapy, radiotherapy, oncological surgery). Dr. Szmit has been actively cooperating with the Polish Lymphoma Research Group (PLRG) since 2011 and is the co-organizer of the Cardio-Oncology Section, involved in many multi-center studies in Poland which have been published in important foreign journals. In 2011, he was appointed Editor-in-Chief of OnCOReview, which became the official Journal of East European Branch of International CardiOncology Society in December 2013. In 2012, he was appointed Secretary of East European Branch of International CardiOncology Society. He is responsible for the promotion and integration of international scientific and educational projects in cardio-oncology for the Central and Eastern Europe.  

[Watch Presentation]

Dr. Thain is a Radiation Oncologist at the Cancer Center of Southeastern Ontario and an Assistant Professor at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. He completed his specialist training in the UK. His areas of interest include breast cancer, lung cancer, CNS tumors and prevention of cardiotoxicity. He is the Chair of the CNS Tumor Multidisciplinary Group and Co-Chair of the Breast Cancer Multidisciplinary Group in the region.

Moderator: Session 3 - Cardiovascular Concerns from Radiation Therapy and Other Radiation Exposure

He has co-authored several guidelines, including "Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Care and Treatment of Breast Cancer", CMAJ, 1998; "Questions and Answers on Breast Cancer for Women and their Physicians", CMAJ, 1998; and "Questions and Answers on Breast Cancer for Women and their Physicians", 2nd Ed, 2001.

Dr. Dinesh Thavendiranathan is a cardiologist at the Toronto General Hospital, University of Toronto. He is an assistant professor of medicine and a clinician investigator.  His training was in advanced cardiovascular imaging and his current clinical practice involves work with cardiac MRI, CT, and echocardiography.

Conference Topic: Session 2 - The use of strain and newer echocardiography imaging techniques

He is the Director of the Ted Rogers Program in Cardiotoxicity Prevention which focuses on cardiac toxicity from systemic therapies including cancer therapy. His research focus is in the use of advanced cardiac imaging techniques for detection and management of cardiac toxicity.

[Watch Presentation]

Dr. Thomas Wang graduated from Harvard Medical School, and completed his residency and cardiology fellowship training at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). After a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Framingham Heart Study, he joined the faculty of the MGH and Harvard Medical School where he was until 2013.

He is currently Director of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Physician-in-Chief of the Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute. He is also the inaugural holder of the Gottlieb C. Friesinger II Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine. His research focuses on the role of the natriuretic peptide system in cardiovascular health, the identification of novel biomarkers, and mechanisms of obesity-related cardiac dysfunction. His group also coordinates several randomized controlled trials related to these topics. Dr. Wang is active on the leadership or program committees of several councils of the American Heart Association (AHA), and has chaired the AHA study section on Genomics, Translational Biology, and Observational Epidemiology. He is a Senior Associate Editor of the AHA’s open source journal, JAHA. He participates in numerous NIH study sections and committees, including the Observational Safety Monitoring Board for the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. In 2010, he was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation. He is also a fellow of the AHA and the ACC.

Dr. James White is a Cardiologist and Clinician Scientist focused on the use of Cardiovascular Imaging, particularly Cardiovascular MRI, to guide therapeutic decisions in patients with heart failure and/or cardiac arrhythmias. Dr. White completed undergraduate, medical doctorate and specialty and sub-specialty training at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario.

Moderator: Session 2 - Imaging for Cardiotoxicity: Many Issues, Many Questions

This was followed by a two-year training fellowship in Cardiovascular MRI and Clinical Research at Duke University in North Carolina. He was recruited back to London, Ontario to develop the Cardiovascular MRI Clinical Research (CMCR) program in partnership with the renowned Robarts Research and Lawson Health Research Institutes. In August of 2013 Dr. White was recruited to be Director of the Stephenson Cardiac Imaging Centre at the Libin Cardiovascular Institute, University of Calgary. With his recruitment Dr. White has re-defined the academic vision of the Centre towards investigating the use of cardiovascular imaging to guide medical decision-making, his research strongly focused on the prevention of sudden cardiac death, optimal delivery of pacing therapy for heart failure, and the management of patients referred for potentially cardiotoxic chemotherapy. Dr White is currently leading several large, multi-centre initiatives, inclusive of a 10-site registry examining the role of CMR to guide the selection of patients for Implantable Cardiac Defibrillators (ICD) aimed at preventing Sudden Cardiac Death; a multi-centre RCT examining the benefit of using 3D MRI-based models to guide lead placement for pacemaker therapy in heart failure (CRT). He is also studying novel approaches to early disease detection in patients receiving cardiotoxic therapies for Breast cancer and Lymphoma as well as in patients with suspected genetic and/or metabolic heart disease. Dr White holds a Heart and Stroke Foundation Early Investigator Award and has over 50 peer-reviewed publications. He receives grant funding from the Heart and Stroke Foundation, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), and MITACS. He participates in numerous committees, executive councils, consensus groups and team grants in the field of cardiovascular imaging, and is currently the President for the Canadian Society of Cardiovascular MRI (CanSCMR).

Dr. Witteles leads Stanford University’s Cardio-Oncology clinic and is Co-Director of the Stanford Amyloid Centers, one of the nation’s largest multidisciplinary groups devoted to amyloidosis. He earned his B.A. at Northwestern University followed by an M.D. with Honors from The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.

Conference Topic: Session 6 - Can we use cardiac biomarkers to assist in cardiac management with newer targeted based treatment?

He then completed Internal Medicine residency at Stanford University (including an additional year as Chief Resident), followed by fellowship training in Cardiovascular Medicine (including serving as Chief Fellow). Following fellowship, Dr. Witteles joined the faculty at Stanford as a member of the Heart Failure team. Dr. Witteles founded Stanford’s Cardio-Oncology clinic and co-founded the Stanford Amyloid Centre in 2008. He has led and collaborated on a multitude of clinical and translational research studies in Cardio-Oncology, amyloidosis, and cardiac sarcoidosis. His other primary role is as Program Director for the Stanford University Internal Medicine residency training program, in which he leads a program of 120 housestaff, and oversees all of the fellowship programs within the Department of Medicine.

[Watch Presentation]