Educational Programmes

Dr. Changhoon Yoo

Dr. Changhoon Yoo is a medical oncologist who specialises in the care of patients with gastrointestinal cancers including hepatocellular carcinoma. He is an Assistant Professor at Asan Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea. Dr. Yoo obtained his medical degree at the University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea and completed post graduate training at Asan Medical Center. He has participated in multiple clinical trials and translational research for the development of novel agents for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. His research initiatives include the integration of novel targeted and immune-based therapy into the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Dr. Amit Singal

Dr. Singal is an expert in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), particularly in early tumor detection and screening process failures, and serves as Medical Director of the Liver Tumor Program at UT Southwestern Medical Center, USA. He has research training in Patient Centered Outcomes Research, with a Masters in Health and Healthcare Research from the University of Michigan. He currently is leading several federal and state funded projects to evaluate interventions to improve the effectiveness of early tumor detection efforts among patients with cirrhosis in the USA. Dr. Singal has published over 100 scientific papers and has established collaborations with experts throughout the USA over the past several years. He has been active in many academic professional societies including American Association for Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), International Liver Cancer Association (ILCA), American College of Gastroenterology (ACG), and American Gastroenterological Association (AGA). He was selected as Chair of the ICLA Surveillance and Biomarkers Special Interest Group and is a member of the AGA Liver Disease Measures workgroup. He has editorial experience including an Academic Editor for PLOS Medicine and an Associate Editor for Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology and Seminars in Liver Disease.

Dr. Sammy  Saab

Sammy Saab, MD is a Professor in the Departments of Internal Medicine and Surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is also Head of Outcomes Research in Hepatology at the Pfleger Liver Institute. Dr. Saab received his BS, MD, and MPH from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). He completed his residency in internal medicine at University of California at San Diego Medical Center and a fellowship in gastroenterology/hepatology at UCLA Center for Health Sciences. Dr. Saab is board certified in gastroenterology and transplant hepatology. He has received honorary fellowships from the American Gastroenterology Association (AGAF), American College of Gastroenterology (FACG) and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (FAASLD).

Dr. Jordi Rimola

Jordi Rimola, MD PhD, is a consultant in the Radiology department at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. He is also a member of the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) Group. His main specialisation is in abdominal radiology, with a focus on liver cancer . In this setting, Dr. Rimola has a specific interest in the early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using non-invasive imaging techniques, characterisation of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and its differentiation from HCC in patients with cirrhosis. In close collaboration with other members of the BCLC Group, Dr. Rimola has also actively participated in the optimisation of functional imaging techniques, specifically perfusion computed tomography and liver-specific contrast agents, and the investigation of the potential role of this technique in the evaluation of the therapeutic response in patients with advanced HCC and for early detection of HCC recurrence. Results of his research have recently been published in peer-reviewed indexed journals. Dr. Rimola is a member of the Spanish Society of Medical Radiology (SERAM), the European Society of Radiology (ESR) and the European Society of Abdominal and Gastroeintestinal Radiology (ESGAR). He is a reviewer for European Radiology, Journal of Hepatology and Gut, among others.

Dr. Federico Piñero

Dr. Federico Piñero specialises in internal medicine, hepatology and liver transplantation. He currently works at the Hospital Universitario Austral, Buenos Aires. Argentina. From 2008 to 2009 he participated in basic research on colorectal cancer immunology. Dr. Piñero’s current clinical research focuses on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). He obtained a Masters Science in Clinical Epidemiology and Research for Public Health from the University of Buenos Aires (MSCE) and is now finishing his PhD on liver transplantation and HCC in Latin America. Dr. Piñero has presented his clinical research at various national and international liver meetings and he has won several national and international awards. He also won two national grants from the Argentine Institute of Cancer focusing on microbiome and liver cancer (ongoing cohort study evaluating dynamic changes of gut microbiome as a risk factor of HCC development). He is part of the Editorial Board and has reviewed different research from several indexed Journals. He is a regional coordinator of HCC in ALEH (Latin American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases).

