Webinar

Jordan McPherson, PharmD, MS, BCOP, is an Oncology Clinical Pharmacist in the outpatient solid tumor clinics at Huntsman Cancer Institute, an NCI-designated cancer hospital on the campus of the University of Utah Health in Salt Lake City, Utah. Dr. McPherson specializes in the treatment of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers using immunotherapy and other targeted therapies. He serves as a panel member on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Guidelines for the Management of Immunotherapy-Related Toxicities, and as Past President of the Utah Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Dr. McPherson is passionate about pharmacist involvement in the recognition and management of immune-related adverse events in both oncology and non-oncology settings. Dr. McPherson’s research efforts are well published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (JITC), Pharmacotherapy, JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics, Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology, and Haemophilia.

Dr. Kerry Reynolds is an oncologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She currently serves as the Director of the Severe Immunotherapy Complications (SIC) Service and the Clinical Director for Inpatient Cancer Services at Mass General Cancer Center. She joined the Harvard Medical School faculty in 2014, after completing her residency and chief residency at Massachusetts General and fellowship training in Oncology at Dana-Farber/Partners Cancer Care.

The SIC Service is the first program of its kind in the country. Every hospitalized patient at Mass General Cancer Center who has received immunotherapy and is suspected to be experiencing an immune-related adverse event (irAE) is seen by one of the Service’s dedicated oncologists, resulting in unparalleled care for this type of toxicity. Under the leadership of Dr. Reynolds, the SIC Service now provides care to a significant number of patients every year and has grown to comprise more than 50 clinicians and researchers across 19 different areas of the hospital, including subspecialists from oncology, cardiology, dermatology, gastroenterology, and many more relevant disciplines.

In addition to providing clinical care, supervising and educating trainees, and participating in administrative affairs, Dr. Reynolds leverages the work of the SIC Service to conduct research on the severe toxicities associated with immunotherapy. Her ultimate goal is to improve the lives of patients undergoing immunotherapy by uncovering irAE predictors and biomarkers, characterizing the clinical presentations of irAEs, developing best practices for managing irAEs, and elucidating the mechanisms that drive irAEs in order to develop novel therapies. To pursue this goal, she is working with Dr. Alexandra-Chloe Villani to systematically collect blood and tissue samples from patients with irAEs and analyze them using cutting-edge technologies. Dr. Reynolds has also authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and several book chapters, and she was lead editor of Facing Immunotherapy: A Guide for Patients and Their Families.

Kurt A. Schalper, MD, PhD, trained as a cell biologist and surgical pathologist, and served in clinical molecular diagnostics. He is the director of the Translational Immuno-Oncology Laboratory at the Yale Cancer Center, where he leads the standardized analysis of biomarkers in clinical trials using advanced cell/tissue analysis platforms.

Dr Schalper’s research is focused on understanding the immunobiology of human solid tumors and developing molecular biomarkers for prediction of response or resistance to therapies. In particular, his group has been actively evaluating the role of specific tumor antigens and immune evasion pathways used by human lung malignancies, including immune co-inhibitory/stimulatory ligands and receptors, tolerogenic enzymes, immune suppressive cells, antigen presenting/processing machinery, metabolic alterations in the tumor microenvironment, and oncogenic intracellular signaling. More recent and future scientific interests include the evaluation and clinical impact of tumor immune heterogeneity and editing.

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Dr. Banu Arun is Professor in Department of Breast Medical Oncology, Co-Medical Director of the Clinical Cancer Genetics Program, and Section Chief Breast Genetics, Prevention and Screening at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Her research focuses on identifying risk biomarkers for breast cancer and prevention and characterizing risk factors in a cohort of high-risk women with hereditary gene mutations (BRCA and others) as well as assessing breast cancer biology in these patients. Dr. Arun has served as the Principal Investigator on several clinical trials evaluating agents such as letrozole, imatinib, gemcitabine, R115777, and PARP inhibitors for metastatic breast cancer and celecoxib, atorvastatin, dasatinib, and Tamoxifen Gel in short-term breast cancer prevention trials. Her research also includes outreach and education, as well as cascade genetic testing of family members.

Given her national and international expertise, she has served on several committees, including The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Prevention committee ASCO Prevention Education Committee and currently serves as the Co-Chair for the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) Prevention and Epidemiology Committee and member of the NCCN Breast Cancer Risk Reduction Guideline Committee as well as the NCCN Breast Hereditary Genetics Guideline Committee, member of the ASCO Germline Genetic Testing Guideline Panel, and member of the  National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Prevention Steering Committee. She served as grant reviewer for Susan Komen and NCI P01 and reviewed for journals including the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer, British Medical Journal, Cancer Prevention and Epidemiology, amongst others. She has more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and received research grants from the NCI, DoD, Susan Komen Foundation, and CPRIT.

