Marina Baretti, MD, is an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Jiasheng Chair in Hepato-Biliary Cancer Research. She also serves as Co-Director of the Liver and Biliary Cancer Multidisciplinary Clinic at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center (SKCCC). Dr. Baretti received her medical degree from the University of Pisa in Italy. She completed her internal medicine residency and oncology fellowship at University of Milan. She then went on and completed her Postdoctoral and Medical Oncology Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. She is deeply engaged in bridging the gap between laboratory discoveries and clinical application, working closely with laboratory-based scientists to accelerate the development of novel therapeutic strategies. Her academic research is centered on the development of novel agents in hepatobiliary cancers, with particular interest in combinatorial approaches of immunotherapies. She is currently the principal investigator on multiple clinical trials in FLC, HCC and cholangiocarcinoma at Johns Hopkins University, collaborating closely with laboratory-based researchers to move laboratory findings into patients. Through her work, Dr. Baretti strives to improve outcomes for patients with rare GI cancers by identifying innovative therapies that are informed by a deeper understanding of tumor biology and the tumor microenvironment. Dr. Baretti was the recipient of the 2018 American Society of Clinical Oncology Young Investigator Award. Dr. Baretti was also awarded with the 2020 Career Development Award for the MD Anderson Cancer Center’s pancreatic cancer NCI Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE).

Dr. Katherine Bever is a medical oncologist in Baltimore, caring for patients with gastrointestinal malignancies, including gastric, pancreatic, colorectal, neuroendocrine and biliary cancers. Dr. Bever received her undergraduate degree in biophysics from Johns Hopkins University. She earned her M.D. from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and performed a fellowship in medical oncology at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Bever joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2015. Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, Dr. Bever was an internist at the Amyloidosis Center at Boston University School of Medicine. Dr. Bever was recognized with a Pearl M. Stetler Fellowship Award in 2018. She is a member of several professional organizations, including the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, the American Association of Clinical Research and the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Mary-Eve is a licensed registered dietitian nutritionist. She is also a board-certified oncology dietitian with The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She has been an oncology dietitian at Johns Hopkins for 25 years.

Dr. Christenson is an Assistant Professor in the GI Oncology program at Johns Hopkins with a strong clinical and research focus on improving the care of patients with GI Malignancies. To compliment these clinical efforts, his research focuses on developing novel treatment approaches to exploit molecular changes associated with GI cancers. This work serves as the foundation for clinical trials aimed at improving outcomes for patients with GI cancer through targeting MAPK-AKT and other signaling pathways in combination with immunotherapy.

Dr. Ashton Connor completed medical school and residency in general surgery at the University of Toronto. He completed a fellowship in abdominal transplantation and hepatobiliary surgery at Duke University. Dr. Connor then started on staff at Houston Methodist Hospital.
Dr. Connor also completed a doctorate at the University of Toronto. His research interest is in the application of data science and genomics to studying oncology and immunology.

Dr. Jennifer Eads is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Abramson Cancer Center where she is a gastrointestinal medical oncologist focusing on the treatment of and research in patients with gastroesophageal cancers and neuroendocrine tumors. She is the Physician Lead for GI Clinical Research, overseeing the Penn GI clinical research portfolio. She is the Penn institutional principal investigator for the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG-ACRIN) and was recently appointed as Director of the National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) for the Abramson Cancer Center. She has served as principal investigator for multiple phase I/II/III clinical trials, including as the national study chair for multiple cooperative group trials. She has served on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) neuroendocrine tumors guidelines committee, is a former member of the North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (NANETS) Board of Directors and is currently on the Board of Scientific Advisors for the Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation (NETRF). In 2022, she was named as the ECOG-ACRIN Young Investigator of the Year.

