Leadership Committee

TONI CHOUEIRI, MD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Director, Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology

HANS HAMMERS, MD, PhD

UT Southwestern Medical Center
Professor of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology-Oncology

SUMANTA PAL, MD

City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center
Professor, Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research

BRYAN LEWIS

KidneyCAN
President

SUSAN POTEAT

KidneyCAN
Medical Science Liaison

Abstract Committee

PEDRO BARATA, MD, MSc

Tulane University
Assistant Professor of Medicine

STEPHANIE BERG, DO

Loyola University
Assistant Professor of Medicine

MEHMET BILEN, MD

Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
Director, Genitourinary Medical Oncology Program

BRAD MCGREGOR, MD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Clinical Director, Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology

RANA MCKAY, MD

University of California, San Diego
Associate Professor of Medicine

SUMANTA PAL, MD

City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center
Professor, Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research

FABIO A SCHUTZ, MD

BP – A Beneficencia, Portuguesa de Sao Paulo
Oncologista Clinico

DoD / KCRP Session Committee

MARIA CARLO, MD

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Associate Professor of Medicine

ERIC JONASCH, MD

MD Anderson Cancer Center
Professor, Department of Genitourinary Medical Oncology

MEDHI MOLLAPOUR, PhD

State University of New York
Professor

TIAN ZHANG, MD

UT Southwestern
Assistant Professor of Medicine

Communications Committee

NEERAJ AGARWAL, MD

Huntsman Cancer Institute
Senior Director of Clinical Research Innovation

DAVID BRAUN, MD, PhD

Yale School of Medicine
Assistant Professor of Medicine

GIL MORGAN, MD

Skane University Hospital
Medical Oncologist

PAVLOS MSAOUEL, MD, PhD

MD Anderson Cancer Institute
Assistant Professor, Department of Genitourinary Medical Oncology

FABIO SCHUTZ, MD

BP – A Beneficencia, Portuguesa de Sao Paulo
Oncologista Clinico

QING ZHANG, PhD

UT Southwestern
Associate Professor, Department of Pathology

TIAN ZHANG, MD

UT Southwestern
Assistant Professor of Medicine

ADRIAN HAYES

KidneyCAN
Communications

Fireside Chat

TONI CHOUEIRI, MD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Director, Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology

HANS HAMMERS, MD, PhD

UT Southwestern Medical Center
Professor of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology-Oncology

DREW PARDOLL, MD, PhD

Johns Hopkins Medical Center
Director, Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy

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SUZANNE TOPALIAN, MD

Johns Hopkins Medical Center
Associate Professor, Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy

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ANDREW SEWELL, PhD

Cardiff University
Professor, Division of Infection and Immunity

Professor Andrew Sewell is a distinguished Research Professor in the Division of Infection and Immunity at Cardiff University School of Medicine in the United Kingdom.

The research team at Cardiff, led by Professor Sewell, has discovered unconventional T-cells equipped with a new type of T-cell receptor (TCR) which recognizes and kills most human cancer types while ignoring healthy cells. The discovery holds out the tantalizing possibility of a universal approach to killing cancer. The Nature Immunology article on this TCR found it recognized and killed most human cancer types via the monomorphic MHC class I-related protein, MR1.

The hope is this new TCR may provide the scientific community with a different route to target and destroy a wide range of cancers in all patients, opposed to the widely known therapy, CAR-T, which is personalized to each patient and targets only a few types of cancers and has not been successful in solid tumors. Research has shown that TCR kills cancer cells in the lung, skin, blood, colon, breast, bone, prostate, ovarian, kidney, and cervix while ignoring healthy cells. This approach is now in promising early clinical trials with other cancers.

Dr. Sewell will open the Friday morning Immunotherapy session talks and discussions. We’re looking forward to learning more about the progress of this treatment which could someday be available to kidney cancer patients.

