We continue to represent the speakers of the 15th Asian Congress (SIOP Asia) of the International Society for Pediatric Oncology to be held at the Yerevan State Medical University in May of this year:
Heribert Jürgens
Topic: Treatment of Ewing Sarcoma Over the Last 50 Years
Muenster University Children's Hospital, Germany
Position: Professor emeritus
Professor Heribert Jürgens is a senior expert on sarcomas among children and adolescent and young adult (AYA) and former director of Pediatric Oncology Department, University Hospital Munster. He is the general secretary of the German Society of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (GPOH). During 1980 – 2015 years he was a chairman of the GPOH Cooperative Ewing Sarcoma Studies and Intergroup chairman of the European Ewing Sarcoma Study Group. Prof. Emeritus Dr. med. Heribert Jürgens received the Life Time Achievement Award ECCO/SIOP-E – European Society of Pediatric Oncology in 2015 and the German Cancer Aid Award in 2017.
Lawrence B. Faulkner, MD
Topic: Transplantation/cell therapy service start-up and sustainability in middle-income countries.
Pediatric hematology-oncology and stem cell transplantation, JACIE (Joint Accreditation Committee ISCT-EBMT) Inspector.
Dr․ Lawrence Faulkner is a Pediatric hematology-oncology and stem cell transplantation specialist, and JACIE (Joint Accreditation Committee ISCT-EBMT) Inspector. After working for almost 20 years in affluent counties as a pediatrician specializing in childhood cancer and blood disorders, he decided to dedicate himself full-time to international medicine. For the past 8 years, he had collaborated with professionals and institutions in developing countries committed to the cure of children with cancer and severe hematological diseases. Since then, this has evolved into his main professional goal. He contributed to the start-up of bone marrow transplantation units in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Morocco, as well as to the treatment of children with malignancies directly in Kosovo and Georgia. In 2021, the Hematology Center of Armenia launched allogeneic stem cell transplantation thanks to him.
Leslie Lehmann, MD
Topic: CAR-T
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Position: Associate Professor, Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Medical Director, Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant Unit, Boston Children's Hospital
Dr. Lehmann is an Associate Professor, Pediatrics in Harvard Medical School and Medical Director of the Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant Unit, Boston Children's Hospital. She is the disease-specific chairperson for pediatric non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and a member of the lymphoma core committee of the Children's Oncology Group. Her specific research interest involves ascertaining the incidence of gallium avidity in pediatric non-Hodgkin's lymphomas through a multi-institutional study. Another area of interest is the use of bone densitometry to detect osteopenia or osteoporosis after pediatric stem cell transplantation.
Michela Casanova, MD
Topic: NTRK inhibitors in the pediatric solid tumors
Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori
Position: Board member of European Soft Tissue Sarcoma Study Group (EpSSG), pediatric oncologist
Dr. Michela Casanova is pediatric oncologist specialized in pediatric sarcomas and rare tumors and new drugs. She is a member of the Executive Committee of Innovative Therapies for Children with Cancer (ITCC), Childhood Liver Tumors Strategy Group (SIOPEL) group. Dr. Casanova is a founding member and member of the Board of the European Pediatric Soft Tissue Sarcoma Study Group (EpSSG Phase I-II Management Trial Committee). She is a Principal Investigator and sub-investigator in numerous clinical protocols sponsored in collaboration with various pharmaceutical companies.
She is a co-author of 197 peer reviewed articles and participated in 5 clinical trials in the past 15 years.