Faculty
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Dr S. Barbu, Romania Dr. Sorin T. Barbu is a Professor of Surgery and Chairman of the 4th Surgery Department at the “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine & Pharmacy in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Dr. Barbu received his PhD in medical sciences with the thesis “Surgery for chronic pancreatitis”, which marked his whole surgical and scientific career, focusing him on pancreatic surgery and pancreatology. He developed his surgical skills in several European pancreatic centers. Now, his surgical work is dedicated to HPB, oncologic and laparoscopic surgery, and his research focuses on pancreatitis (acute & chronic) and periampullary cancers, mainly pancreatic cancer and its precursors. In Romania, he is the President of the Romanian Pancreatic Club since 2007, founder Vice-President of the Romanian Society of Coloproctology, and member of the Board of the Romanian Society of Surgery. At European level, Dr. Barbu is a Councilor and Treasurer elect in the Executive Committee of EFISDS (European Federation – International Society for Digestive Surgery), and since 2018, he is a Board member of PCE (Pancreatic Cancer Europe). Dr. Barbu was involved in several European and national guidelines for acute and chronic pancreatitis, is a member of the Editorial Board of several national and international surgery and gastroenterology journals, a reviewer for European and national research projects, and is involved in trials for pancreatic diseases. As a Professor, he organized in Cluj several international postgraduate courses in collaboration with EFISDS, EPC, EDS, and LSS (Laparoscopic Surgical Skills), most of them founded by UEG grants. |
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Pr K. Boudjema, France |
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Pr K.C.P. Conlon, Ireland Professor Conlon is Professor of Surgery at Trinity College Dublin, and an HPB surgeon at St. Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. He is a surgical oncologist with a clinical interest in benign and malignant diseases of the upper gastrointestinal tract. He is currently the Editor-‐in-‐Chief of Digestive Surgery and is on the editorial board of eight international journals. He is a member of many cooperative groups. He is a Past-‐President (2011) of the Pancreatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland (PSGBI). He is President-‐Elect of the European-‐African Hepato-‐Pancreato-‐Biliary Association (E-‐AHPBA) and Secretary General Elect of the International Hepato-‐Pancreato-‐Biliary Association IHPBA. He is a member of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland. He is also a member of the European Surgical Association and the International Surgical Group. |
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Pr C. Dervenis, Greece Christos Dervenis, MD, FRCS, has held the position of Professor of Surgery at the Medical School at the University of Cyprus. He was, Head of the First Department of Surgery at the Agia Olga Hospital, Athens, Greece from 1999 to 2018. In addition, he has served as a visiting Professor of Surgery to several international academic institutes, including the Mayo Clinic Medical School, Rochester, MN and Yale University, CT USA; the University of Lund, Sweden; the University of Verona, Italy; and the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is an honorary member of the Argentina Academy of Surgery and member of the European Surgical Association. He has received a number of International awards for his scientific and teaching work, and he has received an honorary membership of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. After receiving his medical degree from the University of Athens, Professor Dervenis completed postgraduate training in Athens; London, UK; and Hamburg, Germany. Professor Dervenis is currently President of the Greek HPB Society and also President of the European – African HPB Association. He was President of the Hellenic Society of Digestive Surgery and the European Society of Surgery for the Alimentary Tract, and is on the Scientific Committee of the International Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association (IHPBA). He was also vice president of the HPB division of the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS). In addition, Professor Dervenis is associate editor of Digestive Surgery, and on the editorial board of several other international journals, including Pancreatology, the IHPBA journal HPB, and HPB Surgery. He was also on the editorial board of British Journal of Surgery. Professor Dervenis is the editor of 3 books in the field of HPB surgery and has published over 190 papers in peer-reviewed journals, with more than 18000 citations and with an h-index of 49. His main clinical interests include surgery of the pancreas and liver, nutrition, and oncology. |
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Dr J. Forestier, Hôpital Edouard Herriot-Hospices Civils de Lyon, France Julien Forestier, MD, is a gastroenterology and digestive oncology senior physician at Hôpital Edouard Herriot-Hospices Civils de Lyon, France. He is co-chair of this European Neuroendocrine Tumors Society (ENETS) Center of Excellence. He earned his medical degree from the University of Lyon, along with postgraduate specialization in hepatogastroenterology and oncology. He is involved in many subjects, including prognostics stratification, systemic treatments (chemotherapy and targeted therapies) and biomarkers, regarding colorectal cancer et neuroendocrine tumors. Dr Forestier has experience as principal investigator or investigator in phase II and phase III trials, in the field of digestive oncology et neuroendocrine tumors. |
