2022 Speakers

Cynthia Villarreal

Head of the Oncology Department | Mexico

Cynthia Mayté Villarreal Garza devotes her work towards women who suffer from breast cancer. She has two goals: to achieve early detection and to administer appropriate treatment that increases the recovery rate. In addition, she promotes initiatives that help women confront the illness in the best possible way in order to continue their lives with strength. She is the head of the Oncology Department at the Breast Cancer Center in Hospital Zambrano Hellion. Combining her medical career with her interest in research, she has taken practical action towards the care and education of her patients, with whom she establishes a close relation to provide guidance and support. She has even started an awareness project on metastatic breast cancer with the intention of encouraging assistance with services such as palliative medicine and care, nutrition, rehabilitation and psichology. As director of the Joven & Fuerte [Young & Strong] program, Villarreal Garza optimizes clinical care to assist both patients and their families. As head of the Alerta Rosa [Pink Alert] program for Asociación MILC (Médicos e Investigadores en la Lucha Contra el Cáncer de Mama), her goal is to reduce assistance times by classifying and prioritizing women with mamary symptoms or abnormal tests. And the Genetic Counseling Program for Breast Cancer Risk, implemented in TecSalud hospitals, has granted access to genetic testing for resource-scarce communities

Don Dizon

Director of Medical Oncology | USA

Don S. Dizon is a Professor of Medicine and Professor of Surgery at Brown University. He is a medical oncologist specializing in pelvic malignancies, survivorship particularly as it pertains to sexual health for men and women with cancer, and social media. He grew up on the Pacific Island of Guam, and completed undergraduate and medical school at the University of Rochester in New York. He trained in Internal Medicine at Yale New-Haven Hospital and completed a fellowship in Medical Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in NYC. He serves as the Director of The Pelvic Malignancies Program and Director of Hematology-Oncology clinics at Lifespan Cancer Institute, Director of Medical Oncology at Rhode Island Hospital, and leads Community Outreach and Engagement for The Legoretta Cancer Center at Brown University. He serves as Chair of Digital Engagement for SWOG Oncology Research Network and Co-Chief Medical Officer of the nonprofit, Global Cancer Institute. He is on the advisory boards of multiple nonprofits, including the Hope Foundation for Cancer Research and the LGBTQ Cancer Network. He writes an online column for the journal, The Oncologist, and for ASCO Connection. Dr. Dizon is a founding member of the Collaboration for Outcomes Using Social Media in Oncology and is active on many platforms, including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

Elgene Lim

Medical Oncologist | Australia

Dr. Elgene Lim is a medical oncologist and researcher with a focus on breast cancer research and treatment, and the Principal Cancer Theme Lead at the Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Sydney, and the inaugural National Breast Cancer Foundation Endowed Chair. He completed his doctoral research, medical and oncology training in Melbourne. Findings from his PhD research under the mentorship of Geoffrey Lindeman and Jane Visvader at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, had a major impact on the identification of the culprit cells in carriers of the BRCA1 mutant gene, a hereditary breast cancer syndrome. Currently, he oversees the breast oncology unit at The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney. He is also the head the Connie Johnson breast cancer research laboratory at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research.

Grace Kusumawidjaja

Consultant | Singapore

Dr. Grace Kusumawidjaja is a Consultant at the Division of Radiation Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore. Her works centre on breast and brain malignancies. She works within a multidisciplinary setting to deliver high-quality, holistic cancer care tailored for each patient’s needs. Within her division, she works hand-in-hand with radiation therapists, physicists and dosimetrists to develop and deliver accurate and safe radiation plans to patients. Dr. Grace has also published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals on breast and brain tumor.

H.L. Kong

Senior Consultant Medical Oncologist | Singapore

Dr Kong is a senior consultant medical oncologist from ICON Cancer Centre Singapore. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at National University of Singapore (NUS) and a visiting specialist in Medical Oncology at the National University Healthcare System (NUHS). Dr Kong has received a number of academic and research awards. He was the first Singaporean doctor to be awarded the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Merit Award. For his research accomplishments in anti-angiogenesis and gene therapy, Dr Kong was conferred the Singapore Young Scientist Award. Dr Kong specialises in the diagnosis and treatment of adult cancers, and he is a passionate medical educator.

