Jean-Paul Alves, BSc in Economy, Graduated from EM Lyon, joined Pegascy in 2020 as Chief Financial Officer. He was appointed COO of Pegascy in 2021 and became CEO in 2024.

He began his career as Consultant at E&Y and Arthur Andersen. In 2000, he joined Lagardere Services as International Finance and M&A Advisor to the Executive Management. Later, he became Financial Director at AOL France (Time Warner) then Group CFO (and executive committee member) of Viadeo leading its IPO in 2014 before joining Biom’Up, a French Biotech, to organize its IPO in 2017 as Group CFO. Jean-Paul has a broad knowledge of international M&A and Funding operations with almost 10 acquisitions (including transactions in China, India, different countries in Europe, Russia and North America). He has carried out more than 23 funding operations during his career, including 2 IPO’s.

Dr. Jean-Pierre ARMAND (MD, MSc) – Chairman

Jean-Pierre Armand MD, MSc, is certified in Medical Oncology (University of Toulouse III and Paris XI). He was recently General Director of the Institut Claudius Regaud in Toulouse. After a position as research fellow in Columbia University New York, Dr Armand has joined Institut Claudius Regaud in Toulouse where he was the head of Medical oncology until 1984. In the next 23 years at Institut Gustave Roussy (IGR) in Paris, he was successively CEO of the Hospital IGR3, head of the Department of Medical oncology at IGR2 and CMO of IGR&D, Dept of Innovation and Development. He founded the IGR Phase I Unit (Ditep) in the early 80s.

He conducted the phase 1 trials of numerous drugs now used routinely, including classicals cytotoxics,topo2 inhibitors, Irinotecan, Oxaliplatin, Taxotere, Navelbine, Vinflunine, and more recently targeted therapies, Sutent, Sorafenib, Temsirolimus... His involvement was critical in the success of 3 drugs that had been previously discarded after failure in phase 1 (CPT11 (Irinotecan), Oxaliplatin and SU11248 (Sutent))

Dr Armand started working on early drug development (phase 1 and 2) of new anticancer agents. He is expert in breast, head & neck, and neuro-oncology. He (co)authored over 300 medical and scientific peer-reviewed articles and he is/was member of the Editorial Boards of Annals of Oncology, the European Journal of Cancer, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Investigational New Drugs, Anticancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research., CISCO journal.

He today focuses on new therapies for orphan treatment cancer diseases and personally invest into biotech in oncology.

Vincent Ribrag, MD PhD, is medical oncologist by training and is currently working at Institut Gustave Roussy as head of the Hematology department and head of the early drug development tumor board. He has developed and is still in charge of the hematology phase I track at the early drug department. He led more than 50 phase I trials during the last 10 years and started the cell-therapy phase II program in solid tumors with JP Armand. Among numerous experimental activities, he created a translational hematology laboratory and was associated with different INSERM research units the last years. He is currently affiliated to INSERM UMR-1170 led by Dr Olivier Bernard entitled “transcriptional control and epigenetics of malignant hematopoiesis”. He has been involved in over 550 publications and is member of several international cancer societies, namely the American Association of clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the American Society of Hematology (ASH). He is included in the Scientific and Administrative Committees of LYSA network and CALYM Institut Carnot, and is also Head of early trials of the European Mantle Cell Lymphoma study group. Dr Ribrag’s strong expertise in both early clinical development of innovative therapies and translational cancer research makes in a strong asset for PEGASCY.

Dr. Debussche brings over 35 years of experience in oncology R&D, holding senior leadership roles at major pharmaceutical companies. Most recently, he served as VP Global Head of Oncology Research at Sanofi, where he advanced several first-in-human oncology drug candidates, utilizing a wide range of technologies, including small molecules, monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), nanobodies, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), cell engagers, and more. His expertise spans strategic management of preclinical research and clinical trials, leading to the successful development of novel cancer therapies.

He has co-authored over 60 international scientific publications, holds several dozen patents and has a broad industrial and academic networks. With a PhD in Molecular Biology from Pierre et Marie Curie University (France), Laurent has led innovative research initiatives throughout his career, addressing unmet medical needs.

Caroline brings more than 26 years of academic, biotech and industry experience. After Servier and Gencell/Serono, Caroline joined Centelion, a legacy company from sanofi, in January 2003 as a Project Director, and moved to Sanofi Regulatory Affairs group in December 2004 where she held multiple roles of increasing responsibilities in Regulatory Development & Transformation over the course of the last 18 years up to VP in charge of Global Regulatory Affairs for Europe. She was also serving as the R&D representative at Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GmBH & Hoechst GmBH Board of Directors.
A passionate advocate for purpose-driven leadership, she is recognized for her work leading regulatory teams to innovate in their ways of working and developing best-in-class industry capabilities. With a solid track record for her focus on people development, she developed a strong pipeline of leaders for the organization and retained key talent within Sanofi.
Initially graduated as an engineer in Biochemistry, Biology and Nutraceutical at the National Institute of Agronomy in France, she completed her scientific education at the Pasteur Institute with a Ph.D. and a post-doctoral fellowship in Cardio-vascular gene therapy. She holds a Degree in Bio-medical and Genetic studies from Gustave Roussy Institute and was graduated in 2022 with an Executive MBA at Ecole Polytechnique with a major in Technology & management of Innovation and is currently completing a Board Certification at IFA-Sciences Po.