She was featured in Forbes (December 2017) as one of the top 30 Breast Medical Oncologists in the United States. She has received FASCO award recognition in 2020 from the American Society of Clinical Oncology and is the recipient of the ASCO–American Cancer Society Award 2021.

Dr. Ioffe is a gynecologic oncologist in Southern California. She completed her training in gynecologic oncology at Washington University/Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. Her practice focus has included improving care of women afflicted with gynecologic malignancies in the underserved San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

Her academic interest has focused on establishing a fellowship training program in gynecologic oncology in those underserved counties.

Her research interests include: impact of genetic and molecular alterations on treatment and outcome of ovarian cancer and improving genetic testing rates in gynecologic oncology patients.

Dr. Banu Arun is Professor in Department of Breast Medical Oncology, Co-Medical Director of the Clinical Cancer Genetics Program, and Section Chief Breast Genetics, Prevention and Screening at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Her research focuses on identifying risk biomarkers for breast cancer and prevention and characterizing risk factors in a cohort of high-risk women with hereditary gene mutations (BRCA and others) as well as assessing breast cancer biology in these patients. Dr. Arun has served as the Principal Investigator on several clinical trials evaluating agents such as letrozole, imatinib, gemcitabine, R115777, and PARP inhibitors for metastatic breast cancer and celecoxib, atorvastatin, dasatinib, and Tamoxifen Gel in short-term breast cancer prevention trials. Her research also includes outreach and education, as well as cascade genetic testing of family members.

Given her national and international expertise, she has served on several committees, including The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Prevention committee ASCO Prevention Education Committee and currently serves as the Co-Chair for the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) Prevention and Epidemiology Committee and member of the NCCN Breast Cancer Risk Reduction Guideline Committee as well as the NCCN Breast Hereditary Genetics Guideline Committee, member of the ASCO Germline Genetic Testing Guideline Panel, and member of the  National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Prevention Steering Committee. She served as grant reviewer for Susan Komen and NCI P01 and reviewed for journals including the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer, British Medical Journal, Cancer Prevention and Epidemiology, amongst others. She has more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and received research grants from the NCI, DoD, Susan Komen Foundation, and CPRIT.

She was featured in Forbes (December 2017) as one of the top 30 Breast Medical Oncologists in the United States. She has received FASCO award recognition in 2020 from the American Society of Clinical Oncology and is the recipient of the ASCO–American Cancer Society Award 2021.

Anita Afzali, MD, MPH, MHCM, is a Professor of Clinical Medicine and a gastroenterologist that specializes in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). She has recently transitioned to the University of Cincinnati after successfully building the first standalone multidisciplinary IBD Center and serving as the Medical Director at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center for five years. Dr. Afzali is now the Executive Vice Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Cincinnati and Associate Chief Medical Officer of UC Health Systems and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. She received her medical degree and completed both an Internal Medicine residency and Gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. While in fellowship, Dr. Afzali worked in outcomes research and epidemiology and graduated with a Master’s in Public Health. She recently obtained an additional Master’s in Health Care Management for physician executive leadership and business administration from Harvard University. Her areas of research interest include clinical outcomes and clinical trials for investigative therapies and diagnostics in IBD. She is a healthcare redesign leader with interests in clinical operations and transformative medical care delivery. Dr. Afzali has extensive peer-reviewed publications and is a clinical trialist in over 20 investigative drug and diagnostic trials. She is also an invited lecturer on national and international programs and serves on several international advisory boards and scientific committees. Dr. Afzali is the incoming Chair of the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Educational Affairs Committee and the incoming Chair of the World Gastroenterology Organization (WGO) Publications Committee, as well as Co-Editor of the WGO quarterly global newsletters.

Anisha B. Dua MD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology, Rheumatology Fellowship Program Director, and Director of the Northwestern Vasculitis Center at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Dr. Dua’s interests are in rheumatology education and vasculitis. She completed her Rheumatology fellowship at Rush University as well as fellowships in Medical Education at The University of Chicago and Integrative Medicine at Northwestern.

