Join us for a case-based discussion on multidisciplinary management of esophageal neoplasm covering such topics as esophageal cancer surgery, oncological treatment, management of complications of surgery, and endoscopic treatment.

Join us online on Tuesday March 23 at 12:00 GMT or:

New York 08:00–09:30 EDT
London 12:00-13:30 GMT
Amsterdam 13:00-14:30 CET
Hong Kong 20:00-21:30 HKT
Tokyo 21:00-22:30 JST

Watch The Recording

Moderators

Simon Law, University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong)

Simon Law graduated from the University of Cambridge in England. He received his postgraduate training at The University of Hong Kong and also undertook a fellowship in Foregut Surgery at the University of Southern California. He became Clinical Professor in Surgery in 2005. He is currently Cheung Kung-Hai Professor in Gastrointestinal Surgery, Chair and Chief of Esophageal and Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery at The University of Hong Kong.

He served as the Chairman of the General Surgery Board of the College of Surgeons of Hong Kong and the Chief Examiner for the Joint Fellowship Examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and The College of Surgeons of Hong Kong. He is also the past president of the Hong Kong Society of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, He has been playing an active role in many international societies; such as being Consultant of the International Society of Digestive Surgery (ISDS), Asia Representative of the Member Services Committee of the Society for Surgeons of the Alimentary Tract (SSAT), and Secretary of the Hong Kong China Chapter of the American College of Surgeons. He is co-chairman of the Education Committee of the International Society of Diseases of the Esophagus (ISDE), and Vice-President of the same society.

He has published over 300 articles and 36 book chapters. He is associate editor of the Diseases of the Esophagus and is on the editorial board to 15 other leading journals. He is an honorary fellow of the American Surgical Association as well as an honorary member of the European Surgical Association.

Richard van Hillegersberg, University Medical Center Utrecht (The Netherlands)

Richard van Hillegersberg attended medical school in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Professor van Hillegersberg has been a Full Professor of Gastrointestinal Oncology and Program Leader of the GI-Oncology Department since 2009, and Head of the Department of Surgical Oncology at UMC Utrecht since 2015. His clinical interest is upper gastrointestinal tract surgery. Research is focused on minimally invasive and robotic surgery, surgical imaging and genetic profiling. He has authored and co-authored over 10 chapters in textbooks concerning robotic forgut surgery and over 400 articles in international peer-reviewed journals.

Professor Hillegersberg is past president of the Dutch GI Surgical Association, past board member of the Dutch Surgical Association, past board member and founder of the Dutch Society for liver surgery, past president of the European Digestive Surgery, past Chairman and founder of the Dutch Upper GI Surgery Working Group and member of the permanent Scientific committee OESO World Organisation for Specilised studies on diseases of the esophagus. From 2016-2019 he was chairman of the Comprehensive Cancer Network Utrecht. From 2017 he is the president of Europena Society of Surgery of the Alimentary Tract (ESSAT) and surgical representative in council of the United European Gastroenerology. He started with robotic surgery in 2003. Currently he is performing about 40-60 RAMIE procedures per year (3-4 cases per month). He is chairman and council member of the Educational committee of the European Society for Diseases for the Esophagus (ESDE), and founder and chairman of the Upper GI International Robotic Association (UGIRA).

Expert Panelists

Trevor Leong, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Australia)

Professor Trevor Leong is a Consultant Radiation Oncologist and immediate past Director of Radiation Oncology at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia. He is an active clinician researcher who is involved in both translational research programs as well as clinical research. He is internationally recognized as a leader in the management and research of gastrointestinal cancers and has been a principal investigator in numerous phase I/II/III studies relating to gastrointestinal malignancies. Prof Leong is the Global Trial Chairperson for the current TOPGEAR randomised phase III trial in gastric cancer being conducted by AGITG, TROG, EORTC and CCTG that is recruiting patients from over 70 centres across 15 countries.

Daniela Molena, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (USA)

Dr. Daniela Molena has served as the Director of the Esophageal Program within the Thoracic Surgery Division at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center since 2015. She strives to provide excellent and individualized care to patients, integrating new technology and novel approaches.

