Module 2: Personalizing Therapy - How to Apply Biomarker Findings to Optimize NSCLC Therapeutic Outcomes
October 07, 2022
Justin Gainor, MD
Director, Center for Thoracic Cancers and Director, Targeted Immunotherapy
Massachusetts General Hospital
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA
Justin Gainor is the Director of the Center for Thoracic Cancers at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Director of Targeted Immunotherapy in the Henri and Belinda Termeer Center for Targeted Therapies, and Co-Leader of the SU2C Lung Cancer Dream Team. His major research interests focus on targeted therapy and immunotherapy. Currently, Dr. Gainor is the principal investigator of multiple clinical trials evaluating novel targeted therapies among patients with oncogene-driven lung cancers, with a particular focus on oncogenic fusions involving anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) and RET. He has also led efforts to define the molecular mechanisms of resistance to targeted therapies.
Dr. Gainor has worked to transfer the same clinical-translational research framework pioneered in targeted therapies to the immunotherapy setting. His early efforts in this regard have focused on exploring the activity of immune checkpoint inhibitors among patients with oncogene-driven lung cancers. His current research focus is to elucidate predictors of response and resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors. These translational studies are complemented by a robust portfolio of phase I/II trials examining novel immunotherapy combinations.
Raffaele Califano, MD
Honorary Senior Lecturer, Division of Cancer Sciences, The University of Manchester
Consultant in Medical Oncology, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
Manchester, UK
Dr. Raffaele Califano is Consultant in Medical Oncology at The Christie and University Hospital of South Manchester, Manchester, UK. He graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Perugia, Italy, in 2003, and completed his specialist training in Medical Oncology in 2007. Previously, Dr. Califano worked as a Clinical Research Fellow with the lung and melanoma team at The Christie (2008–2012), where he trained in advanced trial design and management and was an investigator for several lung cancer and melanoma clinical trials.
Dr. Califano specializes in the treatment of thoracic malignancies, including non-small cell lung cancer, small cell lung cancer, thymoma, thymic carcinoma and mesothelioma. He is a member of the ESMO Educational Publications Working Group, where he served as Chair, 2016-2019. He is an author of several papers published in peer-reviewed international journals and has been an invited speaker at several national and international meetings. Dr. Califano is a member of the Editorial Board of ESMO Open: Cancer Horizons, the European Journal of Cancer, Cancer Treatment Reviews and Cancer Treatment Communications, and is also peer reviewer for a number of medical journals.