“Normal, healthy body cells only present bits of normal proteins, and these are ignored by killer T-cells. If a cell is, for instance, infected with a virus, then it will contain some proteins of viral origin and bits of these will be displayed on the surface of the infected cell. Killer T-cells can recognize these protein fragments as ‘foreign.’ This activates the killer T-cell to destroy the infected body cell and all its contents, including the virus. In this sense, killer T-cells act as a sophisticated ‘seek and destroy’ weapon.”

Dr. Sewell's Work

DREW PARDOLL, MD, PhD

Johns Hopkins Medical Center
Director, Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy

Drew M. Pardoll, MD, PhD, will open Thursday’s KCRS sessions with a “Fireside Chat.”

Dr Pardoll is the inventor of numerous immunotherapy vaccines and has published over 300 articles related to cancer vaccines, gene therapies, and cancer prevention technologies.

His lab focuses on T-cell responses and approaches to modify these responses for targeted immunotherapy. These novel therapies target neoantigens, which could revolutionize the treatment of cancer patients in the decades to come by fulfilling the promise of a personalized, individual treatment.

In this video, “A Future Immune to Cancer,” Dr. Pardoll discusses his work with immunology. He also speaks about the importance of advocating for and donating to research funding.

“Every minute you are thinking about, ‘How do I fill that funding gap? How do I get the next grant, and the next grant’ — is a minute you’re not thinking about how you’re going to cure cancer with the immune system. A future immune to cancer is really about precision immunotherapy.”

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SUZANNE TOPALIAN, MD

Johns Hopkins Medical Center
Associate Director, Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy

Suzanne Topalian, MD is Associate Director at the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and Melanoma Program Director in the Kimmel Cancer Center.

In the laboratory and in the clinic, Dr Topalian serves as a physician-scientist whose research interests focus on cancer immunology and immunotherapy. She has published over 100 original research articles and reviews in this field and is internationally recognized for this work. Dr Topalian’s research continues to focus on immune checkpoints, such as PD-1 alone and in combinations.

Checkpoint research has broadly changed the options for cancer care in many cancers including kidney cancer, and for some patients, it is offering long-term responses.

We’re honored to have Dr Topalian and her husband and collaborator Drew Pardoll discussing new directions in immunotherapy at Thursday’s “Fireside Chat” to open KCRS22.

Dr Topalian's Work

AAMC Awards - Suzanne Topalian, MD from AAMC on Vimeo.

“Today, PD-1 is a common denominator for cancer therapy. It was only after decades of research in the lab, and also testing different drugs in the clinic,that we arrived at the place where we are today with anti-p1 therapies. If there’s one important thing that I’ve learned during my career, it is that persistence is very important. If you think that you have a solid idea, you should not be easily discouraged by setbacks. I have hope that progress will continue on this trajectory with new breakthroughs that will help patients with cancer and that this kind of scientific teamwork has an enormous impact on accelerating cures for patients with devastating diseases.”

session 1

Metabolism and Mechanisms with Focus on Health Disparities

MODERATORS

MARIA CARLO, MD

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Associate Professor of Medicine

MEDHI MOLLAPOUR, PhD

SUNY Upstate Medical University
Professor of Urology, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

SPEAKERS

KEN BATAI, PhD

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
Assistant Professor of Oncology

XIJUAN LIU

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Postdoctoral Fellow

ADAM METWALLI, MD

Howard University
Associate Professor in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology

FAEZE SAATCHI, PhD

UT Southwestern Medical Center
Postdoctoral Fellow

session 2

Novel Pathways for Therapeutics Beyond Checkpoint Inhibitors

MODERATORS

NEERAJ AGARWAL, MD

Huntsman Cancer Institute
Senior Director of Clinical Research Innovation

TIAN ZHANG, MD

UT Southwestern
Assistant Professor of Medicine

SPEAKERS

KATHLEEN MAHONEY, MD, PhD

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Attending Physician of Medicine