Hang T. Hoang

Medical Oncologist, Department of Optimal Clinical Care | Vietnam

Dr. Hang is a Medical Oncologist in the Department of Optimal Clinical Care at National Cancer Hospital, Vietnam. Dr. Hang is particularly interested in providing cancer care to low-income populations and participating in international clinical trials as sub-investigator. At National Cancer Hospital, she has managed in solid tumor malignancies, specialized in breast cancer, lung cancer, hepato-biliary-pancreatic and gastrointestinal cancer.

Hope Rugo

Director of Breast Oncology and Clinical Trials Education | USA

Hope S. Rugo, MD, FASCO, is a medical oncologist and hematologist specializing in breast cancer research and treatment. Dr. Rugo is the Director of Breast Oncology and Clinical Trials Education at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is a principal investigator of multiple clinical trials focusing on combining novel targeted therapeutics with standard treatment to improve the treatment of both early and late stage breast cancer and has published widely in this area. Her current research interests include immunotherapy and combinations of targeted agents in the treatment of breast cancer to overcome resistance.

Indrani Bhattacharya

Consultant Clinical Oncologist | United Kingdom

Dr Indrani Bhattacharya was appointed as a consultant clinical oncologist in Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in August 2020. She has expertise in technical breast radiotherapy and clinical trials radiotherapy quality assurance as well as delivery of systemic therapies for breast cancer patients. She completed a 3-year CRUK clinical trials fellowship and PhD in The Institute of Cancer Research's Clinical Trials and Statistics Unit working within the portfolio of breast radiotherapy trials including the IMPORT and PRIMETIME studies. During this time she worked on studies of patient-reported outcomes and developed decision aids in collaboration with patients. She is currently the patient-reported outcomes lead in the UK breast proton PARABLE study. She is a member of the FAST FORWARD, IMPORT, PRIMETIME and KORTUC trial management groups. She also has an interest in risk-adapted breast radiotherapy, delivering new radiotherapy technologies and developing drug-radiotherapy combinations.

Jack Chan

Consultant Medical Oncologist | Singapore

Dr Jack Chan is a Consultant Medical Oncologist practising at National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) and KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore. His subspecialty interests are gynaecological cancers and breast cancer. A Clinical Assistant Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School, his research interests include early and late phase clinical trials and translational work in gynaecological and breast cancers. He is the Principal Investigator of investigator-initiated and industry-sponsored trials at NCCS. Dr Chan is also active in medical education as well as in professional societies such as the Gynecological Cancer Group Singapore and College of Physicians, Academy of Medicine, Singapore.

Joline Lim

Consultant and Clinician Scientist | Singapore

Dr Joline Lim is a Consultant and Clinician Scientist at the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore. Her primary clinical and research interests are in breast oncology and early phase clinical trials, with a special focus on the development of novel anti-cancer therapeutic agents and biomarkers. Dr Lim graduated from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University Singapore in 2007, and commenced her basic specialist training in NUH. This phase of training, which saw her conferred the Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (United Kingdom) in Internal Medicine in 2010, culminated in her being appointed as the Chief Resident of the Internal Medicine Residency Program. She subsequently pursued a year of research training under Professor Daniel Tenen and Dr Li Chai at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre / Brigham and Women Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston. Upon returning to Singapore, she completed her advanced specialist training in medical oncology at the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore, where she was appointed as the Senior Chief Resident of Medical Oncology and was admitted as a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore (Medical Oncology) in 2015. Dr Lim has a keen interest in translational research involving novel anti-tumour therapies including molecular targeted agents and immunotherapies, and the application of emerging predictive and pharmacodynamic biomarkers. To pursue this interest further, she has completed advanced training in early phase drug development at the Royal Marsden Hospital in the United Kingdom as a National Medical Research Council Research Training Fellow. Her efforts in novel combination strategies in breast cancer led to her being awarded the Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO Merit Award in 2017. She is actively involved in multi-centred international clinical trials, and is the principal and co-investigator for translational research grants involving new biomarker development. Her peer-reviewed publications to date include the New England Journal of Medicine, Cancer Discovery, and Annals of Oncology.