Dr. Sadahisa Ogasawara

Dr. Sadahisa Ogasawara obtained his medical degree in 2004 and his PhD in 2012 from Chiba University (Japan). He is a hepatologist and works at Chiba University Hospital. He is currently an Assistant Professor of the cranial research center at Chiba University Hospital as well as on the staff of the Department of Gastroenterology, Chiba University, Graduate School of Medicine, where his research is focused on loco-regional treatments and systemic therapies of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Dr. Neil Mehta

Dr Neil Mehta underwent medical training at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He was an Intern then a Resident at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania before becoming a Fellow in Gastroenterology and Transplant Hepatology at UCSF. He is currently Assistant Clinical Professor in Medicine at UCSF and has held this position since 2013. He is specifically interested in issues related to the diagnosis and management of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) particularly with regards to outcomes in liver transplantation.

Dr. Alexander Y. Kim

Dr. Alexander Kim is the chief of vascular and interventional radiology at Medstar Georgetown University Hospital. After graduating medical school at Drexel University College of Medicine he completed his residency and fellowship at Georgetown University Hospital. Dr. Kim specializes in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma and is the national PI for the QED trial, a multi-center randomized, controlled trial on TACE for HCC. He also leads several other clinical trials on liver-directed therapies for primary and secondary liver cancers.

Dr. Ari Isaacson

Dr. Ari Isaacson completed his medical training at the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles. After a transitional Internship at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, he served as a Flight Surgeon in the US Navy. From there, he completed his Diagnostic Radiology Residency and Interventional Radiology Subspecialty Fellowship at the University of North Carolina. He has been Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine since 2013. His current research interests involve embolization and he has been principle investigator on several clinical trials in this area. Dr. Isaacson is a member of the the Society of Interventional Radiology and the American College of Radiology.

Dr. Masafumi Ikeda

Dr Masafumi Ikeda underwent medical training at Kumamoto University in Japan. He then completed specialist post graduate training at the Kumamoto University School of Medicine, Minamata City General Hospital and the National Cancer Center Hospital. Since 2011 he has been Chief of the Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Oncology at the National Cancer Center Hospital East. Dr Ikeda is a board certified physician of the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine and a board certified Gastroenterologist of the Japanese Society of Gastroenterology. His main areas of clinical focus are medical oncology and hepatology.

Dr. Ruth He

Aiwu Ruth He MD underwent medical training at Hunan Medical University in China.  She then completed post graduate training at East Carolina University, USA.  Dr. He completed a Fellowship at Georgetown University School of Medicine in 2006 and is currently Assistant Professor in the Division of Hematology / Oncology.  Dr. He has received awards from the National Institute of Health, the American Association for Cancer Research and Digestive Disease Week.  She has been an invited reviewer on a number of international journals and holds membership of several professional societies.  Dr. He has been an investigator in various different research trials in the field of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Dr. James Harding

Dr. James Harding is a board-certified medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, USA. He specializes in caring for people with liver cancer, gallbladder cancer, and bile duct cancer. His primary goal is to provide the best possible treatment and individualized care for people with these diseases. In his research, he is trying to find new, effective therapies for gastrointestinal cancer, particularly primary liver and bile duct tumors. For example, he is working on ways to use a patient’s own immune system to fight cancer (immunotherapy). In addition, Dr. Harding is investigating strategies to block specific cellular pathways that cancer uses to grow. He has helped develop and lead numerous national and international clinical trials of these new cancer therapies for patients with liver, bile duct cancers, and other solid tumors. Dr. Harding’s research and training has been supported by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, the National Institutes of Health, the American Association for Cancer Research, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His work has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, Nature Medicine, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer Discovery, Clinical Cancer Research, and Cancer.

Dr. Catherine Frenette

Catherine Frenette, MD underwent medical training at Rush Medical College in Chicago, IL. She then completed internal medicine training at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego, CA, and subsequently underwent training in gastroenterology with a focus on transplant hepatology at Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, CA. Dr. Frenette currently works at the Scripps Clinic Center for Organ and Cell Transplantation where she is the Medical Director of Liver Transplantation. She is also the Medical Director of the Hepatocellular Carcinoma Program. Dr. Frenette has several active research trials as well as serving in a teaching capacity for the residents and fellows at Scripps Clinic. Dr. Frenette holds special clinical interest and expertise in liver transplantation to treat cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, autoimmune hepatitis, viral hepatitis, acute liver failure and end stage liver disease. She is a world-renowned expert in the treatment of all stages of hepatocellular carcinoma, and has done multiple national and international educational sessions on this topic. She has been awarded Fellow Status of the American Society of Transplantation, and has recently also been awarded Fellow of the American Gastroenterology Association.