WAYNE MARASCO, MD, PhD

Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Professor of Medicine

GUANG PENG, MD, PhD

MD Anderson Cancer Center
Associate Professor

HAIFENG YANG, PhD

Thomas Jefferson University
Assistant Professor

session 3

Rapid Abstract Presentations

MODERATORS

STEPHANIE BERG, DO

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Instructor of Medicine

RANA MCKAY, MD

University of California, San Diego
Associate Professor of Medicine

SPEAKERS

MARICE ALCANTARA, PhD

City of Hope National Medical Center
Postdoctoral Fellow

ABHISHEK CHAKRABORTY, PhD

Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine
Assistant Professor

KEVIN HAKIMI

UC San Diego School of Medicine
Medical Student

TEJAS JAMMIHAL, MS

MD Anderson Cancer Center
Research Investigator

LUIS MEZA, MD

City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center
Postdoctoral Fellow

ANUPAMA REDDY, PhD

Vindhya Data Science
Data Scientist and COO

CERISE TANG

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
PhD Student

NISHITA TRIPATHI, PhD

Huntsman Cancer Institute
Post Doctorate Fellow

QING ZHANG, PhD

UT Southwestern
Associate Professor

session 4

Clinical Trials in Progress

MODERATORS

MARTIN VOSS, MD

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Clinical Director, Genitourinary Medical Oncology Service

WESLEY YIP, MD

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Clinical Fellow

SPEAKERS

KATY BECKERMANN, MD, PhD

Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Assistant Professor

BRADLEY MCGREGOR, MD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Clinical Director, Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology

RANA MCKAY, MD

University of California, San Diego
Associate Professor of Medicine

PRAFUL RAVI, MB, BChir, MRCP

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Medical Oncologist

special session 5

Breaking Barriers to Trial Enrollment

MODERATOR

MICHAEL B ATKINS, MD

Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center

SPEAKERS

CHANA WEINSTOCK, MD

FDA Oncology Center of Excellence
Team Lead, GU Cancers Team

Jose Ricardo Perez, MD

Exelixis
VP, GU Portfolio, Medical Affairs

S. Hariharan, MD, FACP

Pfizer
Global Medical Affairs

RICK BANGS

SWOG Cancer Research Network
Chair, Patient Advocate Committee

session 6

Clinical and Scientific Updates in Kidney Cancer

MODERATOR

TONI CHOUEIRI, MD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Director, Lank Center for Genitourinary Oncology

SPEAKERS

LAURENCE ALBIGES, MD, PhD

Institute Gustave-Roussy
Urology Committee Chairman

RANA MCKAY, MD

University of California, San Diego
Associate Professor of Medicine

SUMANTA PAL, MD

City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center
Professor, Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research

TOM POWLES, MBBS, MRCP, MD

Barts Cancer Centre
Director, Barts Cancer Centre

BRIAN RINI, MD

Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Chief of Medical Trials

MARTIN VOSS, MD

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Clinical Director, Genitourinary Medical Oncology Service

session 7

Immunotherapy Advances and Research

MODERATORS

HANS HAMMERS, MD, PhD

UT Southwestern Medical Center
Professor of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology-Oncology

ARI HAKIMI, MD, PhD

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Associate Professor

SPEAKERS

ESRA AKBAY, PhD

UT Southwestern Medical Center
Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology

SIDI CHEN, PhD

Yale University
Assistant Professor

ANDREW SEWELL, PhD

Cardiff University
Professor, Division of Infection and Immunity

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EDUS WARREN, MD, PhD

Fred Hutchinson Seattle Cancer Care Alliance
Professor, Program in Immunotherapy

session 8

Oral Abstract Presentations

MODERATORS

PEDRO BARATA, MD, MSc

Tulane University
Assistant Professor of Medicine

RANA MCKAY, MD

University of California, San Diego
Associate Professor of Medicine

SPEAKERS

MEHMET BILEN, MD

Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
Director, Genitourinary Medical Oncology Program

REGINA BARRAGAN CARRILLO, MD

Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán
Chief Oncology Fellow

CHRIS LABAKI, MD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Postdoctoral Research Fellow

JUSTINE PANIAN

UC San Diego School of Medicine
Medical Student

RENEE MARIA SALIBY, MD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Postdoctoral Research Fellow/Visiting Scientist

SRINIVAS VISWANATHAN, MD, PhD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School