The Unicorn Foundation NET Patient Symposium will be held on Sunday November 11th and we extend a warm welcome to anyone with an interest in NETs including patients, carers, family members and health professionals.
We are excited to announce our program for the day will include leaders in NETs from Australia, New Zealand and around the world. Please click here for full copy of program.
Afternoon tea will be provided (please indicate any dietary preferences when booking or email Linda Ryding).
Registration is required for catering so book now to avoid missing out!
Guest speakers include:
Dr James Yao
James Yao, MD, is Professor and Chairman of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, United States. He was Chair Emeritus of the North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (NANETS). He has received numerous awards including the American Society of Clinical Oncology Career Development Award (2003), Carcinoid Cancer Foundation Research Award (2006), MD Anderson Distinguished Alumni Award (2009), Irwin H. Krakoff Excellence in Clinical Research Award (2011), and the Murray Brennan Distinguished Lecturer Award at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (2012).
Dr Yao received his Doctorate of Medicine from Baylor College of Medicine in 1995. He is board certified in Internal Medicine (1999) and Medical Oncology (2003).
His clinical and research interests focus on neuroendocrine tumors and gastric cancer. He has authored over 100 manuscripts, including practice-changing articles in the New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet. He led the development of everolimus in neuroendocrine tumors from first patient treatment through FDA approval for pancreatic NETs in 2011 and lung and gastrointestinal NETs in 2016.
Dr Simona Glasberg
Head of the Neuroendocrine Tumor Unit and Senior Lecturer in Endocrinology at Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel.
A specialist in endocrinology and internal medicine, Dr Glasberg completed a fellowship in Neuroendocrinology at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and the William Harvey Research Institute in London. Her research explores the mechanisms by which somatostatin analogues regulate NET growth and their interaction with mTOR inhibitors. She is a member of the ENETS Advisory Board and recipient of the 2017 Lindner Prize of the Israel Endocrine Society.
Dr Ben Lawrence
Dr Lawrence is an Auckland-trained Medical Oncologist specialising in gastrointestinal cancers and neuroendocrine tumours. He completed a two-year research fellowship at Yale University focused on molecular biomarkers of tumour proliferation and was previously a Drug Development Scholar at TGen in Scottsdale, Arizona.
He established a nationwide translational NET project in New Zealand involving tumour collection and a virtual multi-centre tumour board. In collaboration with Professor Cris Print, his team undertakes genomic profiling of NETs to create predictive tumour models.
Prof Rodney Hicks
Professor of Medicine and Radiology at the University of Melbourne and Director of the Centre for Cancer Imaging at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. He founded Australia’s first PET facility in 1996 and oversaw installation of the first PET/CT outside Europe and North America in 2001.
Professor Hicks has received major NHMRC funding, including a Program Grant and Practitioner Fellowship, and was inducted as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science in 2015.
A/Prof Michael Michael
Associate Professor Michael is a Gastrointestinal and Neuroendocrine Medical Oncologist with extensive expertise in clinical and translational trials. He trained at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and completed a clinical fellowship at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. He was awarded his Doctorate of Medicine from Monash University in 2009.
He co-chairs the Peter MacCallum Neuroendocrine Unit, which has a national and international referral base, and has played a key role in establishing Australia’s first national NET clinic. His research has attracted over $11 million in competitive funding and resulted in more than 130 publications.
Prof Halfdan Sorbye
Professor and Head of the NET and GI Section at the Department of Oncology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway. His research focuses on gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine carcinomas, NETs, and metastatic colorectal cancer.
He led the landmark Nordic NEC study, which demonstrated the heterogeneity of WHO G3 gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine carcinomas. He is a member of the ENETS Advisory Board and faculty member of ESMO.
Dr Erin Kennedy
Dr Kennedy is an accredited practising dietitian specialising in the nutritional management of patients with neuroendocrine tumours and upper gastrointestinal cancers. She is a senior dietitian at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and is completing her PhD at the University of Melbourne.
Her research focuses on nutritional complications and quality of life in gastroenteropancreatic NET patients. She has contributed to patient education initiatives, including the Unicorn Foundation booklet Nutrition and NETs.
Other speakers include:
Prof Dermot O’Toole
Dr Grace Kong
Alex Murray
Speakers from Unicorn Foundation:
Simone Leyden, Co-founder and CEO
Kate Wakelin, NET Nurse
Meredith Cummins, Project Officer NSW
