Date: Thursday, May 9, 2024
Time: 7:00 PM Central Time (US & Canada)
Moderators: Linda Farkas, MD, FACS, FASCRS; Emad Aly MD, MEd, FRCS, FACS, FASCRS
Speakers: Harmeet Kaur, MBBS, MD; Rodrigo Oliva Perez, MD, PhD; Leonard Saltz, MD; Nelya Melnitchouk MD, MSc, FACS; Tsuyoshi Konishi, MD, PhD, FASCRS; Timothy Pawlik, MD, MPH, PhD
CME Credit Hours Available: 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™
This webinar will cover several topics related to current management of rectal cancer including: Role of MRI in non-operative management, Selecting patients for organ preservation in rectal cancer, Current outcomes of neoadjuvant therapy in rectal cancer, Outcomes of local resection in rectal cancer, Management of lateral pelvic lymph nodes in rectal cancer, and what the colorectal surgeon should know about the disappearing liver metastasis and liver metastasis in rectal cancer with complete clinical response.
At the conclusion of this session, participants should be able to:
- Select patient with rectal that could be suitable for organ preservation.
- Choose between the different treatment options available for rectal cancer.
- Discuss with rectal cancer patients the outcomes of non-surgical approaches vs. surgery.
Moderators
Linda Farkas, MD, FACS, FASCRS
Dr. Farkas is a board certified colon and rectal surgeon. She earned her degree at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. Her General Surgery residency was completed at the University of Illinois Chicago and her Colon and Rectal fellowship at Cook County Hospital. Dr. Farkas was previously an Associate Professor of surgery at both Duke University and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. As Professor of Surgery at University of California at Davis and University of Texas Southwestern, she led the successful National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer (NAPRC) at both sites. She is the Vice Chair of Accreditation of NAPRC and current Chair of the ASCRS Rectal Cancer Committee.
Emad Aly MD, MEd, FRCS, FACS, FASCRS
Mr. Aly is a Consultant Colorectal & General Surgeon in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer for the University of Aberdeen who provides robotic, laparoscopic, and open surgery for his patients. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, the American College of Surgeons, and a Fellow of the American Society of Colon & Rectal Surgery. He is a reviewer for several surgical journals. He also has many publications in peer reviewed journals & poster presentations in national and international meetings on Colorectal & General Surgery.
Speakers
Harmeet Kaur, MBBS, MD
Dr. Kaur graduated from Lady Hardinge Medical College in New Delhi and subsequently completed residency training at PGIMER Chandigarh and Northwestern Hospital in Chicago. Dr. Kaur completed her fellowship in body imaging at the MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) and subsequently joined the faculty. She is currently a professor in the department of Abdominal Imaging at MDACC. She co-chairs the rectal imaging group and MDT. She also co-chairs the colorectal disease focused panel for colorectal cancer at the Society of Abdominal Radiology.
Rodrigo Oliva Perez, MD, PhD
Dr. Perez graduated from the University of São Paulo School of Medicine (1993-1998) where he completed his surgical training under the supervision of Prof. Angelita Habr-Gama (1999-2003). In 2002 he was a Visiting Research Fellow at USC under the supervision of Dr. Robert Beart. He obtained his PhD in 2006 in studying potential molecular targets for gene therapy in rectal cancer. After joining the Angelita & Joaquim Gama Institute in 2004, Dr. Perez has concentrated his clinical and research activity on the management of rectal cancer. From 2010 to 2014, Dr. Perez was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of São Paulo in the use of molecular imaging (PET/CT) for rectal cancer. In 2014 and 2018, Dr. Perez was awarded the Young Research Fund (FAPESP) to study molecular mechanisms associated with resistance/sensitivity of rectal cancers to chemoradiation. In 2020, he became director of Colorectal Surgery Division at Hospital Alemão Oswaldo Cruz and runs multiple surgical educational activities funded by medical industry. Currently, he serves at the editorial board of multiple scientific surgical and oncology journals and has contributed with numerous (>180) publications to the field. Since 2024, Dr. Perez is Editor in Chief of the journal Techniques in Coloproctology.
Leonard Saltz, MD
Dr. Saltz is Attending Physician and Member, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Professor of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College. He is a member of the NCCN Colon/Rectal/Anal/Small Bowel Cancer Guidelines Panel, the NCI Rectal/Anal Cancer Task Force, and the GI Core Committee of the Alliance NCI cooperative group. Dr. Saltz is an author on over 300 manuscripts and has published extensively on the management of local-regional and metastatic colorectal cancer.
