Clinical Advisory Board

Hans-Joachim Schmoll, M.D.

Prof. Schmoll is one the most relevant medical oncologist in Germany, an exceptional leader who influenced the development of oncology. He has educated generations of oncologist in Germany and many other countries and chaired several consensus conferences leading to new treatment guidelines. As editor of the German Standard Refence Book for Medical and Multidisciplinary Oncology, he defined over the last 30 years the treatment standards and education in oncology in German speaking countries.

Prof. Schmoll has been a key clinical researcher who investigated oncology drugs in numerous clinical trials, mostly within the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), Arbeitsgemeinschaft Internistische Onkologie (AIO) and other large international cooperation. His research focused to germ-cell and colorectal cancers, where he defined worldwide standards for the management of patients. His publications have exceptionally high citation rate of eg. 1500-1700/year in 2015, 2016 and 2017 reflecting the international relevance of his research.

Prof Schmoll has established the structures for cooperative and multidisciplinary clinical cancer research in Germany for the past 30 years. He developed 30 cooperative clinical trial groups within the AIO for all tumor types that was the basis for the current acceptance of the AIO as one of the leading trial groups in the word and as the scientific and professional development of the younger generation.

Prof. Schmoll was also instrumental for the European recognition of “Med Onc” by forming a “political” coalition to change the voting of Germany in the EU. Within ESMO, he served in the Executive Board, founding chair of the Multidisciplinary Oncology Committee (MOC), and scientific chair of the Istanbul ESMO Congress 2006.

Tanios Bekaii-Saab, M.D., F.A.C.P.

Tanios Bekaii-Saab, M.D., F.A.C.P. is a medical oncologist with a specific focus in gastrointestinal cancers.

Dr. Bekaii-Saab serves as the leader of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Program at the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center. He is also the medical director of the Cancer Clinical Research Office as well as the Vice Chair and Section Chief for Medical Oncology in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

Dr. Bekaii-Saab conducts clinical and translational research focused on developing anti-cancer agents for patients with gastrointestinal cancers. Dr. Bekaii-Saab collaborates extensively with various scientists and industry partners to design and execute innovative clinical trials, including many first-in-human studies.

Dr. Bekaii-Saab’s research includes a large focus on the incorporation of agents that target the multiple facets of cancer, including genetic and epigenetic drivers, as well as the feeding microenvironment and the immune milieu. His work includes two recent discoveries as co-inventor of a molecule that targets cancer-related cachexia (AR-42) and an anti-PD-1 vaccine. His research has also led to the launch of a number of phase II and III clinical trials, including a recent trial with a cancer stem cell inhibitor (napabucasin) in pancreatic cancer, the development of an inhibitor of fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) fusion genes in bile duct cancers, and a contribution to the pivotal study that led to the regulatory approval of nanoliposomal irinotecan for treating pancreatic cancer.

In addition to his clinical activities, Dr. Bekaii-Saab also serves as the chair for the cancer research consortium Academic and Community Cancer Research United (ACCRU) and is one of the leading clinician-scientists in the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-supported cooperative research group.

Cathy Eng, M.D.

Dr Cathy Eng is a professor of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), acting as co-leader of the VICC Gastrointestinal Cancer Research Program. She also oversees a large expansion in the clinical and research activities of the medical oncology gastrointestinal cancer disease group at Vanderbilt, as well as developing programs for adolescent and young adult (AYA) oncology services.

Previously, she has been with MD Anderson for 17 years, where she has served as the associate director of the Colorectal Center, chair of the Clinical Research Committee and chair of the Multidisciplinary Colorectal Cancer Tumor Board.

She holds numerous leadership roles in the field of gastrointestinal cancer. Dr Eng is serving her second term as National Cancer Institute (NCI) Rectal/Anal Cancer Task Force chair. She is the lead contact principal investigator for the NCI National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) Leading Academic Participating Sites grant for two terms. She was recently elected co-chair of the Rectal/Anal Subcommittee for the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) and serves on the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group gastrointestinal committee. She has served as a volunteer and as a leader in numerous roles in the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) since 2002 and was acknowledged at the ASCO 2019 Annual Meeting for her years of volunteer service, dedication and commitment to ASCO with a Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (FASCO) distinction.

Dr Eng has been a principal investigator of innumerable national and international trials, including investigator-initiated trials, NCI-funded trials and major pharmaceutical-sponsored trials. Her work has led to numerous practice-changing outcomes, particularly with regard to the use of immunotherapy in metastatic anal cancer. Particularly due to her groundbreaking work in anal cancer, she served as the section leader for the Rare Cancers Subsection for the MD Anderson HPV Malignancies Moonshot Program.

Dr Eng received her medical degree from Hahnemann University School of Medicine in Philadelphia. She completed residency in internal medicine at Rush University Medical Center followed by a fellowship in hematology and oncology at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Pamela M. Klein, M.D.