Fernanda Mosele received her MD from the Universidad of Buenos Aires in 2007. She then pursued specialized training in Clinical Oncology at the Universidad Católica Argentina in Buenos Aires. Dr Mosele worked as medical oncologist in Buenos Aires and dedicated her expertise to patient care until 2018, when her passion for translational research led her to join the renowned Gustave Roussy in Villejuif. Initially, she focused on the prognosis and treatment outcomes of patients with metastatic breast cancer and PIK3CA mutations. In 2020, she played a pivotal role in formulating recommendations for the utilization of next-generation sequencing (NGS) in the treatment of metastatic cancers, a seminal work with the ESMO Precision Medicine Group published the same year. Dr. Mosele further honed her expertise in precision medicine through postgraduate studies at the Université Paris-Saclay. Currently, Dr. Mosele leads cutting-edge biomarker research and precision medicine initiatives as a medical oncologist at Gustave Roussy, specializing in the treatment of breast cancer patients. She is an integral part of a comprehensive institutional program dedicated to clinical and translational research on antibodies-drug conjugates and drug development. Dr. Mosele recently published a pioneering study in Nature Medicine as the lead author, unraveling the mechanisms of action and resistance to Trastuzumab Deruxtecan. Additionally, she leads phase I-III clinical trials evaluating targeted therapies for advanced breast cancer.

Alexandre BOBARD obtained a PhD from Paris VI University in 2005 focused on metabolic disorders, and an EMBO long-term postdoctoral fellowship at ETH-Zürich for a project of pancreatic cancer biomarker. He then joined Institut Pasteur-Paris where he has set-up a research team in the field of cancer immunology, after an initial postdoc on bacterial infection and antibiotic resistance. The last 8 years he became general manager of the SIRIC (Site of Integrated Research in Cancerology) program of Institut Gustave Roussy led successively by Jean-Charles Soria and Eric Deutsch. In parallel, he co-created the yearly international conference ImmunoRad on radiotherapy/immunotherapy combinations in collaboration with Weill Cornell Medicine-NYC. His career has been constantly characterized by a wide array of biological approaches, and a focus on multiple different human diseases from diabetes, obesity, atherosclerosis to bacterial infection, and for the last 12 years cancer. The accumulated experience in various fields and pathologies, the use of many different technologies, the yearly travel to foreign conferences and prestigious research institutions provide him with a 360° view of medical biology research, as reflected by his 15 publications on very diverse topics. Years after years, he got closer and closer to the clinic, where he now brings his full expertise to therapeutic innovation in oncology.

Jerome Salmon obtained a PhD from the Paris VII University in 2003. His research studies at the Pasteur Institute were dedicated to the analysis of the immunogenetic and viral factors controlling the evolution of papillomavirus-associated tumors. He performed his postdoctoral training at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, were he contributed to the large-scale identification of T cell epitopes in NIAID category A-C pathogens for the development of epitope-based vaccines. He later joined the Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus, and explored the immunoregulatory properties of retroviral and filoviral envelope proteins. He is now working on precision medicine for advanced pediatric solid cancers, focusing on the identification of novel tumor antigens and immunosuppressive factors for the development of antibody- and T cell-based therapeutics.

Professor Jean-Hugues Trouvin graduated in Pharmacy and received his State Doctorate in Pharmacology from the University of Paris. He developed a carrier as Professor of Pharmacology and Pharmacokinetics in parallel with regulatory activities as experts for the Regulatory Agencies. In France, he was chairman of the French biotechnology working party from 1989 to 1993.

He was appointed as Director of the Directorate for Evaluation of Medicinal products and Biologics at the French medicine agency (AFSSAPS) from 2001 to July 2007. At the European level, he was the French representative of the biotechnology/pharmacy working party (BWP) from 1986 until 2001 when he was elected as Chairman of this Working Party and reelected for three new terms and he completed his mandate in February 2014. He was the French representative for the Committee for Advanced Therapy medicinal products (CAT) from its opening (2009) to Sept. 2012.

During his regulatory carrier, he has been involved in the drafting of many guidelines, concept papers for the development of biologicals and biotechnology-derived medicinal products (including monoclonal antibodies). He took part in the elaboration and finalization of the EU regulation and technical requirements for biologicals, biotechnology-derived products, biosimilars and lastly the advanced therapy medicinal products which consist of cell therapy, gene therapy and tissue engineering medicinal products. He also contributed to the ICH process, for the biological topics and guidelines from 1994 up to 2008.

After he left his regulatory activities in 2014, he returned full time to his academic position as professor and hospital pharmacist, at Paris Descartes University, school of Pharmacy, in the department of Health Product and Public Health, head of the Unit for Pharmaceutical Development and Innovation and at the Central Pharmacy of the Parisian Hospital Group (AP-HP), head of the Research and Development department.

He retired in October 2019 but maintained his activities at IABS (International Alliance for Biological Standardization) as chairman of the European affiliate and contributing in the organization and holding of meetings, workshops or webinars dedicated to technical and regulatory issues on biological/biotechnological medicinal products, including vaccines, recombinant proteins and cell and gene therapy products.

Aurelio ZERIAL is doctor in Biology (University of Trieste, Italy) and PhD in Biochemistry (1978 -Wesleyan University, USA). His research experience at the Battelle Institute (Switzerland) and Rhône-Poulenc (France) included immunology, anticancer- and antiviral- chemotherapy, with development of four drug candidates up to clinical trials. He is author of a hundred publications and abstracts. In 1991 he joined Rhône Poulenc Rorer and Chugai Rhône Poulenc as Regulatory Affairs Associate, then as Director at Aventis International, managing registration dossiers of chemical drugs and biomedicines. During the last twenty years he is a private consultant in drug development and regulatory affairs, first as director of BioProgetti then on his own. His main contributions to companies are in biomedicines, particularly in the areas of CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls) and preclinical studies.  Aurelio is involved also in teaching activity, first as Associate Director at ISFBM (Gustave Roussy, France) then with other institutions to perform professional training on pharmaceutical subjects.

Marion Orset: After studying pharmacy at Grenoble and Lyon Universities, I am now living in Normandy with my family. For 20 years, I have worked in many areas of the pharmaceutical industry : formulation, manufacturing, distribution, pharmacovigilance and quality assurance. These experiences in France and abroad have enabled me to develop a wide range of skills and a global knowledge of the pharmaceutical world. After having worked in international groups, in big French companies or smaller structures, I decided, 6 years ago, to set up my own business as a pharmaceutical affairs consultant and quality auditor. I can now bring my expertise to human-sized companies looking for versatile support. I like the diversity of the missions I am entrusted with, the richness of the exchanges and the new fields explored.

Florence Allouche: Founder and President of MYRPHARM ADVISORS, a consulting firm helping translational academic research by startup creation, valorization of innovation, business development, innovation management, funding, strategy and growth.
Member of the French National Academy of Pharmacy
Associate Professor at the University of Paris, School of Pharmacy - Pharmaceutical innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Pharmacist Doctor, specialist in Intellectual property, Innovation management, and Tech Transfer, Business development
MBA graduate from HEC Paris
Board member certified (Science Po / IFA)
I co-founded Sparingvision in 2016 with Prof. José Alain Sahel and Dr Thierry Léveillard, I was the president of the company till October 2020 when we finalized Series B. SparingVision is leading a step shift in how ocular diseases are treated, moving beyond single gene correction therapies. At the heart of this is SPVN06, a gene independent treatment for retinitis pigmentosa (RP), the most common inherited retinal disease affecting two million people worldwide. SparingVision has raised €130 M to date. SparingVision has been awarded from the EIC Accelerator program (H2020 SME instrument Phase 2

In 2000, after positions in the pharmaceutical and diagnostics industry, I created the Office of Tech Transfer, Licensing & Industrial Ventures of Greater Paris Hospitals Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris, which I managed and developed for 16 years.
Sourcing, scouting, innovations protection, patent filing and prosecution, industrial transfer, and licensing of innovation from AP-HP clinical departments. Over this period of time, more than 75 biotech, Medtech, and eHealth startups were created. Up to 2000 partnerships with biotech/Medtech companies on R&D programs. Development of drugs for orphan and neglected diseases. 1000 patent families filed, 300 license agreements signed, with € 25M of annual revenues.

* First prize Biotech in Catapult EIT Health startup Competition 2019
* Finalist of the International Galien Medstart'up Prize, New York, 2019
* Award of Mercure HEC des Entrepreneurs 2019
* Award of the HEC Trajectoires Au Féminin 2017
* Elected « Woman of the Year 2017 » by the French financial journal La Tribune.
* Member of the the Big Investment Plan Committee under the authority of the French Prime Minister (Comité de Surveillance des investissements d’avenir - Secrétariat General pour l’Investissement).

Tony Antoine AWAD (PhD) – CMC Advisor

Antoine (Tony) Awad joined Synlogic in December 2018 as Head of Technical Operations and is responsible for process sciences and manufacturing functions for the Company. Tony has over 15 years of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry with substantial experience in the development and manufacturing of novel therapeutics from pre-IND studies through global commercialization. Prior to joining Synlogic, Tony was most recently at Abpro Therapeutics and served as Senior Vice President of CMC and Operations where he was responsible for the development of bi-specific antibodies for oncology and leading corporate operational functions. Prior to that he served as Senior Vice President of Technical Operations and Manufacturing at L.E.A.F. Pharmaceuticals focused on developing small molecules for oncology. Previously, Tony held positions of increasing responsibilities over a ten-year period at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals. As Head of Process Sciences & Manufacturing, Tony led CMC development, manufacturing and approval of ONIVYDE® for treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer and transitioned to Ipsen Bioscience to integrate and lead commercial manufacturing of ONIVYDE®. Tony has broad experience in partnerships, collaboration and M&A, most notably with Sanofi, Baxalta/Shire plc, Actavis Pharma/Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Ipsen Bioscience. He is a graduate of Boston University and holds degree in biochemistry and molecular biology, and conducted graduate research at Boston University School of Dental Medicine.

Dr. Birgit GEOERGER (MD,PhD) –  Pediatric Oncologist, Ewing’s Sarcoma Coordinator

Dr. Birgit Geoerger is pediatric oncologist heading the Pediatric Early Drug Development Program in the Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Oncology at Gustave Roussy Cancer Center in Villejuif, France. Dr. Geoerger has an international career and is a key opinion leader in childhood cancer drug development and chaired the Clinical Trial Committee of the Innovation Therapies for Children with Cancer (ITCC) Consortium during 11 years.

She has initiated the MAPPYACTS profiling program and the AcSé-ESMART molecularly guided precision medicine therapeutic platform trial, both sponsored by Gustave Roussy, and is coordinating the pediatric relapse indication of the France Medécine Génomique 2025 program and the ambitious MAPPYACTS 2 study. She had developed and contributed to multiple early clinical, first-in-child and first-in-class trials. Her laboratory group in the INSERM U1015 research laboratory of Prof Laurence Zitvogel aims at developing new therapies for pediatric cancers. She authored more than 130 peer-reviewed publications.

Pierre Busson: is a Senior Research Scientist at the CNRS and Gustave Roussy (DR1 CNRS, UMR 9018, Villejuif, France). He obtained his M.D. in 1983 and his Ph.D. in Virology in 1990 from Paris University. Following a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Lineberger Cancer Research Center (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA), he was recruited by the CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research). Most contributions of his group were on virus-cell and host-tumor interactions in Epstein-Barr virus-associated nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPC). He was invited speaker at the Gordon Research Conferences on Nasopharyngeal Carcinomas organized in Hong-Kong (2018) and Castelldefels (2022). He is author in more than 110 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and seven book chapters (H-index 49). He has supervised 14 PhD theses. He teaches undergraduate and graduate students at Gustave Roussy and Paris-Saclay University. He is a grant reviewer for several institutions in France, Europe and Hong-Kong. He is academic editor for PLoS One and ad hoc reviewer for about 20 journals.

Dr. Alexandra LEARY (MD, PhD) – Medical Oncologist, Endometrial Cancer Coordinator

Alexandra Leary is a Medical Oncologist and Translational Researcher specializing in gynaecological tumors at Gustave Roussy, with a special focus on early phase drug development. Dr Leary is also team leader for gynaecological oncology translational research within the laboratory of Predictive Biomarkers and Novel Targeted Therapeutics (INSERM U981) at Gustave Roussy. 

She sits on the board of the French clinical trial intergroup, GINECO, and is President of the GINECO Group on Early Phase Studies (GINEGEPS). Internationally, she is a member of the ENGOT (European Network of Gynaecological Oncological Trial groups) translational research group, French representative at the Gynecologic Cancer InterGroup (GCIG), co-Chair of the GCIG phase II trial group, European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) faculty and gynaecology track Chair.

Hollebecque Biography

Antoine Hollebecque (M.D.) is a senior medical oncologist at Gustave Roussy Cancer Center in Paris. He completed his residency training in 2008. He spent 2 years as an Assistant Professor in the Drug Development Department at Gustave Roussy Cancer Center in 2012-2013. He completed his training with a one-year post-doctoral fellowship in the Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology (CEP) (Pr C. Dive), Manchester Institute, Cancer Research UK where he worked on cell-free DNA. His research axis are precision medicine, biliary and pancreatic carcinoma, FGFR inhibitors and drug development. Dr Hollebecque is or has been the principal investigator of more than 50 Phase I/II/III trials and investigator of more than 400 clinical trials over the past ten years. He has contributed to more than 230 peer-reviewed publications, including publications in the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Medicine, Cancer Discovery, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Annals of oncology, JAMA Oncology, Gastroenterology. Dr Hollebecque is a member of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO), American Association of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the French Federation of Gastrointestinal oncology (FFCD).

Yohann Loriot, MD, PhD received his MD in Paris in 2009 and a PhD in Cancer biology from Paris University in 2014. He is a medical oncologist working at Gustave Roussy and taking care of patients presenting GU cancer (urothelial, prostate and testis cancer).  He is a past recipent of Young oncologist Award from American Society of Clinical oncology. He is currently Head of GU oncology group  at Gustave Roussy and Deputy chair of the departement of early drug development.

His major research work focuses on drug development with connection with the field of biomarker discovery, development of targeted therapies and immunotherapies. His team of 20 people aims to identify mechanisms of action  and resistance to innovative therapies working on basic sciences, bioinformatics and clinical research. He’s also leading  phase I-III trials testing new drugs in urothelial and prostate cancers. Dr Loriot is currently member of steering committee of multiple international clinical trials from phase I to phase III which led to several drug approvals (erdafitinib, enzalutamide, abiraterone, atezolizumab, sacituzumab, enfortumab). Dr Loriot has published more than 200 peer reviewed papers including papers in New england journal of medicine, Lancet Oncology, Cancer Discovery as main or senior author. Dr Loriot  is member of several scientific committees for international academic groups (GU committee of EORTC, UNICANCER, ESMO). He is member of Annals of Oncology editorial board and European Journal of Cancer.

Dr. Stephane De Botton is working as a Head of Institut Gustave roussy, France He holds a Master's Degree followed by a Bachelor’s Degree. He is extending his valuable service as a Research Scholar in Institut Gustave's Rousey France and has been a recipient of many awards and grants. His research experience includes various programs, contributions, and participation in different countries for diverse fields of study. His research interests as a Research Scholar reflect in his wide range of publications in various national and international journals. His greatest interest is in hematological oncology.

Pr. Christophe Massard: Chairman of the SAB, Gustave Roussy, France

Medical oncologist, Head of Department DITEP between Sep 2017 and June 2021 and back in 2024. Principal investigators of 50 phase I trials, 1 phase II trial (prostate cancer), and co-investigator of more than 80 clinical trials (phase 1 trials and GU cancers).Focus on new drugs, GU cancer and translational research aspects related to precision medicine (MOSCATO, MATCH-R). Pr Massard has contributed to over 100 peer-reviewed publications, including publications in European Urology, Annals of Oncology and Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Pr. Susan Bates

Dr. Susan Bates received her M.D. degree from the University of Arkansas School of Medicine. She completed her clinical training in internal medicine at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and in medical oncology at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, MD. Dr. Bates was a Lead Clinical Investigator and Head of the Molecular Therapeutics Section in the Developmental Therapeutics Branch of the Center for Cancer Research before moving to Columbia University in August 2015.

During her years at the NCI, Dr. Bates led a highly successful translational research program focused on mechanisms of multidrug resistance and approaches to evaluate and improve the activity of epigenetic modifying agents. Her laboratory was among the first to clone the multidrug transporter ABCG2, eventually characterizing its function and its role in chemo-resistance and chemo-protection. This effort built upon earlier work elaborating the role of the multi-drug transporter P-glycoprotein that had defined the drug sensitivity profiles of cell lines in vitro, particularly in the NCI-60 cell line panel. The latter observation continues to impact how the NCI-60 cell line panel is used in drug discovery, and helped her identify a novel agent, at that time known as depsipeptide. Dr. Bates brought this drug to the clinic and after completing its phase I testing, served as Principal Investigator of a multi-institutional, international Phase II study of romidepsin (depsipeptide) in cutaneous and peripheral T-cell lymphoma. Working with Gloucester Pharmaceuticals, the data from this study were included in New Drug Applications (NDA) to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). This partnership led to approval by the FDA of romidepsin for two indications - initially for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma and later for peripheral T-cell lymphoma.

