Tyler Chesney is a colorectal and gastrointestinal surgical oncologist at St. Michael’s Hospital, Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto in the Department of Surgery, and Investigator at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute. He completed medical school at McMaster University in 2013 and a Master of Science at Queen’s University focusing on knowledge translation in cognitive aging and dementia. He completed residency in General Surgery at the University of Toronto in 2018, and Complex General Surgical Oncology at the University of Toronto in 2020.

He has a longstanding commitment to caring for older adults including volunteer work with Alzheimer Society and Hospice, leadership of the geriatrics interest group in medical school, and research and clinical activity as a surgical trainee. Now, he is a member of the Canadian Network on Aging and Cancer (CNAC), the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG) Surgical Ad-Hoc Committee, and the Canadian Society of Surgical Oncology (CSSO) Executive Committee. He has a strong interest in building collaborative networks within Canada to enhance the care of surgical oncology patients. His ongoing clinical and scholarly work aims to build clinical capacity of geriatric surgical oncology and advance the care of older adults with cancer within Canada. At St. Michael’s he is helping to build the Older Adults Surgery & Oncology Program (OSOP), and creating cross-specialty learning events between surgery and geriatrics trainees.

Anna Dare (MBChB PhD FRCSC) is a GI Surgical Oncologist at St Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto and an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. Her clinical interests are in the management of colorectal cancer, including young-onset and hereditary CRC. She also treats patients with small bowel and gastric malignancies. She is trained in open, laparoscopic, trans-anal and robotic surgical approaches. Dr Dare completed medical school in her native New Zealand, followed by a PhD at the University of Cambridge, general surgery residency at the University of Toronto, and surgical oncology fellowships at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre and the University of Toronto. Dr Dare has an academic background in epidemiology, health economics, and global health systems research.

Dr. Easaw is a Professor in the Division of Medical Oncology at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, Alberta. He is board-certified in internal medicine and medical oncology. He is actively involved in both patient care and clinical research. His research interests include health services research, database design, clinical informatics and the introduction of technology into clinic. He is a recent recipient of awards in both teaching and research excellence.

Dr Mai-Kim Gervais is a surgical oncologist at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal and an associate professor in Surgery at the Université de Montréal. In 2016, she completed a clinical fellowship in Surgical Oncology at the University of Toronto. She also trained at the National Cancer Institute in Tokyo in gastric cancer. Her areas of expertise include gastric cancer, retroperitoneal sarcoma, melanoma, and breast cancer. Dre Gervais is part of the executive committee of the Canadian Gastric Cancer Association.

Dr. Karanicolas is a surgical oncologist at the Odette Cancer Centre. His primary focus is on cancer involving the liver, gallbladder, bile ducts, pancreas, and stomach. In particular, Dr. Karanicolas treats many patients with cancer of the colon or rectum that have spread to the liver. Dr. Karanicolas emphasizes maintenance or improvement in quality-of-life in the care of his patients in addition to cancer treatment.

Dr. Karanicolas leads several clinical trials at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and internationally to improve the experience and outcomes of patients who have surgery for cancer. He is the head of the HPB CONCEPT Team, a national collaborative group dedicated to advancing the care of patients having liver or pancreas surgery through multicenter clinical trials.

Dr. Karanicolas is the surgical lead for the hepatic arterial infusion pump chemotherapy program at the Odette Cancer Centre. This is the only program of its kind in Canada and offers an additional therapeutic option for patients with colorectal liver metastases that cannot be resected.

Dr. Karanicolas obtained his medical degree and general surgical training at the University of Western Ontario, with a PhD in Health Research Methodology from McMaster University. He completed advanced fellowship training in complex surgical oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York before returning to his home in Toronto.

Christopher Lieu, MD, is an associate professor in the Division of Medical Oncology, and Associate Director for Clinical Research at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora. He trained in internal medicine at the University of Colorado, where he also served as a Chief Medical Resident. He completed his fellowship training in medical oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and served as the Chief Medical Oncology Fellow. He currently serves as the Associate Director for Clinical Research and Director of GI Medical Oncology at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, the Vice-Chair of the National Cancer Institute Colon Cancer Task Force, serves on the FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee, and he serves on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Panel for Neuroendocrine Cancers.

Research

Dr. Lieu is interested in resistance mechanisms to targeted therapy in GI cancers, strategies to implement circulating tumor DNA, and investigating novel therapeutic strategies to more effectively treat and prevent colorectal cancer in young adults.

Dr. Gonzalo Sapisochin is Staff Surgeon at The Toronto General Hospital, UHN. Dr. Sapisochin received his Medical Diploma in 2005 from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain and went on to complete his General Surgery residency training in 2011 at the University Hospital of Vall d’Hebron in Barcelona where he successfully defended his Doctoral Thesis, “Optimization of Liver Transplantation for Hepatocellular Carcinoma”, to receive his PhD be the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona. He went on to complete his Clinical Fellowship in Abdominal Transplant & HPB Surgical Oncology with the University of Toronto and was subsequently recruited in a position at the Toronto General Hospital as Staff Surgeon with the Multi-Organ Transplant Program and the Division of General Surgery. He is currently an Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto. Dr. Sapisochin main research interest is the “interface” between liver transplantation and cancer. He has been one of the drivers of the concept of Transplant Oncology and chaired in 2019 the ILTS Consensus Conference in this topic. He has focused his research in the management of hepatocellular carcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma and colorectal liver metastases. He has published more than 150 original manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals such as Journal of Hepatology, Hepatology, Annals of Surgical Oncology or Annals of Surgery.

Dr. Raphael’s clinical practice is entirely devoted to the care of patients with gastrointestinal malignancies, with a subspecialty focus on gastric, biliary tract, pancreatic and colorectal cancers. Dr. Raphael’s research focus is on population-based cancer care. His research aims to identify ways to optimize the coordination and delivery of cancer care services, and to describe gaps in care, disparities in access to treatment, uptake of cancer therapies, and real-world toxicity and effectiveness. His research has already influenced practice guidelines globally, and led to a new quality metric that is routinely captured by Cancer Care Ontario (“time to initiating adjuvant chemotherapy”). Dr. Raphael was awarded the 2018–2019 Canadian Association of Medical Oncologists Research Fellowship to support his ongoing productive research portfolio.

Dr Zachary Veitch is a staff medical oncologist at Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie, Ontario having completed a fellowship in breast and drug development at Princess Margaret Cancer Center. He has authored multiple peer-reviewed publications and is a frequent guest lecturer. Dr Veitch has published chapters in the ASCO educational handbook in the Basic Science of Oncology 6th Edition on molecular targeted therapies. He was a recent Co-chair of the Canadian Association of Medical Oncologists Annual General Meeting in 2023 and has specific interests in medical education, clinical trials, and precision oncology.

Dr. Chen completed internal medicine and medical oncology training at Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. He is currently a staff physician at the Division of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Princess Margaret Cancer Center, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada, and an associate professor at Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. His clinical activities focus on the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers. He participates in clinical trials evaluating new agents and treatment strategies for gastrointestinal cancers. Dr. Chen has authored or co-authored over 160 papers.

Ju-Yoon Yoon pursued my MD/PhD training at the University of Manitoba, followed by an Anatomic Pathology residency at the University of Toronto.

Additionally, Ju-Yoon Yoon pursued two clinical fellowships: molecular genetic pathology (U. Pennsylvania) and gynecological pathology (Brigham & Women’s Hospital).

Ju-Yoon Yoon is a staff pathologist at St. Michael’s Hospital, where he serves as a surgical (GYN, THO) and molecular pathologist.