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Pr H. Friess, Germany Professor Helmut Friess was appointed director of the Department of Surgery at Klinikum rechts der Isar of the Technical University Munich in 2007. While serving as director, Prof. Friess has continued to be an active clinician and researcher. His primary research interests include the mechanisms of molecular development and the influence of growth factors on the aggressivity of pancreatic carcinoma. Professor Friess received his medical degree at the University of Ulm (Director Prof. H. G.Beger) and received postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Prof. Murray Korc at the University of California at Irvine, USA from 1992 to 1993. He acquired his tenure review (habilitation) at the University of Berne, Switzerland in 1998 in the Department of Visceral and Transplantation Surgery (Director Prof. M. W. Büchler). After a medical internship and residency at the Inselspital of the University of Berne Switzerland he went on to work as an vice chairman at the University Hospital in Heidelberg from 2001 to 2007 (Director Prof.M. W. Büchler). He has published more than 900 articles in scientific journals, received several awards (such as the Dr. Hella Bühler Price for Oncologic Research) and is an honorary professor at the R.E. Kavetsky Institute of Experimental Pathology, Oncology and Radiobiology of the National Academy of Science of the Ukraine. |
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Dr D. Hartmann, Germany Dr. Daniel Hartmann, MD, PhD, is a board certified visceral surgeon at the Department of Surgery at Klinikum rechts der Isar of the Technical University Munich. He is a clinician scientist leading a research group on molecular mechanisms of liver regeneration and hepatocarcinogenesis. Dr. Hartmann received his medical degree at the University of Heidelberg (Director Prof. M.W. Bücher, supervisor Prof. H. Friess) with subinternships at the Duke University Medical Center, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC and the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. He was awarded a PhD degree in molecular medicine after working for three years in the laboratories of Prof. K.L. Rudolph at the University of Ulm. After finishing his residency at the Klinikum rechts der Isar in Munich, he went on to do a one-year fellowship at the Brothers of Merci Hospital Munich. His work has appeared in more than 80 publications, including Cell, Cancer Cell, The Journal of Clinical Investigation, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nature Communications and he received several awards, such as the Walter Brendel Price or the Ferdinand Sauerbruch Research Price. |
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Pr M. Lesurtel, France Professor of Surgery, Department of Surgery and Liver Transplantation Croix Rousse University Hospital, Lyon Pr. Lesurtel completed his residency in General and Visceral Surgery at the University of Paris, France. Subsequently, he performed a liver and pancreas as well as a liver transplant fellowship at the Saint Antoine Hospital (Prof Parc) and Beaujon Hospital (Prof Belghiti) in Paris. In 2008 he was then appointed as Assistant Professor and attending staff surgeon in the Swiss Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Center in Zurich (Prof Clavien). From 2010 to 2016 he was granted with a Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) Clinical Professorship. In this setting, he ran an active basic science team focusing on liver regeneration, portal vein occlusion and liver volume manipulation. He is in the council of the European-African Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association (E-AHPBA) as Chair of the Scientific & Research Committee. Since September 2016 he has been appointed as Full Professor of Surgery (HPB and Liver Transplantation) at Croix Rousse University Hospital in Lyon, France. |
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Pr J.Y. Mabrut, France |
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Pr P. Merle, France Philippe Merle, MD, PhD is Professor of Hepato-Gastroenterology and Digestive Oncology in the Liver Unit, Northern Group of the University Hospital in Lyon (France), and Leader of the Group Hepatocarcinogenesis and Viral Infection, Research Centre of Cancerology in Lyon (CRCL). Professor Merle obtained his MD degree in Hepato-Gastroenterology on 1997 and Digestive Oncology on 2001 as well as his PhD on 2001 from the University of Lyon. He has got a post-doctoral fellowship on 2003 in the Liver Research Centre, Brown University, Providence RI, USA. Professor Merle has been member of the International Liver Cancer Association (ILCA), of the NCI Hepatobiliary Task Force, and the French Association for Study of the Liver (AFEF), Leader of the Liver Group of the French Federation of Digestive Oncology (FFCD), member of the scientific committee of the French Association for Research on Viral Hepatitis (ANRS). He has published more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals such as J Natl Cancer Inst, Hepatology, J Hepatol, J Viral Hepatitis, J Exp Med, Oncogene, J Med Virol, Gastroenterology, Liver International, Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys, British J Cancer, Cancer Letter, J Clin Oncol, Seminars in Cancer Biol, Lancet Oncol, Int J Cancer, Cancer Res, Oncotarget, Lancet, PlosOne, Ann Oncol, Mol Biol Cell, Liver Cancer, N Engl J Med, Clin Cancer Res, Lancet Gastroenterol & Hepatol. He has devoted the past 16 years of his career studying the pathogenesis and treatment of liver cancer. Basically, he focused his work on hepatitis B virus-induced HCC, and stemness pathways in HCC. Clinically, he is the leader in Lyon for clinical research in HCC. His team has been involved in most of phase-3 pivotal HCC trials for 10 years. Further, he has been among the first to start to develop the concept high dose conformal 3D radiotherapy for the treatment of HCC. |
