Faculty Biographies

November 7 and 14, 2022, Virtual Meeting

Corey Langer

Corey J. Langer, MD, FACP

University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, USA

Dr Corey Langer is a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, where he serves as clinical director of thoracic oncology in the Abramson Cancer Center. He received his medical degree from Boston University and completed his residency in medicine at the Graduate Hospital, University of Pennsylvania, and his hematology/oncology fellowship at Presbyterian University of Pennsylvania and Fox Chase Cancer Center.

At the University of Pennsylvania, Dr Langer leads clinical research efforts in thoracic malignancy as part of the Interdisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Program and conducts research focused on the role of targeted therapy and immunotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). He also co-directs the Thoracic Translational Center of Excellence, where he concentrates on the clinical end of bench-to-bedside projects. For the past 34 years, since completing his fellowship, Dr Langer has led or co-led over 140 clinical trials in both SCLC and NSCLC, as well as mesothelioma and head and neck cancer.

Dr Langer is co-chair of the Medical Oncology Committee for NRG Cooperative Oncology Group and serves on the core thoracic committees of both NRG and the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Association for Cancer Research, and International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). Since 2016, he has served as editor-in-chief of the IASLC Lung Cancer News.

Solange Peters

Solange Peters, MD, PhD

University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland

Prof Solange Peters is a full professor, chair of medical oncology, and chair of thoracic malignancies in the Department of Oncology, University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland. She received both her medical degree and PhD from the University Hospital of Lausanne. After completing her clinical education in medical oncology and molecular biology in Switzerland and Italy, Prof Peters specialized in thoracic tumors, lung cancer, and pleural tumors.

Prof Peters is currently in charge of teaching and patient care in thoracic malignancies at Lausanne University, where she is building a translational program in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Ludwig Institute. Her main fields of interest are new biomarkers discovery and validation in preclinical and clinical settings, multimodality strategies for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer, and cancer immunotherapy. Her current research projects mainly focus on innovative immunotherapy combinations and new immunomodulating treatments across thoracic malignancies. She acts as the local principal investigator (PI) for lung trials opened at Lausanne Cancer Centre and is co-PI of several other trials. Additionally, she acts as scientific coordinator and Foundation Council member of the European Thoracic Oncology Platform.

Prof Peters has authored numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters, acts as associate editor of the Annals of Oncology, serves on the editorial board of several other oncology journals, and was the deputy editor of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology for 10 years. Prof Peters is active in the educational programs of the European Society for Medical Oncology, where she created the Women for Oncology Committee and for which she is the youngest president ever, serving from 2020–2022, and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, where she was a previous member of the board of directors.

Benjamin Besse

Benjamin Besse, MD, PhD

Institute Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France

Prof Benjamin Besse is director of clinical research at Institute Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France, and professor of medical oncology at Université Paris-Saclay. He earned his medical degree from Paris Medical School. He completed a residency and fellowship in medical oncology at Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, and a doctoral fellowship in molecular biology at Institute Català d’Oncologia, Barcelona, Spain. He earned his PhD in oncogenesis from Université Paris XI.

Prof Besse’s research interests focus on the application of personalized therapeutic strategies that are based on molecular abnormalities; circulating biomarkers; and early drug development in thymic malignancies and thoracic tumors. He has served as principal investigator for over 30 phase I/II clinical trials.

Prof Besse has authored or coauthored over 400 peer-reviewed articles; since 2020, he has been part of Clarivate’s list of Highly Cited Researchers. Previously, he was chair of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Consensus Conference on Lung Cancer, published in Annals of Oncology, and was elected chair of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Lung Cancer Group from 2014 to 2020. Currently, he is chair of the EORTC Scientific Chairs Council and coordinates the French Network for Thymic Malignancies (RYTHMIC). He is a member of several organizations including the American Society of Clinical Oncology, International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, and ESMO. In recognition for his academic work on thoracic malignancies, Prof Besse received a Hubertus Wald Award in 2022.

Federico Cappuzzo

Federico Cappuzzo, MD, PhD

AUSL della Romagna, Ravenna, Italy

Dr. Federico Cappuzzo has been the Director of Medical Oncology at the AUSL della Romagna in Ravenna. In November 1992, he graduated, summa cum laude, in Medicine and surgery at the Palermo University and in November 1996, yielded a Degree summa cum laude in Medical Oncology at Milan University, followed by the ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology) certification in Medical Oncology in 1997. From 1997 to 1999 he was recipient of an ESMO Fellowship on Gene Therapy of Lung Cancer at Institut Gustave Roussy in Villejuif (Paris). Followed by attendance from April 2000 to September 2000 at the thoracic oncology unit at Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston (USA). For six years, from November 2000 to 2006, he was assistant professor at Ospedale Bellaria in Bologna and from November 2006 to January 2010 he was assistant professor in Medical Oncology at Istituto Clinico Humanitas IRCCS in Rozzano (Milano), which was followed in January 2004 to November 2004 as visiting professor in Medical Oncology at University of Colorado in Denver (USA). From January 2010 to April 2016 he was the Director of Medical Oncology Department at the Istituto Toscano Tumori-Ospedale Civile in Livorno. From April 2016 to September 2020 he was Director of Oncology and Hematology Department at AUSL Romagna in Ravenna.

Dr. Cappuzzo is a member of the Italian Association in Medical Oncology (AIOM), European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), American Society Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASCL) and since 2006 as a Member of the editorial board of Lung Cancer. From 2013 to 2017 he was the Chairman of the Educational Committee of IASLC. He is the author of more than 250 papers in peer-review journals, mainly in translational research in lung cancer.

Anne-Marie Dingemans

Anne-Marie C. Dingemans, MD, PhD

Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Dr Anne-Marie C. Dingemans is a pulmonologist and professor of thoracic oncology at Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She received her medical degree from Maastricht University in 1994 and her PhD at VU Medical Center Amsterdam in 2000, for laboratory research on resistance to chemotherapy in lung cancer. She performed her training for respiratory physician at VU Medical Center Amsterdam and Leiden University Medical Center. Between 2004 and 2019, she was a staff member in the Department of Pulmonary Medicine at Maastricht University Medical Center+.

Dr Dingemans is currently involved in translational research on lung cancer, with a special interest in neuroendocrine lung tumors, driver mutations, and oligometastatic disease.

She has authored or coauthored more than 250 publications and book chapters. Since January 2021, she has been chair of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Lung Cancer Group. She was involved in the EORTC initiative to develop a consensus definition on synchronous oligometastatic non-small cell lung cancer. She is the lead author of the revised ESMO guideline on small cell lung cancer. She is a member of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), American Association for Cancer Research, American Society of Clinical Oncology, European Respiratory Society, and European Thoracic Oncology Program. She is associate editor of Journal of Thoracic Oncology and editorial board member of IASLC Lung Cancer News.

Umberto Malapelle

Umberto Malapelle, PhD

University of Naples Federico II, Italy

Dr Umberto Malapelle is assistant professor of anatomic pathology and chair of the Predictive Molecular Pathology Laboratory in the Department of Public Health, University of Naples Federico II, in Italy. He received a degree in medical biotechnology and a PhD in anatomic pathology at the University of Naples Federico II.

Dr Malapelle’s main research interest is in genomic biomarker validation and testing for predictive information in the fields of lung cancer, metastatic colorectal cancer, melanoma, breast cancer, and gastrointestinal stromal tumors. He has expertise in the tailoring of next-generation assays for a number of different applications, with special focus on the simultaneous detection of clinically relevant alterations (eg, epidermal growth factor receptor mutations, anaplastic lymphoma kinase translocation, and programmed cell death protein 1 ligand 1 expression) in the routine setting, and including the handling of various sample types such as tissues and/or liquid biopsy specimens.

Dr Malapelle has authored more than 250 publications and holds the positions of deputy editor for Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology and chair of young investigators for the International Society of Liquid Biopsy.

Luis Paz-Ares

Luis Paz-Ares, MD, PhD

Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain

Dr Paz-Ares is chair of the Department of Medical Oncology at the Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, associate professor at the Universidad Complutense, and head of the lung cancer unit at National Oncology Research Center, all in Madrid, Spain. He received his medical degree from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and was trained as a resident in medical oncology at Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre. He completed a PhD in medicine at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and was a postdoctoral European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) research fellow in medical oncology at the Beatson West of Scotland Oncology Centre, University of Glasgow.

Before his current position, he was chair of the Department of Medical Oncology at the Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío in Seville, Spain (2007–2014), head of the pharmacology unit and responsible for early clinical studies of thoracic and genitourinary tumors at the Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre (1995–1999; 2000–2007), and visiting research fellow in the prostate cancer program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA (1999–2000).