Dr. Leonardo da Fonseca

Leonardo da Fonseca achieved his medical degree at Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Sao Paulo (FMUSP) in 2008. He obtained Internal Medicine certification at Hospital das Clínicas da FMUSP (2010–2012) and concluded the fellowship program in Medical Oncology at Instituto do Cancer do Estado de Sao Paulo (ICESP-FMUSP, 2012-2017) where he is part of the gastrointestinal cancer group. In 2018, he earned a Master degree in Clinical Research (with specialisation in liver diseases) from University of Barcelona and is currently a pre doctoral fellow in the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer group.

Dr. Emil I. Cohen

Dr. Emil Cohen completed medical training at George Washington University Medical School and then went on to an Internship at Washington Hospital Center. He completed residencies and fellowships in the Department of Radiology at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. He is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington DC. Dr. Cohen has been an investigator and co-investigator on two international clinical trials for hepatocellular carcinoma and is a reviewer on the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology and the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Dr. Choo Su Pin

BMedSci, BMBS(Nottm), MRCP(UK), FAMS
Dr. Choo Su Pin is a medical oncologist at Curie Oncology who specializes in gastrointestinal cancers. She graduated from the University of Nottingham Medical School, UK before returning to Singapore. She has fellowships from the Royal College of Physicians, UK and the Academy Of Medicine, Singapore and was trained in medical oncology at the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) where she was Chief of Gastrointestinal Oncology. She also did a research fellowship at the University of California San Francisco. Her research areas of interest include pancreatico-hepatobiliary cancers and early phase trials.

Dr. Mohamed Bouattour

Dr. Mohamed Bouattour is a physician in the Department of Digestive Oncology and Consultant in the Department of Hepatology at Beaujon University Hospital and has held this these positions since November 2007. He is board certified in Gastroenterology-Hepatology and Medical Oncology. He has expertise in the field of liver tumours, hepatocellular carcinoma, and pre-clinical and clinical research for liver disease. Dr. Bouattour works in close collaboration with a multidisciplinary team including, liver surgeons, radiologists, oncologists, hepatologists and pathologists, to improve the management of patients with liver cancers. Dr. Bouattour has been involved in presenting several collaborative works in national and international scientific meetings. He has authored and co-authored scientific papers in the field of liver and cancer diseases. He is investigator and sub investigator for several phase 1, 2 and 3 clinical trials. Dr. Bouattour is member of several national and international societies such as the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), the International Liver Cancer Association (ILCA) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Dr. Irene Bargellini

Dr. Irene Bargellini completed her medical degree and post-graduate course in Radiology at the University of Pisa in Italy. Since then, she has been working in the Department of Interventional Radiology and has become Supervisor of the Interventional Oncology Program of Pisa University Hospital. She is specifically interested in diagnosis and management of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), particularly with regards to outcomes of transarterial therapies.

Dr. Walid Ayoub

Dr. Walid Ayoub has been engaged in the field of hepatology for the last 15 years. For the last two decades, he has treated patients with various forms of liver disease, including patients with liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. Dr. Ayoub has served as the interim Medical Director for Liver Transplantation at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. He has been a regular speaker at regional and national liver meetings in the USA educating current and future gastroenterologists and hepatologists about liver diseases and liver cancer. He is an active member of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and the American Society of Transplantation (AST). He also serves on the Medial Education Committee for the American Liver Foundation.
He has participated in multiple pharma sponsored clinical trials on the use of direct acting antiviral therapy in patients with hepatitis C, cholestatic liver disease, hepatitis B and liver cancer. He is currently co-principal investigator on two National Institute of Health sponsored trials on the use of statins as chemoprevention for the development of liver cancer.