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Pr L. Milot, France Dr Laurent MILOT , M.D., Ph.D ., is a Body and Interventional Radiologist at the University Hospital Edouard Herriot in Lyon, France. For the past decade, he was the head of the Abdominal Imaging Division at Sunnybrook Health Science Centre in Toronto, Canada, an Associate Professor and the Associate Vice-Chair of Research of the department of medical imaging at the University of Toronto, an associate member of the Institute of Medical Science and an affiliate scientist at the Sunnybrook Research Institute. He has specific clinical and research interest in exploring novel imaging technology (radiomics, radiogenomics,…) and image guided therapy (embolization, microwave, HIFU,…) in the diagnostic and treatment of hepatobiliary malignancies, including primary and metastatic lesions. |
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Dr K. Mohkam, France Doctor Kayvan Mohkam, MD, PhD, is a consultant surgeon working at the Department of General Surgery and Liver Transplantation of Croix-Rousse University Hospital, Lyon, France. He has completed his training in General Surgery and Liver Transplantation at the University Hospital of Lyon, and he has performed 2 fellowships in HPB and liver transplant surgery at Louvain’s Catholic University in Brussels, Belgium, and at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital of Birmingham, United-Kingdom. He is involved in several research areas related to HPB and liver transplant surgery, including the multimodal treatment of primary liver tumors and the study of hemodynamic changes following extended hepatectomy and liver transplantation, the latter of which was the subject of his PhD thesis. On behalf of the French study group on liver surgery (ACHBT), he created the first-ever risk-score to predict biliary leakage after liver resection. He is also involved in experimental surgery and worked on various porcine models of small-for-size syndrome, and subsequently he developed a standardized nomenclature related to this subject. He is also the principal investigator of an ongoing multicenter phase III randomized trial assessing the effect of somatostatin infusion on postoperative ascites after hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma. |
| Dr J. Perinel, France |
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Pr A. Siriwardena, UK I studied medicine at the University of Manchester and then trained in General and Hepatobiliary Surgery in Manchester, Edinburgh, Richmond USA and with Professor Henri Bismuth in Paris. I moved to my current position as Consultant Surgeon at the Manchester Royal Infirmary in 1999 and was appointed Professor of Hepatobiliary Surgery at the University of Manchester in 2008. In 2007 I received the prestigious “Silver Scalpel” award as the best surgical trainer in the UK. My clinical practice is in Hepato-pancreato-biliary oncological surgery. I have research interests in pancreatic inflammatory disease and in liver oncological surgery. I am the President-Elect of E-AHPBA. |
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Pr K. Takaori, Japan Head, Pancreas Cancer Unit, Kyoto University Hospital Kyoichi Takaori, MD, PhD, FACS, is a pancreatic surgeon who has extensive experiences of open, laparoscopic, and robotic surgery. His academic career includes Professor of Surgery at Asahi University and Assistant Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Throughout his career, he has struggled to improve the prognosis of pancreatic cancer, which is known as the worst malignancy. First, he has focused on early detection of pancreatic cancer and founded a Japanese Familial Pancreatic Cancer Registry in 2013. Second, he has endeavored to accelerate innovation in pancreatic surgery. In order to increase resectability and to improve local control, he has refined artery-first pancreatoduodenectomy by utilizing the “Tiger’s Den approach” and developed new techniques of artery-first distal pancreatectomy and artery-first DP-CAR. Third, he is a great believer of multi-disciplinary approach and presently directing the multi-disciplinary team as the Head of Pancreatic Cancer Unit at Kyoto University Hospital. Professor Takaori is Vice Editor-in-Chief of Pancreatology and Founding Editor of Surgery Gastroenterology and Oncology. |
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Pr T. Walter, France Thomas Walter, MD, PhD, is a professor of gastroenterology and digestive oncology and senior physician at Hôpital Edouard Herriot-Hospices Civils de Lyon, France. He is co-chair one European Neuroendocrine Tumours Society (ENETS) Center of Excellence and he is the scientific coordinator of the French Network of neuroendocrine Tumours (GTE). Prof Walter also leads a translational research lab focused on NETs. He earned his medical degree from the University of Lyon, along with postgraduate specialisation in hepatogastroenterology and oncology. He then completed his PhD at the university, as well as certification for supervising research. He served a fellowship in medical oncology at the University of Toronto-Princess Margaret Hospital, with a specialisation in GI oncology and NETs. His main field of interest are gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (GEP-NET) and lung carcinoid tumours. He is involved in many subjects, including prognostics stratification, systemic treatments (chemotherapy and targeted therapies) and biomarkers. Prof Walter has experience as principal investigator or investigator in phase II and phase III trials, including TELECAST, CLARINET, RADIANT, LUNA. His work has appeared in more than 110 peer-reviewed publications, including Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, Investigational New Drugs, Cancer, Endocrine-Related Cancer, British Journal of Cancer, European Journal of Endocrinology, European Journal of Cancer, and Neuroendocrinology. Hôpital Edouard Herriot-Hospices Civils de Lyon, France. |