Dr. Bates' current interests are both laboratory and clinical in nature. Her laboratory efforts include laboratory and translational studies on drug resistance in T-cell lymphomas and advanced solid tumors including breast, pancreatic, neuroendocrine, renal and lung cancers. Her work is dedicated to new drug development, and finding antineoplastic agents that, alone or in combination with other anticancer agents, improve the options available for difficult to treat cancers. Emanating from the clinical and translational development of romidepsin, a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, a current focus is on epigenetic therapies, and the development of combination therapies to use with HDAC inhibitors in refractory advanced cancers, including solid tumors. She also has a special interest in drug delivery and drug distribution and the role of the blood brain barrier in creating a sanctuary site for cancers that metastasize to the brain. Clinically, her goal has always been to translate ideas from the laboratory to clinical trials, an effort that has proven very successful. Clinically she seeks to develop combination therapies with histone deacetylase inhibitors for the therapy of solid tumors; and to develop therapies to treat central nervous system metastases, a complication of cancer that is becoming a greater problem as patients live longer with cancer.

Pr. Patricia LoRusso :

As the associate director of experimental therapeutics at Yale Cancer Center, Dr. LoRusso is a nationally recognized expert in developing new cancer drugs through clinical trials. Dr. LoRusso has pioneered significant advances in medical oncology, drug development, and early phase clinical trials for her work at Wayne State University’s Barbara Karmanos Cancer Institute as director of both the phase I Clinical Trials Program and of the Eisenberg Center for Experimental Therapeutics.

Dr. LoRusso joined the AACR in 1988, served on the AACR Board of Directors from 2015 to 2018, and received the AACR-Joseph H. Burchenal Award for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Cancer Research in 2022. In 2023, she was inducted as a Fellow of the AACR Academy. She currently serves with distinction as chair of the AACR Exploratory IND/Biomarker-Driven Clinical Trials Task Force; chair of the AACR-Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in Cancer Research Award Committee; and cochair of the AACR Precision Combination Therapy Task Force. She has been a member of the AACR Project GENIE External Advisory Board since its inception in 2015.

Dr. LoRusso’s extensive involvement with the AACR has also included serving as a member of the AACR Cancer Disparities Progress Report Steering Committee (2022); member, AACR Education and Training Committee (2019-2022); member, AACR Nominating Committee (2019-2021); chair (2019-2020) and member (2018-2019), AACR Satellite Educational Symposia Committee; member, AACR June L. Biedler Prize for Cancer Journalism Judging Panel (2017-2020); member, AACR Continuing Medical Education Committee (2012-2014, 2017-2020); vice chair (2018-2019) and cochair (2013-2014, 2016-2017), AACR Annual Meeting Program Committee; member, AACR Science Policy and Government Affairs Committee (2016-2019); codirector (2016-2018) and faculty member (2004, 2005, 2009-2012), AACR/ASCO Methods in Clinical Cancer Research Workshop; faculty member, AACR Educational Workshop, “Australia and Asia Pacific Clinical Oncology Research Development” (2012, 2014, 2016, 2018); member, AACR Cancer Progress Report Steering Committee (2017); chair (2016-2017) and member (2012-2015), AACR Women in Cancer Research Council; chair, AACR Team Science Award Committee (2016-2017); cochair, AACR Annual Meeting Clinical Trials Committee (2012-2015); member, AACR Annual Meeting Exhibits Committee (2012-2014); member, AACR Clinical Research and Experimental Therapeutics Awards Selection Committee (2007-2009, 2012-2014); member, AACR-Joseph H. Burchenal Award for Outstanding Achievement in Clinical Cancer Research Committee (2007-2009); member, AACR-Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award Committee (2007-2009); member, Scientific Review Committee, Second Annual International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development (2007); member, AACR-Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Lectureship Committee (2006); and member, Scientific Program Committee, AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics (2003-2005).

Dr. LoRusso served on the editorial boards of the AACR journals Molecular Cancer Therapeutics (2012-2015) and Clinical Cancer Research (2011-2014). She was also coleader of the Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C)-Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA) Melanoma Dream Team. The AACR serves as the Scientific Partner of Stand Up To Cancer.

Throughout her career, Dr. LoRusso has received numerous honors and awards, including the World Affairs Council of Connecticut Luminary Award (2018); National Organization of Italian-American Women “Three Wise Women” honoree (2017); Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center the one hundred honoree (2014); ESMO Targeted Anticancer Therapies (TAT) Honorary Award (2014); Michigan State University Distinguished Alumni Award (2014); Karmanos Cancer Institute Faculty Award for Clinical Excellence (2013); American College of Osteopathic Internists Researcher of the Year Award (2010); National Cancer Institute Michaele Christian Oncology Development Award (2008); Crain’s Detroit Business Heroes of Healthcare Award (2008); Marygrove College Distinguished Alumni Award (2008); Top Doctors honoree (2007, 2009, 2011-2013, 2018); and the Michigan Society for Medical Research Bennett J. Cohen Educational Leadership Award for Medical Research (2004). Dr. LoRusso received an honorary PhD from Michigan State University in 2015 and was elected as a fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in 2022.

Dr. LoRusso received her BS from Marygrove College and her DO from Michigan State University. Prior to her appointment at the Yale School of Medicine, she served in numerous leadership roles at Wayne State University’s Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, including as director of the Phase I Clinical Trials Program and director of the Eisenberg Center for Translational Therapeutics.

Pr. Udai Banergy

Professor Udai Banerji champions multidisciplinary working at the interface between early phase clinical trials, drug discovery and translational research related to drug resistance.

He is a key member of the Cancer Therapeutics Unit, providing early clinical insights into areas of unmet need and clinical relevance during target prioritisation. He leads the Clinical Pharmacodynamics Biomarker Group, which plays a crucial role in transferring pharmacodynamic biomarkers used in drug discovery on to platforms that can be used in clinical trials. 

