Plenary Speakers

Mary Frances McMullin,Professor

Professor Mary Frances McMullin graduated from QUB in 1980 and trained in Haematology in N. Ireland and The Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith hospital, London. Since appointment in 1991, as a senior lecturer in haematoogy in QUB and a consultant haematologist she has delivered a specialised service in cases of adult acute leukaemia and myeloproliferative neoplasms. She progressed to professor of haematology in 2006. Her research interests include trials in myeloproliferative neoplasms and acute myeloid leukaemia and investigation of rare congenital erythrocytosis.

Homepage

https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/persons/mary-frances-mcmullin

Anahid Jewett Professor and Director

Dr. Anahid Jewett is a Professor in the Section of Biosystems and Function in the Division of Oral and Systemic Health Sciences at the UCLA School of Dentistry. Dr. Jewett is also a member of the Jane and Jerry Weintraub Center for Reconstructive Biotechnology, the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) and the UCLA Tumor Immunology subgroup.

Dr. Jewett's work is concentrated on the mechanisms of inactivation and cell death of Natural Killer cells. These cells play crucial effector functions in the host defense against viral and bacterial infections and malignant transformation. Dr. Jewett has shown that cytotoxic function of NK cells is significantly suppressed in the tumor microenvironment by a number of distinct effectors. She has previously demonstrated the role of NK cells in specific elimination of stem cells and not their differentiated counterparts. Indeed, she was the first to coin the term split anergy for the function of NK cells.

Homepage

https://dentistry.ucla.edu/profile/jewett-anahid

Matteo Lambertini,Assistant professor

Prof Lambertini is member of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), member of the ESMO Young Oncologists Committee (YOC) and member and first author of the author group of the ESMO guidelines on Fertility Preservation in Cancer Patients.

He has authored several publications in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters in the field of breast cancer in young women. His most important research conducted so far addressed the role of administering gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogs during chemotherapy as a strategy to preserve ovarian function and fertility in early breast cancer patients who are candidates to receive cytotoxic therapy, the safety of having a pregnancy in women with prior history of breast cancer and the fertility and pregnancy-related issues in BRCA-mutated breast cancer patients.

Homepage

https://www.esmo.org/about-esmo/profiles/matteo-lambertini

Nerissa Viola, Assistant Professor

Nerissa Viola, PhD is an assistant professor at the Department of Oncology at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, School of Medicine at Wayne State University.

Her research interests are predicated on harnessing the utility of imaging as non-invasive tools for cancer detection and as predictive markers of therapy, particularly in the field of immunoPET. She is further interested in developing antibody-based optical imaging probes for image-guided surgery, and photoaccoustic detection. Her work has resulted in the development of several imaging agents for the delineation and measurement of oncogenic biomarkers (i.e. CD3, IFN-g, HER2, EGFR, HER3, tumor acidosis, PSMA, CA19.9).

Homepage

https://cancerbiologyprogram.med.wayne.edu/profile/fx1674

Karen Liby, Professor

Karen Liby is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Her research focuses on the role of inflammation in cancer. Dr. Liby received her Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. She completed her postdoctoral training at Dartmouth Medical School and subsequently joined the Dartmouth faculty as an Assistant Professor. She was promoted to an Associate Professor at Dartmouth prior to joining Michigan State University.

Homepage

https://phmtox.msu.edu/people/faculty/liby/