Julie Gralow

Chief Medical Officer | USA

Julie R. Gralow, an expert in medical oncology, clinical trials, and global health, is now the Chief Medical Officer of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. She is Professor emeritus of Medicine/Oncology at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She served as Director of Breast Medical Oncology at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance for 13 years. She received her medical degree from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, trained in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and had Medical Oncology fellowship training at the University of Washington/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Dr. Gralow’s specialty and research focus is breast cancer, including the goal of improving the quality of life of patients and survivors through education, exercise, and diet. Her clinical expertise includes investigational breast cancer treatments, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, and biologically targeted interventions. Her research focuses on preventing the spread, or metastasis, of breast cancer to the bone. As part of her efforts to improve the lives of cancer patients locally and across the globe, she has launched several support organizations for women cancer survivors, including Team Survivor Northwest, an exercise and fitness program. She founded Women’s Empowerment Cancer Advocacy Network, or WE CAN, a group dedicated to empowering women cancer patient advocates in low- and middle-income countries.

Karmen Wong

Medical Oncologist | Singapore

Dr Karmen Wong is an experienced medical oncologist and Icon Singapore’s Medical Director. Dr Wong has more than 20 years of clinical practice with special interest and research in breast cancer. She is dedicated to the ongoing treatment of her patients and improvement in cancer care through her role as Medical Director. She received her oncology training in the National University Hospital Singapore (NUH), National Cancer Centre, Singapore (NCC) and University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), which has a reputation for health sciences research and patient care under the HMDP scholarship.

Kim Hee-Jeong

Associate Professor | Korea South

Kim Hee-Jeong, is an Associate Professor at the Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea. Major Professional Experiences include Visiting doctor Dana Farber Harvard Medical School, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Lee Soo Chin

Medical Oncologist | Singapore

She is currently Head and Senior Consultant in Medical Oncology and Associate Director of Research at the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore, and Senior Principal Investigator at the Cancer Science Institute, Singapore. She is ex-Chairperson of the Chapter of Medical Oncologists, Academy of Medicine, Singapore, and has been a member of the Ministry of Health Specialist Accreditation Board for Medical Oncology since 2009. She has been Chair of the National Healthcare Group Domain-Specific Ethics Review Board B since 2008. She is also a member of the Singapore Ministry of Health Drug Advisory Committee for Oncology drugs. She specialises in breast cancer and directs the Cancer Genetics program at the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore. Her research focus is on breast cancer, pharmacogenetics and cancer genetics, and she has been the Principal Investigator of more than 40 industry-sponsored and investigator-initiated breast cancer clinical trials. She directs the Haematology-Oncology Research Group, a cancer clinical trials unit that conducts 100-120 phase I-III therapeutics clinical trials in solid tumours and haematological malignancies at the National University Cancer Institute.

Mastura Md Yusof

Consultant Oncologist | Malaysia

Dr. Mastura is a Consultant in Clinical Oncology and Radiotherapy, practising at Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur and Subang Jaya Medical Centre which are the two oldest and most established comprehensive cancer centres in Malaysia. After 17 years of clinical practice with the Oncology departments of government hospitals, out of which,10 years was academic practice at Universiti Malaya, she switched to full-time private practice in 2015. In her previous post as an Associate Professor and a Consultant Clinical Oncologist at Universiti Malaya Medical Centre, she practiced wide range of oncology areas as there are no defined sub-specialties in clinical oncology then. As a Clinical Oncologist, her role involves treating patients with radiotherapy (Radiation Oncology) and systemic therapy (Medical Oncology) and Cancer Palliation.