Professor Banerji is the Deputy Director of the Drug Development Unit which straddles The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. He leads academic studies sponsored by the ICR and Cancer Research UK and trials sponsored by pharmaceutical companies.

He is a passionate advocate of the Pharmacological Audit Trial and focuses on hypothesis testing, biomarker-enriched first-in-human clinical trials crucial in making go-no-go decisions in early phase clinical trials and accelerating the development of active anticancer drugs.

As well as working to optimise the dose, schedules and predictive biomarkers, he also runs the Clinical Pharmacology Adaptive Therapy Group which focuses on translational proteomic approaches to study drug resistance and methods of overcoming resistance using a combination therapies in clinical trials. 

Professor Banerji has multiple collaborations within the ICR, including the pharmacological effects on evolution (Dr Andrea Sottoriva), the use of proteomics to study drug resistance (Dr Jyoti Choudhary and Dr Paul Huang), the use of PET and MRS as pharmacodynamic biomarkers (Professor Wim Oyen and Professor Martin Leach) and exploiting the use of ultrasound in cancer therapy (Professor Jeff Bamber and Professor Gail Ter Haar).

On completion of his training in basic medicine (MBBS) at the University of Calicut, India, in 1991 and in internal medicine (MD, DNB) at the University of Bombay in 1994, Professor Banerji moved to the UK to work in oncology, qualifying in internal medicine (MRCP) in 2000. 

He joined the ICR in 2000 as a clinical fellow as part of their PhD programme and was awarded his PhD (University of London) in 2005. He started his training in medical oncology at The Royal Marsden in 2003 and was awarded his Certificate of Completion of Training in Medical Oncology in 2007. He joined the ICR as a Career Development Faculty and an honorary consultant at The Royal Marsden in 2007. 

In 2012, he was confirmed as Faculty of the ICR and was awarded his Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP). He was confirmed as a Cancer Research UK Reader in 2013 and as an NIHR Professor of Molecular Cancer Pharmacology in 2018. 

As a phase I physician, he has led the clinical development of first-in-human studies of a range of anticancer drugs developed at the ICR, including: luminespib (HSP90 inhibitor); CHR-3996 (HDAC inhibitor); AT13148 (ROCKI/II inhibitor); AZD5363 (AKT inhibitor); BAL3833 (pan-RAF inhibitor); ONX-0801 (alpha folate targeted TS inhibitor); SRA737 (CHK1 inhibitor) and BOS722 (MPS1 inhibitor). He has been a principal investigator and a sub-investigator in over 35 and 100 first-in-human studies, respectively. 

In addition to being responsible for the clinical management of patients he has been involved in the pharmacodynamic biomarker development of many of these drugs as the head of the Clinical Pharmacodynamics Biomarker Group. He works closely with Dr Florence Raynaud in the Drug Metabolism Pharmacokinetic (DMPK) Group to interpret and use pharmacokinetic data and study pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic models. 

He runs pharmaceutically sponsored studies and is also passionate about investigator-initiated clinical trials sponsored by the ICR, as well as charities, such as Cancer Research UK. A number of these investigator-initiated studies have been the basis of further evaluation of these drugs by other academic routes such as the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

His focus on the re-wiring of signal transduction as a mechanism of drug resistance and its use in designing clinical trials led to the award of a 5-year NIHR Research Professorship in 2017. It has also led to the development of clinical protocols evaluating combinations therapy (TAX-TORC and FRAME studies) run through the national Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) networks.

Professor Banerji was part of the ICR group awarded the AACR Team Science award in 2012 and the Cancer Research UK Translational Research award in 2013.

Dr. Jean-Yves Bizzari

Jean-Pierre Bizzari, MD, is a Doctor of Medicine, graduate of the Nice medical school and a specialist in oncology. He served as Executive Vice-President, Group Head, and Clinical Oncology Development (US, Europe, and Asia/Japan) at Celgene from 2008 to 2015. Prior to joining Celgene, he served as Vice President for Clinical Development Oncology at Sanofi-Aventis, based in the US, from 2004 to 2008. Between 1993 and 2004 he held the same position successively at Rhône-Poulenc Rorer, Aventis and Sanofi-Synthélabo, also in the US. Jean-Pierre Bizzari, MD, was previously head of the oncology department at Servier, after working as an assistant in the medical oncology department at La Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris. Since 2005 he has been a member of the international scientific committee of the French National Cancer Research Institute.

Pr. Jean-Yves Blay:

Jean-Yves Blay, Ph.D. has held the post of General Director of the Centre Léon Bérard in Lyon, France, since 2014 and renewed in 2019. He became President of Unicancer in 2019. He is President of the French Sarcoma Group and Director of the European Reference Network for Rare Adult Cancers (EURACAN). He is also Network Director of LYRICAN +.

Between 2009 and 2012 he held the position of President of the European  Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). Prof. Blay currently holds various other university and hospital positions. He is a member of the European Union Committee of Experts of Rare Disease, the European Commission’s Scientific Panel for Health (SPH) and served as a Faculty Coordinator for Sarcoma for the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) between 2012 and 2016 and has been named Director of Public Policy from January 2023.

Trained as a medical oncologist with a PhD from the University Claude Bernard in Lyon (France), his research activities have been focused on the role of immune effector cells and cytokines in cancer. Prof. Blay is a member of various scientific societies and academic expert groups, has been awarded several honors and is the author of more than 200 publications over the last three years.

Pr. Jean-Yves Douillard

In a career spanning more than 30 years, Prof Douillard has achieved international recognition as a leading expert in lung cancer and gastrointestinal oncology, holding a number of leadership positions.