Dr Anthony El-Khoueiry is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Verna R. Richter Chair in Cancer Research, and Associate Director for Clinical Research at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles. He is also Chief of Section of Developmental Therapeutics/Phase I Program. He is the recipient of the Clinical Investigator Team Leadership Award from National Cancer Institute. He has been the lead investigator on several first-in-human or first-in-class trials with recent examples such as the phase I study of Botensilimab, a novel CTLA4 antibody with activity across solid tumors including “cold tumors” and the phase I study of AFM24, a novel NK cell engager targeting EGFR. In addition to his national reputation in the drug development space, Dr. El-Khoueiry is a recognized international expert in the treatment of hepatobiliary cancers. He led the first clinical trial that evaluated the activity of anti-PD1 immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma. This trial, checkmate 040, was pivotal in leading to subsequent development of immunotherapy combinations for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma which resulted in significant improvement in survival for these patients. Similarly, he recently published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology the first clinical trial to evaluate the addition of anti PD-1 and anti VEGF therapy to the chemotherapy backbone for biliary tract cancers. This trial showed an improvement in progression free survival and durable responses in a subset of patients whose tumors express higher levels of VEGF. These data have opened the door for further exploration of such combinations in biliary tract cancers. In addition to these trials, Dr. El-Khoueiry holds national leadership roles in hepatolobiliary cancers research including Chair of the Hepatobiliary Cancers Subcommittee in the Southwest Oncology Group and member of the National Cancer Institute Hepatobiliary Cancers Task Force.

Cathy Eng, MD, FACP, FASCO, Professor of Medicine, Hematology and Oncology, is the David H. Johnson Endowed Chair of Surgical and Medical Oncology, Co-Director of GI Oncology and the Co-Leader of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Research Program, VICC Associate Director of Strategic Relations and Research Partnerships, Executive Director of the Young Adults Cancers Program. She was the Ambassador for the American Cancer Society ResearcHERS campaign (2020-2022). She is a highly sought mentor and served on the Vanderbilt-Ingram Mentorship Council and is currently a mentor on the T-32 grant and serves on the Professional Development Mentor. She continues to assume leadership positions devoted to development of phase I-III clinical trials using novel therapeutics for biomarker discovery and enhanced drug utilization in colorectal, appendiceal and anal cancer patients. Nationally, Dr. Eng has also been highly active serving on multiple committees for ASCO, ECOG, and SWOG. She was chosen for the ASCO Leadership Development Program, ASCO Social Media Committee, the ASCO Colorectal Guidelines Committee, ASCO Scientific Program Committee (Colorectal Cancer Track) and the ASCO Communications Committee. She has served as the co-chair of the SWOG Rectal/Anal Cancer Subcommittee; the Vice-Chair for the SWOG GI Committee; the Chairman of the NCI Rectal/Anal Task Force, member of the NCI GI Steering Committee, and is now the co-Chair of the NCI GI Steering Committee. She participated in the President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot White House Colorectal Cancer Forum. She has published in many peer-reviewed journals and served on many national grant review panels.

Sepideh Gholami, MD, MAS, is a board-certified surgeon scientist with dual fellowship training in complex general surgical oncology and hepatopancreatobiliary surgery. She completed her master's degree in clinical research at the University of California, Davis' Mentored Clinical Research Training Program. There, her thesis focused on the tumor and immune microenvironment of colorectal cancer in an autologous ex-vivo 3D model to test drug combinations that will be more faithfully translated in clinical trials, ultimately leading to better outcomes for patients with colorectal liver metastases. Dr. Gholami is a national thought leader in the management of hepatobiliary malignancies with a vested interest in clinical trials. She serves as the co-chair of the colon subcommittee for Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG), a member of the NCI Colon Cancer Task Force, and American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Advanced Colon Guideline Expert Panel. She has numerous peer-reviewed publications and has been the recipient of several research grants and prestigious awards including the K12 Paul Calabrese Career Development Award and SWOG’s Young Investigator Award. She also holds awards from the Society of Surgical Oncology, Association of Women Surgeons and Association of Academic Surgeons.

Amy Hacker-Prietz is a Physician Assistant (PA-C) in the Johns Hopkins Department of Radiation Oncology & Molecular Sciences. Amy is on the gastrointestinal malignancies team that includes pancreas, colorectal, hepatobiliary, and gastric cancers and also serves as the Pancreas Multidisciplinary Clinic Coordinator. In 2020, Amy joined the Canopy Cancer Collective, a national learning health network that focuses on optimizing pancreas cancer care. Amy was previously a research scientist in tumor biology at Johns Hopkins in the field of polyamine pathways and drug characterization. Amy's current interest is in improving the patient/caregiver experience through multi-level education processes and whole-person care.