Dr. Angel Alsina

Dr. Angel Alsina is a Collaborative Professor of Surgery at the University of South Florida, Morsani College of Medicine and is the Director of the Liver Cancer Program at Tampa General Hospital, in Tampa Florida. A native of Puerto Rico, Dr. Alsina pursued undergraduate studies at Boston College, his medical degree at Ponce Health Sciences, and surgical residency at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston. He remained there to complete an ASTS-approved fellowship in multi-organ transplantation and hepatobiliary surgery at the New England Deaconess Hospital/ Harvard Department of Surgery. With over 23 years in liver transplantation, Dr. Alsina has acquired broad expertise in transplantation, hepatic surgical disorders, hepatology, and hepato-oncology. He is a proven investigator in pivotal trials in liver transplantation, liver cancer, hepatitis C, and other hepatic disorders. He has published as primary author in topics of acute liver failure, liver malignancies, hepatocellular carcinoma, transplantation, cirrhosis and portal hypertension, ethnic and ethical aspects of transplantation, and liver oncology. He was instrumental in providing access to liver transplantation to undeserved patients from Puerto Rico. Dr. Alsina oversees a large liver cancer program and manages systemic chemotherapy and the clinical trials of liver cancer. He has speaking experience nationally and is a national CME teacher in various fields. He was granted Fellowship designation by the AASLD in 2019.

Dr. Gabriel Aballay Soteras

Dr. Roniel Cabrera

Dr. Shubham Pant

Dr. Shubham Pant is a Hematologist-Oncologist and an Associate Professor of Medicine at University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He previously served as the Director of Clinical Trials for the Section of Hematology-Oncology and Associate Director of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) Phase 1 program, for the Stephenson Cancer Center in Oklahoma City. Furthermore Dr. Pant was the Oncology Lead of the Clinical Research Disease Site Group for Gastrointestinal Cancers and Clinical Research Disease Site Group Chair for Hepatocellular Cancers at the same institute. Dr. Pant completed his fellowship from the Ohio State University, where he was elected Chief Fellow. He previously served as an elected member at large to the Board of Directors for Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB), was the Site Principal Investigator for CALGB and was a Member of the Board of Trustees for ACTION. Dr. Pant served on the Board of Oklahoma Society of Clinical Oncology. He is a participant in the ASCO Leadership Development Program, Class of 2015-16. His awards include the Golden Pillar Award for Outstanding Patient Service in 2012 and 2014, America’s Top Doctors by Castle Connolly and Oklahoma 40 Under 40 in the Oklahoma Magazine. In 2015, he anchored a health show on CNN-IBN India titled: ‘Let’s Talk Health’.

Relevant Publications

Dr. Anthony El-Khoueiry

Dr. Jean-Charles Nault

Jean-Charles Nault received his MD and PhD from Paris Descartes University. He is currently working in the liver unit of the Jean Verdier Hospital in Bondy, France with a high priority on early detection of primary liver tumors and on therapeutic innovation. He is also an active member of the Laboratory of Functional Genomics of Solid Tumours at the INSERM UMR 1162 headed by Professor Jessica-Zucman Rossi. His research is dedicated to translational research in particular the identification of new driver genes in hepatocellular adenoma and hepatocellular carcinoma, of new therapeutic targets and of the molecular determinants of hepatocellular carcinoma’s prognosis.

Relevant Publications

Dr. Matteo Cescon

Dr. Matteo Cescon completed his medical degree in 1996 and in 2004 completed a post graduate course on the medicine of organ transplantation at Bicocca University in Milan, Italy. He has been at Bologna University since 2004 and is currently Associate Professor of Surgery at the Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences. In 2012 he was also appointed Supervisor of the post-transplant phase of the institutional program of liver transplantation at Saint’Orsola-Malpighi University Hospital in Bologna. Dr. Cescon has performed more than 1000 procedures as first operator, including more than 300 liver transplantations and more than 400 liver resections. He is a reviewer on many international journals and has been an investigator on several research programs.

Relevant Publications

Dr. Aline Chagas

Aline Chagas underwent medical training at Federal University of Bahia in Brazil and completed Medical Residences in Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Hospital Santo Antônio in Bahia and the Faculty of Medicine at the Univeristy of São Paulo.
She is currently Head of Hepatology Team at the Faculty of Medicine at the Univeristy of São Paulo and also Assistant Physician and the São Paulo Cancer Institute. Her clinical research experience is in phase III trials for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Relevant Publications