She is an advocate for the use of minimally invasive techniques (VATS, laparoscopic or robotic) whenever possible to decrease pain and enhance patient’s recovery.

Her research focuses in identifying and measuring quality indicators to improve clinical and functional outcomes after surgery, designing clinical pathways to decrease costs and improve results, and identifying racial and socioeconomic disparities that limit the access to excellent care. She is also interested in developing and studying new technologies and imaging guided approaches to direct surgical resection to be more precise, effective and less invasive.

Dr. Molena has authored over 100 manuscripts and book chapters. She is vice-President of Women in Thoracic Surgery (WTS), Councilor of Southern Thoracic Surgical Association (STSA), Board Member of the Foundation of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) and member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, SAGES, Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract and the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus. She in Associate Editor for Diseases of the Esophagus, Deputy Editor of the Annals of Thoracic Surgery and Editorial Board Member of Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.

Ken Kato, National Cancer Center Hospital (Japan)

Professor Ken Kato serves as Chief, Department of Head and Neck Medical Oncology, and Chief, Biobank Translational Research Support Section at the National Cancer Center Hospital in Japan. He has a number of research interests including chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy for upper-GI tumor, multimodal treatment for esophageal cancer, and biobank and translational research.

Professor Kato most recent publications include Nivolumab versus chemotherapy in patients with advanced oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma refractory or intolerant to previous chemotherapy; and A subanalysis of Japanese patients in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial of nivolumab for patients with advanced gastric or gastro-esophageal junction cancer refractory to, or intolerant of, at least two previous chemotherapy regimens.

Christiane Bruns, University Hospital Cologne (Germany)

Christiane Bruns has served as Professor and Director of the Department of General, Visceral, Cancer and Transplant Surgery at the University of Cologne since 2016. She is Vice Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Cologne Bonn Düsseldorf Aachen, and Scientific Coordinator of Else-Kröner-Forschungskolleg Cologne, "Clonal dynamics in cancer" since 2017.

Professor Bruns is an expert in Upper GI Surgical Oncology (esophago-gastric and pancreatic cancer) and Minimal-Invasive/Robotic Surgery. Her main research focuses on upper GI cancer, pancreatic cancer, oligometastasis with a strong interest on therapy resistance. She has authored a number of publications and has many accomplishments to her name including 2020 Honorary Member Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery of the European Board of Surgery and Thoracic Surgery (U.E.M.S.), and recipient of the Curt-Bohnewand-Award of the Medical Faculty of the Ludwig Maximillian University of Munich in 2005.

Jacques Bergman, Amsterdam Universitair Medische Centra (The Netherlands)

Jacques Bergman has served as Head of the Department of Endoscopy and Professor of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy since 2011. Professor Bergman is Special Section Editor for “Gastroenterology”, member of the International Editorial board of “Gastrointestinal Endoscopy” and member of the International Editorial board of “Endoscopy”. He has authored and co-authored on over 350 peer reviewed publications and text book chapters and has lectured at many national and international meetings.

Jacques Bergman is the head of the AMC esophageal research team. He leads a variety imaging studies on detection of early neoplasia in the upper GI tract. Techniques that are currently under investigation include high resolution endoscopy, optical chromoscopy, volumetric laser endomicroscopy, and spectroscopy techniques. His group also investigates computer assisted endoscopic detection of early neoplasia as part of a consortium with the Technical University Eindhoven and the Catharina Hospital Eindhoven. In addition, his group has a strong focus on the endoscopic treatment of early neoplasia using endoscopic resection and endoscopic ablation techniques as well as in organizing training programs in this field (www.barrett.nl and www.best-academia.eu). Jacques Bergman leads ReBus: a large tissue bank project that incorporates clinical data and tissue samples of 1,000 patients treated for early Barrett's neoplasia; 3,500 Barrett's surveillance patients in the Amsterdam region; 1,500 prospectively followed Barrett's patients in the Amsterdam Prospective Barrett's Registration Project; and 750 Barrett's patients with low-grade dysplasia.