Jin He, M.D., Ph.D., is a professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and is the Division Chief of Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary & Gastrointestinal Surgical Oncology. Dr. He specializes in diseases and tumors of the pancreas, liver, bile duct, and gallbladder. He performs open as well as minimally invasive (robotic and laparoscopic) surgery, including the Whipple procedure. Dr. He received his medical degree from Beijing Medical University and a Ph.D. in oncology from Fudan University Shanghai Medical College. He completed the Halsted general surgery residency training at Johns Hopkins, followed by an ACGME accredited fellowship in complex general surgical oncology at Johns Hopkins. Dr. He is the John Cameron Professor of Alimentary Tract Diseases. Dr. He’s research focuses on personalized treatment through stratifying pancreatic tumors on their genetic features. He holds several patents in anti-cancer vascular targeting agents and has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and lectured internationally. He serves on several national committees, including the NCCN panel on neuroendocrine tumors and the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology.

Dr. Gabriel D. Ivey is an Assistant Professor of Surgery and Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He specializes in the treatment of hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancers, gastric cancer, melanoma, and sarcoma within the Division of HPB & GI Surgical Oncology at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Ivey completed his undergraduate studies at Princeton University. He received his medical degree from Howard University College of Medicine. He completed an internship and residency in general surgery at Georgetown University Hospital followed by clinical fellowship training in complex general surgical oncology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Additionally, he completed a postgraduate research fellowship in the field of cancer immunotherapy and tumor immunology at the National Cancer Institute. He is trained in traditional and minimally invasive surgical techniques. Dr. Ivey’s research is frequently published on perioperative systemic therapies, population health outcomes and health care disparities. He is a member of the American College of Surgeons, the Society of Black Academic Surgeons, the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, the Society of Surgical Oncology, and the Americas Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association.

As a trusted care provider for pelvic health and oncology rehab services in the DMV area, Dr. Lora S. John PT, DPT, CLT received her doctorate in physical therapy from Clarkson University. Prior to her physical therapy studies, Lora received her Bachelors at Illinois State University in Biological Sciences with undergraduate research studies in pain management (spinal cord stimulation) and Leishmania Tarentolae (vaccination). Lora started her physical therapy career at Medstar Georgetown University Hospital in inpatient services where she found her passion serving patients facing oncology, lymphedema, and pelvic health diagnoses. During her time in the inpatient setting, Lora participated in early mobilization protocols with acutely ill patients in the intensive care unit. To continue furthering her knowledge of lymphedema rehabilitation, Lora obtained her Lymphedema Therapist Certification through the Norton School of Lymphatics in 2016. Additionally, she obtained her certification in LSVT BIG in 2015. Lora is an active participant in the Academy of Pelvic Health and Academy of Oncologic Physical Therapy specialty sections within the American Physical Therapy Association. After joining the Johns Hopkins Medicine - Sibley Memorial Hospital rehabilitation department, Lora led the development and roll-out of the breast oncology pre-rehabilitation program in 2018. Through this opportunity, Lora collaborated with the oncology team (physicians, nurse practitioners, nurse navigators, and social workers). There, she assisted patients during their oncological journey and beyond as they achieved functional goals associated with strength, range of motion/flexibility, lymphedema prevention/treatment, balance, endurance, and sensory reintegration. In addition to her work in the rehabilitation department, Lora assisted with the revitalization of Johns Hopkins Medicine - Sibley Memorial Hospital’s pelvic health physical therapy services in outpatient rehabilitation while facilitating collaboration with urogynecological physicians and physical therapists throughout the Johns Hopkins health system. Lora has experience with the use of various pelvic health interventions including biofeedback, real-time ultrasound, e-stim of pelvic floor, TENS, and manual techniques. She has provided pelvic health physical therapy presentations to the Johns Hopkins Greenberg Bladder Cancer Institute - Women and Bladder Cancer Group and Johns Hopkins - Breast Cancer Group.

Dr. Amy Kim is a physician-scientist and a transplant hepatologist at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, with dual appointments in the Departments of Medicine and Oncology. She specializes in liver cancer and serves as the Hepatology Director of the Liver Cancer Multidisciplinary Clinic at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Kim’s research focuses on developing predictive models to improve the management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with liver disease, with a particular emphasis on liquid biomarkers including circulating tumor DNA and cells for early detection and disease monitoring. She has received multiple grants, including funding from the Department of Defense (DoD) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and an investigator-initiated clinical trial on the combination of trans-arterial chemoembolization and immunotherapy for HCC.