Matteo Lambertini

Medical Oncologist | Italy

Matteo Lambertini is adjunct professor and consultant in medical oncology at the IRCCS Policlinico San Martino Hospital – University of Genova in Genova (Italy). He is mainly focused in the care of breast cancer patients and is deeply involved in breast cancer research. Above all, he has a particular expertise in the management of breast cancer in young women, with a specific attention to the fertility and pregnancy-related issues that they have to face after diagnosis. During his medical oncology training, he had the opportunity to work and collaborate with several national and international leading experts in the field; these experiences have played a crucial role to deepen his skills in the management of breast cancer in young women. Thanks to the support of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), he has recently completed his PhD at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.) in Brussels (Belgium) with a project entitled “Unmet Fertility and Pregnancy-related Issues in Young Breast Cancer Patients.” With this work, he has contributed to improve our understanding of many controversial aspects related to the management of breast cancer in young women specifically focusing on fertility preservation and the possibility to have a pregnancy following treatment completion, with the ultimate goal to further improve the care and quality of life of these young women. He is member of the guideline group on fertility preservation in cancer patients for the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embriology (ESHRE) and the Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM). He has authored several publications in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters in the field of breast cancer in young women. His most important research conducted so far addressed the role of administering gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogs during chemotherapy as a strategy to preserve ovarian function and fertility in early breast cancer patients who are candidates to receive cytotoxic therapy, the safety of having a pregnancy in women with prior history of breast cancer, and the impact of carrying a germline BRCA mutation on patients’ fertility and pregnancy-related issues.

Mihir Ananta Gudi

Senior Consultant | Singapore

Dr. Mihir is currently a Senior Consultant in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore.

Rebecca Dent

Medical Oncologist | Singapore

Dr Rebecca Dent is Senior Consultant in the Department of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore and is Chief of the Breast Medical Oncology Service. She is also an Associate Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School. Dr Dent’s primary research interest is in the field of breast cancer, focusing on locally advanced breast cancer and triple-negative/basal-like breast cancers. She is principal investigator for several clinical trials for the treatment of preoperative and advanced breast cancer, and is a steering committee member for a number of large international trials

Ryan Tan

Medical Oncologist | Singapore

Ryan Tan is a Medical Oncologist at National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) with a focus in Breast and Gynecological cancer. He does informatics research at NCCS: an exciting field as converging technological advancements in genomic sequencing, molecular biology and big data analytics characterize cancer with increasing precision.

Shaheenah Dawood

Consultant Medical Oncologist | United Arab Emirates

Dr Shaheenah Dawood is a Consultant Medical Oncologist and Professor in Clinical Oncology in the United Arab Emirates. She was trained in medical oncology at McGill University Hospitals in Canada and subspecialized in breast cancer management at MD Anderson Cancer Center. During her training, she was awarded multiple scholar training awards besides ASCO merit awards. Dr Shaheenah has served as an editorial fellow at the New England Journal of Medicine and has an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. She has over 100 papers to her credit including 50 peer review original articles, 30 review articles, and 12 book chapters. Having served as a reviewer for multiple journals including the Journal of Clinical Oncology she is currently leading the oncology clinical trials program at Mediclinic City Hospital, Dubai. She also serves as President of Excellence in Oncology Care (EIOC) annual congress held in Dubai and is Co-Chair of the Asia Pacific Breast Cancer Summit (APBCS), Asia Pacific Gastrointestinal Cancer Summit (APGCS) ,the international BRCA forum (iBRCAf) and Young Women Forum (YWF) from over a decade.

Shang Yeap

Senior Consultant in Medical Oncology | Singapore

Dr Yeap Heng Oon, Shang received his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery degree from The University of Sydney and was awarded the Faculty of Science International Merit Scholarship for his academic achievement. Dr Yeap is currently a Senior Consultant in Medical Oncology at Icon Cancer Centre, Singapore. He has over 10 years of clinical practice in medical oncology. He passionately believes that caring for patients with cancer involves caring for their physical, emotional and spiritual health. Kindness, compassion and providing each of his patients with the best evidence-based treatments are the heart of his practice. Dr Yeap’s clinical interest is in breast cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, lung cancer, melanoma and urogenital cancer.

Sherene Loi

Medical Oncologist | Australia

Sherene Loi is a Medical Oncologist specialised in breast cancer treatment as well as clinician scientist with expertise in genomics, immunology and drug development. Her work is focused on developing new therapeutic approaches that may improve outcomes of breast cancer patients. After completing Medical Oncology specialist clinical training in 2003 she undertook a PhD and postdoctoral studies at the Institut Jules Bordet in Brussels, Belgium (2003-2012). In 2013, she returned to head the newly created Translational Breast Cancer Genomics and Therapeutics laboratory at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, as well as Consultant Medical Oncologist in the Breast Service and head of the Breast Cancer Clinical Trials Unit. She is recognised internationally as a leading clinician scientist whose work has led to new insights into the immunology field in breast cancer. As a result of her research, she leads a number of international breast cancer clinical trials in immunotherapy.