Dr Paz-Ares’ research focuses on lung cancer and new therapeutic strategies development, both clinically and in the lab, and he has published more than 340 articles in peer-reviewed journals including New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Lancet Oncology, Nature Medicine, and Journal of Clinical Oncology. He has served as a member of several committees including the American Society of Clinical Oncology and ESMO meeting Scientific Committees, European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Protocol Review Committee and Scientific Audit Committee, the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices, and the European Medicines Agency. He is chief medical officer of the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), where he also serves on the board, and he is president of the Spanish Association of Cancer Research (ASEICA).

Enriqueta Felip

Enriqueta Felip, MD, PhD

Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona, Spain

Dr Enriqueta Felip is head of the thoracic cancer unit within the Department of Oncology, Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona, Spain. She received her medical degree from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), where she also completed her PhD studies in medical oncology. She was an associate professor at UAB for 9 years.

Dr Felip is in charge of thoracic malignancy management, and is responsible for thoracic cancer trials undertaken by the Department of Oncology. She is involved in the training of medical students, residents, and particularly in mentoring fellows.

Dr Felip is currently a member of the Spanish Lung Cancer Group (SLCG) and the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM). She was elected SEOM vice president for the years 2019–2021. She is also a member of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). She is a member of the IASLC board of directors. Dr Felip is also involved in several initiatives within scientific organizations, among them as subject editor of the ESMO guidelines working group for minimum clinical recommendations in lung cancer, and coordinator of the 1st ESMO Consensus Conference on lung cancer. Dr Felip is presently a member of the scientific committee of the SLCG, and is author of many peer-reviewed articles and book chapters relating to the field of thoracic malignancies.

Johan Vansteenkiste

Johan Vansteenkiste, MD, PhD

Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium

Prof Johan Vansteenkiste is professor of internal medicine at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, where he is also head of the respiratory oncology unit and clinical trials unit. He studied medicine at the Catholic University of Leuven before becoming a board-certified pulmonologist-oncologist. He received additional training in respiratory oncology at the European School of Oncology in Milan, Italy, and in respiratory endoscopy at the Laser Centre in Marseille, France, before obtaining his PhD at the Catholic University of Leuven.

Prof Vansteenkiste is principal investigator or co-investigator of several clinical trials focusing on lung cancer. Among other achievements, he conducted benchmark-setting research into the use of fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography scan technology to diagnose, stage, and monitor response to treatment of lung cancer.

Prof Vansteenkiste is an active member of international societies such as the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the European Respiratory Society (ERS), among others. He was secretary of the ERS Assembly for thoracic oncology and a member of the ERS Education Council in 2009–2012. He was on the IASLC board of directors in 2009–2013. He is a renewed member of the ESMO Lung Educational Group and Guidelines Committee for 2021–2025, and he chaired one of the ESMO European Lung Cancer Congresses. He is associate editor at Annals of Oncology, a member of the editorial boards of other journals, and author or co-author of more than 350 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters on respiratory oncology. His current Web of Science h-index is 76, and he was awarded the Highly Cited Researcher Award in 2020, 2021, and 2022. He is the recipient of the 2021 ESMO/IASLC Heine H. Hansen Award for outstanding contributions to education and research in lung cancer.

Antonio Passaro

Antonio Passaro, MD, PhD

European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy

Dr Antonio Passaro is a medical oncologist in the Division of Thoracic Oncology at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, Italy. He received his medical degree from the Sapienza University of Rome and was trained as a resident in medical oncology at Policlinico Umberto I and at San Camillo-Forlanini Hospital in Rome. He completed a PhD in molecular medicine at the Sapienza University of Rome and was a visiting fellow in medical oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA.

Dr Passaro’s research focuses on lung cancer and the development of new therapeutic strategies. He has served as principal or sub-investigator in many sponsored and academic trials spanning a range of novel therapies.

Dr Passaro has published more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals, including New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Nature Cancer. He is the lead author of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) consensus recommendations for the management of mutated epidermal growth factor receptor non-small cell lung cancer. He is a member of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, ESMO, the Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM), the Italian Association of Thoracic Oncology (AIOT), and the European Thoracic Oncology Platform (ETOP). He is associate editor of Lung Cancer and Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology and editor-in-chief of ESMO Perspectives, the official digital magazine of ESMO. He serves as a member of several committees, is a member of the ESMO Council and the ESMO Lung Cancer Faculty, and chairs the ESMO Press and Media Affairs Committee.