Dr. Eugene Koay is a physician scientist at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, who specializes in radiation therapy for patients with hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancers, and develops applications of the physical sciences to cancer for the purposes of early detection, biomarker development, and therapeutic management. He received a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Rice University in 2001. He completed the MD/PhD Program at Baylor College of Medicine/Rice University in 2009, with a PhD in Bioengineering. His residency training was in Radiation Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (2009-2014). He then joined faculty at MD Anderson where he established his clinical and research foci. He leads the Cancer Physics and Engineering Laboratory at MD Anderson. The lab studies how the physical properties of tumors relate to the biological underpinnings of the disease, as well as patient-specific devices for radiation therapy. Recent work from the lab has shown how radiomics and artificial intelligence-based approaches may lead to clinically-relevant methods to stratify and manage hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancers (Koay et al, JCI, 2014; De et al, Liver Cancer, 2023; Srivastava, Koay et al, Nat Rev Cancer, 2019). Dr. Koay’s lab also collaborates with mathematical modelers to apply physical models of therapeutic delivery (Pascal et al, Proc Nat Acad Sci, 2013; Butner et al, Sci Advances 2020) and tumor growth (Koay et al, Clin Cancer Res, 2018; Zaid et al, Front Oncol, 2020). Innovations in patient-specific devices for radiotherapy (Zaid et al, Oral Oncology, 2020; Tino et al, Oral Oncology, 2024) have indicated the ability to improve outcomes for patients and are being tested in randomized controlled trials. These studies describe how patient-specific parameters may be used to detect cancer earlier, predict treatment responses, and improve cancer outcomes.

Vincent K. Lam, MD, is an Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins. His ongoing research efforts include the development of the clinical utility of liquid biopsies in cancer, biomarkers for risk stratification and therapeutic optimization, and novel immunotherapies such as T-cell therapy and vaccines.

Valerie Lee, M.D., is a medical oncologist with the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Sibley Memorial Hospital, as well as an instructor of medical oncology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Lee has an expertise in management of gastrointestinal malignancies, including gastric, colon and pancreatobiliary cancers. Dr. Lee earned her medical degree from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She completed a residency in internal medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital, followed by a fellowship in medical oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Lee is currently earning her Certificate in Science of Clinical Investigation at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Lee is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Lee manages multiple early phase trials and her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals. Her research interests include clinical trials for patients with gastrointestinal malignancies, and combining traditional chemotherapies with immunotherapy to improve survival and quality of life for patients. She has received a Cancer Center Training grant for research on molecular targets for cancer detection and treatment and has spoken at numerous conferences on updates in gastrointestinal malignancies.

Dr. Marshall received his training at Duke University, the University of Louisville, and Georgetown University. Dr. Marshall is an internationally recognized expert in new drug development for GI cancer, with expertise in phase I, II, and III trial design, and has served as Principal Investigator for more than one hundred clinical trials throughout his career. While he has an interest in many areas of cancer research, his primary focus is on the use of precision medicine in treating cancer. Dr. Marshall has become an outspoken advocate for GI cancer patients and the importance of clinical research participation. In 2009, he established the Otto J Ruesch Center for the Cure of GI Cancers, an organization solely focused on improving the lives of GI cancer patients through innovative research, personalized medicine, and focused advocacy. In 2015, Dr. Marshall both established and directed the Precision Oncology Alliance, a national alliance established to study the impact of molecular profiling on cancer research, value and outcomes. He currently is serving as the Oncology CMO for Indivumed, creating a global precision medicine research network. In 2020, he and his wife published “Off Our Chests, A Candid Tour Through the World of Cancer”. In 2022, he became the inaugural Physician Executive Director of the MedStar Washington DC Integrated Hematology Oncology Division. In 2024, he became the chief medical consultant for the Colorectal Cancer Alliance.

Dr. Mavros is a surgical oncologist at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in the Greater Washington Area and Program Director of Surgical Oncology in the National Capital Region for Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. His clinical practice focuses on the multidisciplinary care of patients with gastrointestinal and hepatopancreaticobiliary cancers, and his research focuses on improving the clinical outcomes of and access to care for these patients.