Tan Sing Huang

Senior Consultant Medical Oncologist | Singapore

Dr Tan Sing Huang is a Senior Consultant Medical Oncologist with OncoCare Cancer Centre. Prior to entering private practice, she held the position of Senior Consultant in the Department of Haematology-Oncology, National University Cancer Institute, Singapore (NCIS). She was also leading the Senior Residency Education division in NCIS, acting as its Program Director and Assistant Professor of the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. She was previously Vice President of the Singapore Society of Oncology from 2013-2018. She is currently Deputy Chairperson of the National Healthcare Group Domain-Specific Ethics Review Board. During her work at the NCIS Medical Oncology division since 2001, she had continued to take care of patients with a wide variety of cancers, especially breast cancers. She spent some time with the RUNX research group in Singapore under a National Medical Research-Singapore (NMRC) Totalisator Medical Research Fellowship Award. She then went overseas to complete a postgraduate research fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Baltimore where she was involved in epigenetics research and also gained clinical experience from attachments with the Breast Cancer Division of Johns Hopkins Medical Institute. She has contributed chapters on chemotherapy treatment of metastatic breast cancer in and has written several articles published in international journals on the use of ovarian suppression in breast cancer, high throughput mutation profiling changes before and after chemotherapy, tumour gene expression profiling and pharmacogenetics in breast cancers, and promoter hypermethylation for RUNX3 and other tumor suppressor genes in nasopharyngeal carcinoma and various other solid tumours.

Tira Tan

Consultant Medical Oncologist | Singapore

Dr Tira Tan is a consultant medical oncologist at the National Cancer Centre Singapore with a clinical focus in the treatment of breast cancers and early phase drug development. Dr Tan chairs the pre-operative and young women’s breast cancer programs at NCCS and is the primary and co-investigator on many early and late phase studies specifically in novel therapeutics and treatment strategies in triple negative breast cancer.

Veronique Tan

Head ＆ Senior Consultant | Singapore

Clinical Associate Professor Veronique Tan is a Senior Consultant and Chief of Breast Surgery at National Cancer Centre Singapore and Singapore General Hospital. She also Heads the SingHealth Duke-NUS Breast Centre. As one of the few breast surgeons in Singapore formally trained in oncoplastic breast surgery, A/Prof Tan believes that the appearance of the breast after cancer resection is important, and that every patient should have a tailored, individualised surgical solution. She works within a dynamic multidisciplinary team to deliver precise, high quality and effective treatment. A/Prof Tan’s practice covers benign breast conditions, the diagnosis and surgical treatment of symptomatic and screen-detected breast cancer, oncoplastic breast surgery and breast reconstruction. Active in research and teaching, A/Prof Tan has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and contributed several book chapters on oncoplastic and reconstructive breast surgery.

Yap Yoon Sim

Medical Oncologist | Singapore

Dr. Yap is Senior Consultant in the Division of Medical Oncology at the National Cancer Centre Singapore, and Associate Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School. Dr. Yap obtained her undergraduate and postgraduate medical degrees from the University of Adelaide in Australia. She is a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Upon completion of her specialist training in medical oncology in Australia, she undertook a research fellowship with the Breast Unit at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London, before relocating to National Cancer Centre Singapore. A recipient of the Singapore National Medical Research Council (NMRC) Clinician Scientist Award (CSA), her research focuses primarily on clinical and translational research in breast cancer, including liquid biopsies and predictive biomarkers, development of novel therapeutic strategies, and epidemiologic studies on treatment outcomes in breast cancer. She is the principal investigator of several phase 1 to 3 clinical trials for various compounds such as CDK inhibitors, PI3K and mTOR inhibitors, selective estrogen receptor degraders, HER2-targeting agents and immunotherapy, in addition to investigator-initiated studies.