At the University of Nantes, he was Professor in Medical Oncology, while at the Integrated Centers of Oncology (ICO) Rene Gauducheau, also in Nantes, he was Head of the Medical Oncology Department and later Director of Clinical and Translational Research. In addition, he spent a total of four years working in the US, initially at the National Cancer Institute and later at the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, part of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). He received his PhD in 1993.

Throughout his career, Prof Douillard has led clinical trials in relation to lung cancer and GI tumours and investigated targeted therapies, publishing his work in leading scientific journals. He has also held senior ESMO positions, serving as Educational Committee Chair and as a member of the Executive Board.

ESMO President Fortunato Ciardiello, said: “This is an important appointment which reflects the growing role and remit of ESMO. As we expand our horizons beyond Europe to continue meeting the needs of our members and cancer patients across the world, we must also expand our scientific and educational initiatives, while maintaining the highest possible standards.”

He continued: “The Chief Medical Officer has a critical role to play by incorporating the latest advances in medical oncology and best practice methodologies into all of our scientific activities – from Clinical Practice Guidelines to the development of scientific congress programmes.

Dr. Jabbour,

joined the MD Anderson Cancer Center faculty in 2007 and is currently a Professor of Medicine in the Department of Leukemia. He is actively involved in developmental therapeutics research in leukemia. Over the past 5 years he has assisted in developing chemotherapeutic and biologic agents in leukemias and contributed to the development of others. These include: 1) the Hyper CVAD-ofatumumab regimen in ALL; 2) clofarabine in myeloid malignancies; 3) hypomethylating agents in AML and MDS; 4) Tyrosine kinase therapy in CML; and 5) triple therapy in AML. This research has also provided insight into the biology of leukemias. He has extensively addressed the question of resistance to tyrosine kinase inhibitors and to analyze the outcome of these patients. We have identified different mechanisms of resistance and described the clinical significance of them. This has clinical significance in establishing new milestones and leading to personalized therapy. This has tremendous consequences at the scientific and financial levels. He was also actively associated with frontline studies of nilotinib and dasatinib which resulted in FDA approval of these agents for frontline CML therapy in 2010. In addition we have recently addressed the question of genomic instabilities in patients with low-risk MDS who may need earlier therapeutic intervention. This served as a rationale for the first study in the world randomizing such patients to either 5-azacitidine or decitabine. Identifying patients at risk and applying earlier intervention may significantly improve their prognosis. He is leading our efforts to test triple therapy in AML (nucleoside analogs + anthracyclines + cytarabine). The interim results from this randomized trial show a significant improvement in outcome in patients who receive the nucleoside analog clofarabine. This may change the standard of care for the management of patients with AML. Furthermore, I am currently investigating the benefit of adding humanized monoclonal antibody for the treatment of patients with ALL (ofatumumab and HCVAD) and collaborating in the development of monoclonal antibody studies in adult ALL. Finally, he has authored or co-authored hundreds of peer reviewed medical publications and have served on editorial boards of several scientific journals.

Pr. Ignacio Melero

Graduated (1988) in Medicine from the University of Navarra and a Ph.D. (1994), with an extraordinary doctorate award, from the Autonomous University of Madrid. He specialized in Immunology at the Hospital Universitario de la Princesa (Madrid, 1993). He worked for four years in the research center of the company Bristol Myers-Squib in Seattle (USA).

At Clinica Universidad de Navarra:

• Co-director of the Immunology and Immunotherapy Service since 2015
• Senior researcher at the Center for Applied Medical Research (CIMA).
• Professor of Immunology.

Pr. Josep Tabernero

Josep Tabernero holds MD and PhD degrees from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain, and he is currently Head of the Medical Oncology Department at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Director of the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) and Professor of Medicine at UVic-UCC. He has been Principal Investigator of several Phase I pharmacodynamic studies and translational projects with tumor-directed targeted therapies and immune-based therapies.

His research aims at potentiating molecular therapies targeting specific oncoproteins and accelerating more effective personalized cancer medicines for patients displaying genetic lesions or pathway disregulation.

Dr. Tabernero serves on the Editorial Boards of various top tier journals including Annals of Oncology, ESMO Open, Cancer Discovery, Clinical Cancer Research, Cancer Treatment Reviews, and Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology. He has (co) authored approximately 500 peer-reviewed papers with an H-Index of 115.

He was the President (2018 – 2019) of the European Society for Medical Oncology´s (ESMO), and also serves on its Public Policy as well as Cancer Medicines Committees. He is also member of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). He has also been a member of the Educational and Scientific Committees of ESMO, ECCO, ASCO, AACR, AACR/NCI/EORTC, ASCO Gastrointestinal, TAT and WCGIC meetings

Pr. Timothy Yap:

