The Hirshberg Foundation is happy to announce that Dr. Timothy Donahue will be joining us at the 16th Annual Symposium on Pancreatic Cancer to highlight the exciting collaboration efforts of the UC Pancreatic Cancer Consortium.

“The mission of the UC Pancreatic Cancer Consortium (UCPCC) is to unite scientists and clinicians across the UC cancer centers committed to pancreatic cancer research and treatment in a highly collaborative environment that accelerates the progress and impact of our work. Our vision is to improve the lives of persons diagnosed with pancreatic cancer by translating innovative research into improved clinical care.” The five cancer centers include UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, UC Irvine Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center and UC San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Dr. Timothy Donahue is Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology and Professor of Surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He also has a joint appointment in the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology to facilitate his research program. Dr. Donahue is the Surgical Director of the UCLA Agi Hirshberg Center for Pancreatic Diseases. He is a very busy pancreatic surgeon and performs three to four pancreatic surgeries per week. He is genuinely interested in caring for patients with pancreatic cancer and making sure they receive state-of-the-art care. In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Donahue is the Principal Investigator of a National Institutes of Health funded research laboratory. His scientific research focuses on developing new drugs and better treatment strategies for patients with pancreatic cancer, collaborating with numerous other researchers across the UCLA campus. He is also dedicated to training the next generation of academic surgeons and serves as the Program Director of the UCLA General Surgery Residency.

Collaboration is the key to improving patient outcomes, and ultimately finding a cure for pancreatic cancer. Dr. Donahue is no stranger to collaboration and we are excited to hear from him on what the future holds with his presentation, UC Pancreatic Cancer Consortium: Collaboration at Work.

We’re thrilled to announce Dr. Zhaoping Li will return to address the importance of nutrition for pancreatic cancer patients at the 16th Annual Symposium on Pancreatic Cancer.

Dr. Li has been a Hirshberg Foundation seed grant recipient and has presented a number of symposium lectures on the important role nutrition plays for pancreatic cancer patients. She is consistently requested by our participants as a speaker year after year. She has been our Honorary Medical Chair for the LA Cancer Challenge, presented an in-person Cooking Healthy Class and was the first to join our Patient & Family Webinar Series with her webinar How to Eat and Live Well During Coronavirus. Dr. Li always has crucial information to share that continues to improve the lives of our patients.

Dr. Li is a Professor of Medicine and the Director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition, Chief of the Division ofClinical Nutrition in the Department of Medicine, at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA  and VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care System. She is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Physician Nutrition Specialist. Dr. Li’s primary areas of research are the role of nutrition, phytochemicals, and microbiota in the prevention and treatment of metabolic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and common forms of cancer. She has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers in journals such as JAMA, Annals of Internal Medicine, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,and Journal of American Dietetic Association.

A very important topic, we are so happy to have Dr. Li joining us to discuss Nutritional Myths with Pancreatic Cancer at the 16th Annual Symposium.

The Hirshberg Foundation is excited to announce Dr. Vikas Dudeja will be joining us at the 16th Annual Symposium on Pancreatic Cancer to discuss the potential role the gut plays in pancreas cancers.

“We are just beginning to fully understand the complexities of the relationship between the microbiome and cancer,” said Dudeja. “Our lab, and other researchers across the nation, will continue to dig into these complexities in order to better understand how we can control and cure cancers.”

Dr. Dudeja currently serves as an Associate Professor as well as the Division Director of surgical oncology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Department of Surgery.

Dr. Dudeja completed his bachelor of medicine and surgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, India. He also received his master of surgery from AIIMS in 2005. Dr. Dudeja spent the next 3 years doing research on the pathogenesis of pancreatic cancer and developing novel therapies against this aggressive disease. Afterwards he received residency training in general surgery at the University of Minnesota from 2008-2013. Following his residency, Dr. Dudeja completed a complex general surgical oncology fellowship and hepato-pancreato-billiary fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center from 2013-15. Dr. Dudeja is also a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

On the research front, Dr. Dudeja’s laboratory focuses on deciphering the biology of the tumor microenvironment in pancreatic cancer and the interaction of gut microbiome with anti-cancer immune response. Elucidation of the mechanism and determinants of tumor recurrence is another key area studied in his laboratory. His research efforts are funded by grants from National Institute of Health (NIH), Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense and Society Grants. His work has been published in high impact journals like Gastroenterology, GUT, Clinical Cancer Research and Nature Reviews in Gastroenterology and Hepatology. He serves on the editorial board of Gastroenterology and routinely reviews manuscripts submitted to many journals including Pancreatology, eBiomedicine, Communication Biology, Annals of Surgical Oncology.

Dr. Dudeja’s clinical interests include taking care of patients with pancreatic cancer, pancreatic cyst, hepatobiliary malignancies including cholangiocarcinoma, kaltskin tumor, colorectal cancer liver metastases, and benign disease like bile duct injury and chronic pancreatitis.