Nelya Melnitchouk MD, MSc, FACS
Dr. Melnitchouk is a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), Dana Farber Cancer Center and assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Melnitchouk received her medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She completed her general surgery residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. As a resident, she received the Rudolph Vollman Award for excellence in teaching and contributed to multiple HMS research projects on colon and rectal surgery procedures. She completed a colorectal surgery fellowship at the combined Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and New York Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center Colorectal Surgery Program. She is board-certified in general surgery and Colon and Rectal Surgery. She founded and currently leads a Program in Peritoneal Surface Malignancy, focusing on treating patients with appendiceal cancer, colorectal cancer, and peritoneal mesothelioma through a multidisciplinary personalized approach emphasizing shared decision-making. Dr. Melnitchouk is a highly experienced surgeon offering cytoreduction and heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) to patients with peritoneal surface malignancy and leads a research program with an emphasis on early recovery and clinical trials. Her other research interests are global health, colorectal cancer screening and surgery for colorectal cancer in low-to-middle-income countries, quality, and safety.
Tsuyoshi Konishi, MD, PhD, FASCRS
Dr. Konishi is an Associate Professor of Colon and Rectal Surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Before moving to the US in 2020, he served as the Head Attending of Colorectal Surgery at Cancer Institute Hospital in Tokyo. Dr. Konishi's expertise includes advanced MIS for complex colorectal and pelvic malignancies. He is taking international leadership in research and education of lateral pelvic lymph node dissection for rectal cancer. Dr. Konishi has given more than 100 invited lectures in international academic meetings, and has been awarded from multiple major academic societies, including the ASCRS Barton Hoexter, MD, Best Video Award in 2019 and 2022.
Timothy M. Pawlik, MD, MPH, PhD
Dr. Pawlik received his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Pawlik completed surgical training at the University of Michigan Hospital and spent two years at the Massachusetts General Hospital as a surgical oncology research fellow. He then went on for advanced training in surgical oncology at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Dr. Pawlik’s main clinical interests include alimentary tract surgery, with a special interest in hepatic, pancreatic and biliary diseases. Dr. Pawlik also has an interest in medical ethics and completed a fellowship in medical ethics at the Harvard School of Public Health, as well as a Masters in Theology from Harvard Divinity School in Boston. In addition, Dr. Pawlik was the recipient of a Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) KL2 Research Scholar Award and received a PhD from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Clinical Investigations. Dr. Pawlik also received his Executive MBA Program from The Ohio State University Fisher Business School.
Dr. Pawlik took his first faculty appointment at Johns Hopkins in 2005, where he was Professor of Surgery and Oncology, as well as the John L. Cameron Chair of Alimentary Tract Diseases and the Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology until 2016. Dr. Pawlik currently is the Chair of Surgery at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center where he holds The Urban Meyer III and Shelley Meyer Chair for Cancer Research. Under his leadership, the Department of Surgery has recruited over 75 new faculty members, is ranked #8 for NIH funding, and has a top 10 ranked surgical residency program. Dr. Pawlik also serves as the Treasurer / Secretary of The Ohio State University Practice Plan. Dr. Pawlik has given over 600 invited talks both nationally and internationally in 35 different countries. Dr. Pawlik has published over 1,750 articles and 125 book chapters, in addition to editing 16 surgical textbooks; he is a co-I on an NIH R01 investigating IPMNs. His research has been cited over 83,000 times with an H-index of 141, i10 index of 1,000, and an iCite weighted RCR of 2813. Dr. Pawlik serves on multiple editorial boards and is Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Deputy Editor of JAMA Surgery, as well as an Associate Editor for Annals of Surgical Oncology. Dr. Pawlik has served on the executive council of several of the premier surgical associations in the United States. Dr. Pawlik is a member of multiple surgical societies including the American Surgical Association, Society of Surgical Oncology, Society of Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, Halsted Society, and Society of Clinical Surgery. Dr. Pawlik is a past-President of the Association for Academic Surgery, past-President of the Americas Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association, co-President of the Surgical Biology II Club, as well as current President of the Association for Academic Surgery Foundation. Dr. Pawlik’s international contributions have been recognized through his multiple honorary memberships in the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Brazilian Society of Surgical Oncology, Mexican Association for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, Argentinian Hospital de Clinicas, Portugal Surgical Society, Colombian Surgical Association, as well as the Society of General Surgeons of Perú and the Peruvian International Hepato-Pancreatobiliary Association. Dr. Pawlik is an Associate Member of the Academy of Master Educators in the ACS. Dr. Pawlik’s research focuses on determinations of factors associated with prognosis and staging of gastrointestinal cancers, as well as the economics of cancer care. He also studies patient/physician communication and patient engagement, as well as patient perception of cancer-care goals. Dr. Pawlik has consistently been recognized by Castle Connolly as one of America’s “Top Docs.”
Accreditation Statement
The American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education (CME) for physicians.
Designation Statement
ASCRS designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits(s)TM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
American Board of Surgery (ABS) Continuous Certification
Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the learner to earn credit toward the CME requirement(s) of the American Board of Surgery’s Continuous Certification program. It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit learner completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABS credit.
Disclosures
Every person who is involved as committee members, educational planners, presenters, moderators, reviewers, and other individuals in a position to control or influence the content of an activity has disclosed. All disclosed relationships have been reviewed and managed. There are no relevant financial relationships to disclose.
Registration Fees: ASCRS Members FREE; Non-Members $50