Dr. Dua currently leads a multidisciplinary team in the clinical management of vasculitis patients. She assisted in the development of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Guideline for the Treatment and Management of Vasculitis, is on the Board of Directors for the Vasculitis Foundation, and a member of the Scientific Advisory Council for the Rheumatology Research Foundation. She is the chair of the e-learning Subcommittee and co-chair of the Workforce Solutions Committee, Virtual Training Programs for the ACR. She has served in leadership capacities both locally and nationally through the American College of Rheumatology, the Vasculitis Foundation, and the ACGME in the areas of education as well as vasculitis. You can follow her on twitter @anisha_dua

Michael E. Wechsler is Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at National Jewish Health (NJH) in Denver, Director of the NJH/Cohen Family Asthma Institute, and Associate Vice President for Innovation and Industry Relations at NJH. In addition to clinical work in pulmonary and critical care medicine, Professor Wechsler’s research focuses on clinical and translational asthma with emphasis on clinical trials in asthma, novel asthma therapies, bronchial thermoplasty, asthma pharmacogenomics, and management of eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (i.e. Churg-Strauss Syndrome). He has led studies focusing on novel biologic agents for asthma and related diseases, including benralizumab, dupilumab, mepolizumab, reslizumab, and tezepelumab. He has published more than 270 peer-reviewed manuscripts relating to asthma, EGPA, and eosinophilic lung diseases. He was a member of the Steering Committee and site Principal Investigator (PI) of the NIH-sponsored Asthma Clinical Research Network (ACRN, now called AsthmaNet), a multicenter asthma clinical trials consortium, and currently serves as the PI of the Denver site of the Precision Intervention in Severe/Exacerbating Asthma (PRECISE) network. A member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, he has participated in many different task forces related to the study of eosinophilic lung diseases that were sponsored by the NIH, the FDA, the European Respiratory Society, and the International Eosinophil Society. He is currently Associate Editor of the journal Chest and has served as Associate Editor of the journal Allergy and on the editorial board of the European Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Dr. Wechsler received AB and MMSc degrees from Harvard University in Boston and an MD degree from McGill University in Montreal. He completed medical training at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, and as part of the Harvard Combined Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship Training Program.</br.

Chelsey Smith, FNP-C, is a certified Family Nurse Practitioner. She originally attended Shadyside School of Nursing in Pittsburgh, PA, where she received her RN. Chelsey then pursued her interest in nursing, graduating with honors, from Chatham University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. While working in the neuroscience intensive care unit stepdown in Pittsburgh and providing pediatric home health care, she completed her Master of Science in Nursing with a specialty in Family. Chelsey is a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner through AANP and licensed in Pennsylvania. She has worked primarily in a retail health care setting as a nurse practitioner since 2013. She has a passion for community health and for care across the lifespan. When not in the clinic, Chelsey enjoys spending time with her husband and two boys (age 10 and 13), gardening, and traveling.

Dr. Alyssa Gallipani, PharmD, BCACP, is clinical assistant faculty at Fairleigh Dickinson University. She practices as a clinical ambulatory care pharmacist at RWJBarnabas Health. She is a board-certified ambulatory care pharmacist through the Board of Pharmacy Specialties and completed ambulatory care residency training at the Brooklyn Hospital Center. Dr. Gallipani provides direct patient care in collaboration with primary care providers at Barnabas Health Medical Group. She treats chronic disease states, including viral hepatitis, and works to improve access to and affordability of medications and to reduce the cost of care. She had the pleasure of collaborating with the Center for Asian Health to screen and treat individuals with viral hepatitis and participate in community outreach and clinical care initiatives. She presented at multiple viral hepatitis organizations, including the Hepatitis B Foundation and the Hepatitis B United Summit. Dr. Gallipani precepts advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) students and residents to advocate for the role of the pharmacist as future providers. She is honored to be a part of the panel today with other leaders and trail blazers in the profession.

Su Wang, MD, MPH, FACP is the Medical Director of Viral Hepatitis Programs and the Center for Asian Health at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center and a member of the RWJBarnabas Health Medical Group. She is Past President of the World Hepatitis Alliance, a non-governmental organization (NGO) committed to viral hepatitis elimination.

Dr. Wang is an internist and has served as primary investigator for a number of viral hepatitis screening and linkage-to-care grants sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other funders. She has led primary care-based hepatitis B and C programs, community outreach efforts, patient-based advocacy, and community-based research initiatives.

Dr. Wang has served on a number of World Health Organization (WHO) guideline development committees producing “Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of Hepatitis B Virus: Guidelines on Antiviral Prophylaxis in Pregnancy” and “Interim Guidance for Country Validation of Viral Hepatitis Elimination.” She is a member of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and serves on the steering committee for the HBV Special Interest Group and the Viral Hepatitis Elimination Taskforce, and is on the Patient Advisory Group.

She received her medical degree from the University of Miami and her Masters of Public Health from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Dr. Wang completed a combined Internal Medicine and Pediatric residency at Georgetown University Hospital and then served as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer for the CDC at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). She was previously the Director of Hepatitis Programs at the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center in New York City.