The complex relationship between cancer and the microbiome is such an important piece of the puzzle and we are honored to have Dr. Dudeja present Understanding the Gut and Tumor Connection in Pancreatic Cancer.

The Hirshberg Foundation is honored to announce that Dr. Canto will discuss screening and surveillance in individuals with a high-risk for pancreatic cancer at the 16th Annual Symposium on Pancreatic Cancer.

While participating in a pancreatic cancer screening program is not appropriate for everyone, it is an important consideration for individuals with known high-risk factors. For those with particular risk factors, including family history and certain genetic syndromes that increase susceptibility to pancreas cancer, it may be appropriate to participate in a research screening program. Surveillance may also be clinically recommended in instances such as a new diagnosis of a pancreas cyst or lesion. Many experts believe that individuals with a greater than fivefold risk of developing pancreatic cancer should undergo regular early detection tests to survey their pancreas. Regular surveillance uses medical imaging and endoscopic techniques to detect precancerous lesions or early pancreatic cancer that can be surgically removed. Screening and surveillance of high-risk individuals is a topic important to our pancreatic cancer community and we are happy to have an expert in the field present more information.

Marcia (Mimi) Canto, M.D., M.H.S. is a Professor of Medicine and Oncology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is also the Director of Clinical Research at the Johns Hopkins Division of Gastroenterology. Dr. Canto received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of the Philippines in Manila in 1981 (summa cum laude). She received her Doctor of Medicine degree in 1985 from the University of the Philippines and completed her training in Internal Medicine from State University of New York Sciences Center in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York.

Dr. Canto completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Gastroenterology-Hepatology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and received a Master of Health Science in Clinical Epidemiology from The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. Dr. Canto came back to Johns Hopkins after advanced endoscopic training at the University Hospitals of Cleveland. Her primary clinical and research interests include endoscopy, particularly the use of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) in detecting early pancreatic cancer and its precursors. She has shown that endoscopic ultrasound can be used to detect asymptomatic precancerous lesions in patients with a family history of pancreatic cancer, downstage pancreatic cancer screen-detected pancreatic cancer, and improve survival.

A subject that we are excited to learn more about from one of the top experts in this field, we welcome Dr. Canto to educate us on Pancreatic Cancer Screening and Surveillance in High-Risk Individuals.

The Hirshberg Foundation is delighted that Dr. Mark Girgis will share the latest information in the field of pancreatic cancer detection and treatment at the 16th Annual Symposium on Pancreatic Cancer.

Dr. Girgis returns to our Symposium stage to present his report on the progress being made for the early detection and treatment of pancreatic cancer. Dr. Girgis is no stranger to our Symposium having presented, Advances in Pancreatic Surgery where he discussed the latest in robotic surgery. In addition, he participated in our Patient & Family Webinar Series with the talk, Pancreatic Cancer: Advances in Research and Patient Care. A surgeon as well as a researcher, we look forward to hearing the latest developments towards improving patient outcomes.

Dr. Mark Girgis is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He also has a joint appointment at the Greater Los Angeles VA Medical Center. His interests include robotic and minimally invasive approaches to surgical oncology and more specifically on pancreatic diseases in his clinical practice as well as research endeavors. He received advanced training in robotic surgery and surgical oncology in his fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh. He is one member of the group of pancreas surgeons at UCLA that provide the highest level of care for their patients. He is committed to the improvement of cancer care through innovative technological advancements as well as ground breaking research. His research endeavors focus on developing novel peptides targeting pancreas cancer for radioligand therapy and is part of a multidisciplinary group that collaborates on a variety of projects centered on developing new therapies for cancer patients.

A highly requested topic, we are grateful to have Dr. Girgis provide us with a Pancreatic Cancer Progress Report at the 16th Annual Symposium.

The Hirshberg Foundation is pleased to announce that Judy Fortin will moderate the uplifting and unique panel discussion portion of the 16th Annual Symposium on Pancreatic Cancer.

We are honored, each year, to share the stories of pancreatic cancer patients and caregivers. These honest and personal discussions give us all perspective, insight and sensitivity to the journey of both patients and loved ones once someone in the family is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

A veteran former broadcast journalist, Judy Fortin is Executive Director of Communications for UCLA Health and the David Geffen School of Medicine in Los Angeles, California. She leads a team that is responsible for all media relations and reputation management at one of the top health systems in the United States.

Prior to joining UCLA in 2019, Judy served as Senior Director of Communications at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. Previously, she was National Director of Media Relations for the American Cancer Society. She spent 19 years as an anchor and correspondent at CNN and CNN Headline News in Atlanta. She won multiple national awards for her work as a CNN Medical Correspondent. Previously, she was a reporter for WCVB-TV in Boston and WMUR-TV in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Always an audience favorite, we are excited to have Judy Fortin joining us to moderate the Panel Discussion: Perspectives from Survivors and Caregivers at the 16th Annual Symposium.