Dr. Timothy Yap is a Medical Oncologist and Physician-Scientist based at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is a Professor in the Department for Investigational Cancer Therapeutics (Phase I Program), and the Department ofThoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology. Dr. Yap is Vice President and Head of Clinical Development in the Therapeutics Discovery Division, a drug discovery biopharmaceutical division where drug discovery and clinical translation are seamlessly integrated. He is also the Associate Director of Translational Research in the Khalifa Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy, which is an integrated research and clinical trials program aimed at implementing personalized cancer therapy and improving patient outcomes.    Dr. Yap’s main research focuses on the first-in-human and combinatorial development of molecularly targeted agents and immunotherapies, and their acceleration through clinical studies using novel predictive and pharmacodynamic biomarkers. His main interests include the targeting of the DNA damage response (DDR) with novel therapeutics, such as ATR, PARP1, WEE1, POLQ, USP1, PKMYT1, PARG, CHK1, ATM and DNA-PK inhibitors, next generation CDK2, CDK4 and CDK7-selective inhibitors, YAP/TEAD inhibitors, Werner helicase inhibitors, SMARCA2 degraders, as well as the development of novel immunotherapeutics.   Prior to his current position, Dr. Yap was a Consultant Medical Oncologist at The Royal Marsden Hospital in London, UK and National Institute for Health Research BRC Clinician Scientist at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK.   Dr. Yap gained his BSc degree with First Class Honors in Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Imperial College London, UK, and was awarded the Huggett Memorial Prize. His BSc laboratory research involved an immunogenetics study into the human T-cell lymphotropic virus under the supervision of Professor Charles Bangham. He subsequently went on to attain his Medical degree from Imperial College London, UK, before completing general medical training in Oxford.   Dr. Yap undertook a Clinical Fellowship in the Phase I Drug Development Unit at the Royal Marsden Hospital with Professors Stan Kaye and Johann de Bono, before completing a PhD in Molecular Pharmacology in the Division of Cancer Therapeutics at The Institute of Cancer Research with Professors Michelle Garrett and Paul Workman under a Cancer Research UK Fellowship. His PhD laboratory research focused on the preclinical and clinical development of AKT inhibitors, and associated predictive and pharmacodynamic biomarkers. Dr. Yap completed his specialist training in medical oncology at the Royal Marsden Hospital and was awarded a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Academic Clinical Lectureship in Medical Oncology. He was subsequently appointed as Consultant Medical Oncologist and NIHR Biomedical Research Centre Clinician Scientist jointly in the Phase I Drug Development Unit, Lung Cancer Unit and Cancer Biomarkers Laboratory at the Royal Marsden Hospital and The Institute of Cancer Research in London, UK.   Dr. Yap is and/or has been Principal Investigator for multiple clinical trials and translational studies evaluating novel strategies for targeting the DNA damage response in cancer, such as PARP1/2, ATR, PARP1-selective, WEE1, POLQ, USP1, PKMYT1, PARG, CHK1, ATM and DNA-PK inhibitors, as well as agents against other synthetic lethal targets such as Werner helicase and SMARC2. He also leads early phase trials and translational studies of next generation CDK4 and CDK2-selective inhibitors, YAP/TEAD inhibitors, metabolic targets including Glutaminase and OXPHOS, epigenetic targets such as EZH2 and BET, and key signaling pathways, with a focus on the PI3K/AKT pathway. Dr. Yap is currently Principal Investigator of four NCI CTEP trials of novel combination therapies involving innovative biomarker-driven approaches across the NCI Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network. He was Lead Investigator for the AKT inhibitor arm of the UK National Lung Matrix Trial, which was one of the largest precision medicine trials in any cancer globally. Dr. Yap leads immuno-oncology clinical and associated translational studies, including novel agents targeting PD-1/PD-L1, ICOS, IDO, LAG3, TIM3, STING, TGFbeta, adenosine A2A receptor and fucosylation. He was previously the UK Chief Investigator for the CheckMate 331 Phase III trial in relapsed small cell lung cancer and the KEYNOTE-158 Phase II biomarker study in advanced solid tumors and multiple novel immunotherapy combination phase I trials.   His laboratory interests include the translational analysis of patient tumors and circulating tumor DNA as predictive biomarkers of response and resistance for novel agents in clinical trials and the development of pharmacodynamic biomarkers. Dr. Yap is PI of active peer reviewed federal grants, including a NIH/NCI R01, two Department of Defense (DOD) grants, a V Foundation Scholar grant, a Golfers against Cancer grant and a SINF grant, as well as previous grants from the British Lung Foundation, Academy of Medical Sciences and US Prostate Cancer Foundation.   Dr. Yap was the recipient of the 2019 NCI Michaele C. Christian Oncology Development Award, the 2020 V Foundation Scholar Award, the 2021 Irwin H. Krakoff Award for excellence in clinical research, and was a Honoree for President’s Recognition of Faculty Excellence at MD Anderson in 2021. He previously received the McElwain Prize in Medical Oncology from the UK Association of Cancer Physicians and a Young Investigator Award from the Prostate Cancer Foundation. He has also received five ASCO Foundation merit awards, the AACR-AstraZeneca International Scholar Award, AACR-Pezcoller Foundation Scholar Award, as well as awards from the EORTC and ETOP.    Dr. Yap has published more than two hundred articles in peer-reviewed journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, Nature Medicine, Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer Discovery, Cancer Cell, Science Translational Medicine, Nature Reviews Cancer and Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, as well as multiple book chapters. He has edited two books on the development of early phase clinical trials and on targeting the DNA Damage Response. Dr. Yap is a Scientific Editor of Cancer Discovery, and Associate Editor of the British Journal of Cancer and the Journal of Hematology & Oncology.    Dr. Yap was previously Co-Chair of the Clinical Trials Committee at the AACR Annual Meeting, Co-Chair of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics, and Chair of the AACR Industry Roundtable meeting. He has served on the Scientific Program Committees of the ASCO, AACR, AACR-NCI-EORTC, ESMO, ESMO TAT, ESMO MAP and ESMO Asia Annual Conferences.   He is a member of the AACR Precision Combination Therapy Task Force and was previously a member of the ESMO OncologyPRO Working Group, the UK NCRI Lung Cancer Clinical Studies Group, the EORTC Lung Cancer Group and the EAPM Sub-Committee on Clinical Trials Framework. Dr. Yap previously served as co-leader of the Molecular Biology Module on The Institute of Cancer Research MSc Oncology Course and was a founding member of the UK ECMC Junior Investigator Network Group.    Dr. Yap is is currently Faculty on the EORTC-ESMO-AACR Workshop on Methods in Clinical Cancer Research, having previously served on the Faculty of the ASCO/AACR Methods in Clinical Cancer Research Workshop in Vail. He currently serves on the MD Anderson Academic Mentoring council and is a Program Lead of the Leading Clinical Research Faculty Learning Series.