Dr. Klein is Principal of PMK BioResearch offering advisory and strategic consulting for biotechnology and the pharmaceutical industry with deep expertise in oncology drug development. She serves as an advisor to Corporate Boards, CEO’s, The Investment Community and Management Teams. She is on the Board of Directors for Argenx (Netherlands) and an active member of numerous Scientific Advisor Boards ranging from early start-ups to more established companies. Previously, she was Chief

Medical Officer of Intellikine (acquired by Milleinium/Takeda), where she built the development organization bringing multiple early compounds from laboratory to clinic. Prior to this, Klein was Vice President, Development at Genentech where she led the development of a large portfolio of drugs including all the HER (Herceptin, Tarceva, Perjeta), Apoptosis (antibodies and small molecules) and Hematology compounds. Prior to Genentech, she was at The National Cancer Institute, where she obtained funding, built and served as Research Director of the NCI-Navy Breast Center.

She received her medical degree from Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola, completed a Medical Oncology Fellowship at the NCI serving as Chief Fellow and then completed an additional year in Cancer Genetics.

György Bodoky, M.D. Ph.D.

Dr. Bodoky is the Head of the Oncology Department at Szent László Teaching Hospital in Budapest, Hungary.

Dr. Bodoky has conducted his investigations about the enteral and parenteral nutrition, the special research interests in this area have included the nutrition in pancreas disease, in liver coma and malignant diseases. The second area of his research includes the organization of Hungarian activities in clinical trials for gastrointestinal oncology, he has been and/or currently is the principal investigator in 132 studies, has been organizing 22 international conferences in the field of oncology and co-authored a number of peer-reviewed publications and textbooks both internationally and nationally.

Dr Bodoky is a member of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the European Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ESPEN). He is the Honorary President of the Hungarian Society of Clinical Oncology (HSCO). He is also a member of the Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research (SAKK) and a founding member of South-Eastern European Research Oncology Group (SEEROG). He was invited to be a member of the ARCAD Foundation (Academic Research on Cancer for Answers and Directions)

He is the chief editor “Journal of Clinical Oncology” (Hungarian edition) and a board member of the journal ”Journal of Metabolism and Nutrition” and founding editor of the journal “Rákgyógyítás”.

He received his medical degree from the Semmelweis Medical University Budapest, subsequently he obtained his PhD in 1992 and his Habilitation in 1998 from the Semmelweis Medical University.

Guillem Argiles, M.D. Ph.D.

Dr Guillem Argilés, has been a member of the Gastrointestinal Malignancies Division at the Vall d’Hebrón University Hospital since 2014. He began the early steps of his career focused on translational research by obtaining his Medical Oncology specialisation in 2011 under the supervision of Prof José Baselga, at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital. In 2011 Dr Argilés joined the Phase 1 and Developmental Therapeutics Division of this institution for a fellowship stage in molecular therapeutics. During this period, he had the opportunity to be involved in the pre-clinical and early clinical studies that set the basis for further clinical development of some of the main molecularly-driven drugs currently emerging to clinical practice such as PI3K-MAPK, Wnt, Sonic Hedgehog, TGF-beta or Notch pathway inhibitors. Due to his interest in the field of metastatic colorectal cancer in 2014 Dr Argilés joined the Gastrointestinal Malignancies Division, at the Vall d’Hebrón University Hospital as staff member under the supervision of Prof Josep Tabernero.

Guillem Argilés’ career path seeks to expand the therapeutic universe of metastatic colorectal cancer by improving the acknowledgement of the biological processes behind these tumours. In this regard, he is currently involved in several translational lines of investigation like the development of new preclinical models that allow fast and reliable bedside-to-bench-and-back-to-the-bedside strategies for tailoring therapeutic strategies in colorectal cancer. Dr Argiles’ further fields of investigation are new immunotherapy approaches for non-hypermutant CRC patients and the identification of guiding biomarkers for new therapeutic interventions in CRC.

David Feigal, M.D.

Dr. Feigal is a Partner in NDA Partners. He spent 12 years with the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) where he was Director, Center for Devices & Radiological Health (CDRH), Director, Division of Anti-infective & Antiviral Drug Products, Center for Drug Evaluation & Research (CDER), and Deputy Director, Center for Biologics Evaluation & Research (CBER).  He is former Vice President of Global Regulatory Strategy, Amgen, and former Senior Vice President, Head of Global Regulatory and Global Safety Surveillance at Elan Corporation.  Dr Feigal has more than 30 years of experience in drug development and regulation.  Before joining the FDA, he worked for 10 years within the academic and hospital settings of the University of California in San Diego, San Francisco, and Davis.

He holds a BA from University of Minnesota, an MD from Stanford University and a Master of Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley.