Faculty

Department of Oncology, Aarhus University Hospital and Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

Dr. Spindler holds position as consultant oncologist at Department of Oncology Aarhus University Hospital responsible for treatment, research and development in lower gastrointestinal cancer. She was appointed Professor in Clinical Oncology in 2017, with the responsibility for improving precision therapy in Gastrointestinal cancer,  and has built a research environment for gastrointestinal cancer.

Professor Spindler’s research areas comprises clinical and translational studies in gastrointestinal cancers in both medical and radiation oncology, and with a special focus on the clinical implementation of liquid biopsies. She was vice chair of the Danish Comprehensive Cancer Center National Research Center for Circulating Tumor DNA main board, and collaborate to implement liquid biopsies through clinical intervention trials, including a ctDNA-RECIST program for implementation of ctDNA as response criteria in medical oncology.

Professor Spindler chairs the multidiciplinary Danish Anal Cancer Group, DACG, and works in several Nordic and European groups for improved radiotherapy for lower GI cancer. In 2019 she founded the International Multidiciplinary Anal Cancer Consortium, IMACC and lead an anal cancer translational science group under the International Rare Cancers Initiative, IRCI.  She has served as chair of the Danish Cancer Society Scientific Board, and member of the Institutional Review Board until 2024 and is a member of several European scientific societies.

Leeds University, Leeds, UK

David Sebag-Montefiore’s research career has focused on the convergence of anal cancer, radiotherapy and clinical trials research. He co-lead the Cancer Research UK funded ACT 2 trial, was instrumental in the implementation of IMRT in the UK and is the Chief Investigator of the Cancer Research UK innovative PLATO anal cancer platform that includes the ACT3, 4 and 5 trials personalizing radiotherapy dose for anal cancer patients across the loco-regional disease spectrum. His anal cancer research interests include patient reported outcomes, human papilloma virus cancer biology, the immune response and the development of predictive biomarkers to  further personailse anal cancer treatments.

Dept of Oncology, Skane University Hospital, Lund, Sweden

Anders Johnsson has a long clinical experience in GI oncology, with special interest in colorectal and anal cancer. He is chairman for the Swedish anal cancer group and responsible for the Swedish anal cancer registry. Many years of research on anal cancer, mainly based on national and Nordic registries.

Department of Oncology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, and Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Clinical experience in treatment of anal cancer, with chemoradiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Research interest in chemoradiotherapy outcomes of survival and late effects.

Participation in clinical trials to improve outcomes, and to determine the role of novel treatment strategies.

Department of Translational Medicine, University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara, Italy

Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden

Colorectal surgeon with interest and experience in rectal and anal cancer. Previous President of the European Society of Coloproctology (ESCP) and experience of international multi-centre RCT:s.

Asklepios Tumorzentrum Hamburg, AK Altona, Germany

Dirk Arnold is co-ordinator of the EORTC GI Cancer Group for Anal Cancer, as well as one of the co-chairmen of the Anal Cancer working group of the International Rare Cancer Initiative (IRCI). His main field of interest is the development of new options for systemic treatment – specifically new „targeted“ approaches, considering the molecular information and characterization of Anal Cancer, as well as innovative immuno-therapeutic options.

The Royal Marsden, Cavendish Square, Kingston, Sutton, UK

Dr Rao is a Consultant Medical Oncologist specializing in gastrointestinal cancers and cancers of unknown primary.  Her research interests include clinical trials with novel therapies in GI cancers and she is the Principal investigator and  Chief investigator on a number of national and international trials with novel agents and immunotherapy.

She serves on the committees for the UK National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Colorectal Cancer and Anal-Rectal Clinical Study Groups and is an active member of the International Rare Cancers Initiative (IRCI). She serves on the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO ) educational  faculty for GI Tumours. She sits on a number of national and international trial management groups and data monitoring committees.

Dr Rao is an active contributor to international research through peer review journals and conferences and has given invited lectures globally.

University of Bern and University Cancer Center, Inselspital, Bern, Switzerland

Eva Segelov is an Australian-trained Medical Oncologist specialising in GI Oncology, with a particular interest in anal cancer and NETs. In December 2022 she relocated to Switzerland to take the role as Head of the Department of Clinical Research for the Faculty of Medicine, University of Bern. She has a longstanding interest in collaborative, academic clinical trials, particularly IITs, and associated translational research from trial biospecimens. In addition she is a keen advocate of PPI (patient and public involvement) in clinical research. She has been a member of the Anal Cancer working group of the International Rare Cancer Initiative (IRCI) and also IMACC since their foundation.

Bordeaux University Hospital, Bordeaux, France

Dr. Vendrely works as a radiation oncologist at the Bordeaux University Hospital and Professor at Bordeaux University.

Dr. Vendrely areas of clinical expertise are pancreatic cancer, ano-rectal cancer, and stereotactic body radiotherapy. She remains actively engaged in research as either principal investigator or co-participant in numerous studies, especially regarding rectal preservation in good responders after chemoradiotherapy.

She is the co-chair of the ano-rectal research group at the Fédération Francophone de Cancérologie Digestive (FFCD).