Eric Miller, MD, PhD is an Associate Professor, Division Director of Gastrointestinal Oncology, and Associate Clinical Director in the Department of Radiation Oncology at The James Cancer Hospital at Ohio State University. He also serves as the Gastrointestinal Disease Specific Research Group Deputy Leader at Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. His research efforts are focused on developing clinical trials which incorporate novel radiosensitizers for the treatment of gastrointestinal malignancies, utilizing functional imaging to develop biomarkers to predict patient treatment response to radiotherapy, developing strategies for mitigation of radiation toxicity with a focus on cardiotoxicity, and management of oligometastatic disease.

Dr. Narang Amol Narang is an Associate Professor in the Johns Hopkins Department of Radiation Oncology. His primary clinical and research focus is in the use of radiation therapy for pancreatic cancer. Dr. Narang serves as co-director of the Johns Hopkins Pancreatic Multi-Disciplinary Clinic. Nationally, he serves as one of three radiation oncologists on the NCCN guidelines committee for pancreatic cancer. Dr. Narang also holds joint faculty appointments in the Departments of Surgery and Oncology. Research areas include exploring technologies that enable dose-escalation for pancreatic cancer such as intraoperative radiation therapy, establishing optimal target volume design for minimizing risk of local recurrence such as the "Baltimore Triangle," investigating the combination of radiation and immunotherapy, and studying the role of FLASH-RT for pancreatic cancer Dr. Narang obtained his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his MD from the University of Pennsylvania. He subsequently completed his residency training at Johns Hopkins, serving as chief resident.

Dr Pant is a Professor in the Department of Gastrointestinal (GI) Medical Oncology with a joint appointment in the Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics (Phase I Center) at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Pant is recognized as an international expert in Gastrointestinal Cancers with an emphasis on Pancreatic and Biliary cancers and Phase 1 Trials.

Dr. Michael Pishvaian is the director of Gastrointestinal, Developmental Therapeutics and Clinical Research Programs for the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in the Greater Washington Area and an associate professor at the School of Medicine. Dr. Pishvaian is a fellowship-trained gastrointestinal oncologist specializing in pancreatic and refractory colorectal cancers. He is committed to precision medicine and provides his patients with the most appropriate and advanced level of care. He conducts all phases of clinical trials for all GI cancers and enrolls qualifying patients.

LIlja Solnes, MD, MBA is currently an Associate Professor of Radiology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine where she serves as the Director of the Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Division in the Department of Radiology, Director of the Radiotheranostic Center and the Director of the Image Response Assessment Team in the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. Her research focuses on translating novel diagnostic and therapeutic molecular agents into the clinic.

Dr. Mark Yarchoan is a medical oncologist in Baltimore specializing in gastrointestinal cancers, with a particular focus on hepatobiliary malignancies, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (biliary tract cancers). He received his undergraduate degree from Amherst College and his medical degree from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, followed by a fellowship in medical oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2018. Dr. Yarchoan leads a National Cancer Institute–funded research laboratory focused on developing novel immunotherapies for liver cancers. His translational research program integrates clinical trial biospecimens with preclinical models to identify and overcome barriers to effective antitumor immunity. He also serves as Principal Investigator on multiple clinical trials for hepatobiliary cancers, serves on international guideline committees for liver cancers, and is a member of the Graduate Training Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine. His contributions have been recognized with multiple honors, including the ASCO Young Investigator Award, the Conquer Cancer Foundation Career Development Award, the Mark R. Clements Award from the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation, and the Blue Faery Award for Excellence in Liver Cancer Research.

Dr. Neeha Zaidi is a physician scientist and a medical oncologist, caring for patients with pancreatic and colorectal cancers. Dr. Zaidi received her undergraduate degree (Magna Cum Laude) in Biology from Cornell University and earned her M.D. from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine where she graduated with Distinction in Research. During medical school, she spent a year as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Research Fellow at The Rockefeller University studying dendritic cell vaccines. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Weill Cornell and subsequently received an Intramural Research Training Award to perform a year-long post-doctoral fellowship at the Vaccine Research Center (NIAID) at the NIH. She then completed a fellowship in medical oncology at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Zaidi joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2019. Dr. Zaidi’s laboratory focuses on developing novel personalized immunotherapy approaches for the treatment and prevention of pancreatic cancer. Dr. Zaidi has most recently been recognized with an ASCO Career Development Award and an NCI K08 Award.