Keynote Speaker and Invited Speakers

Vinod Balachandran completed his undergraduate degree in Physics at Cornell University, medical degree at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, general surgery residency at Weill Cornell’s New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and complex surgical oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). In 2015, he joined MSK as faculty, where he is a laboratory head in the Imuno-Oncology Program, an attending hepatopancreatobiliary surgeon, and Founding Director of The Olayan Center for Cancer Vaccines at MSK, an academic biohub focused on catalyzing next-generation precision cancer vaccines. In 2017, Vinod’s group made the striking observation that exceptional survivors of pancreatic cancer have immune-activated tumors infiltrated with T cells that recognize highly immunogenic mutation-derived neoantigens. As pancreatic cancer, and most solid tumors, were presumed to lack clinically relevant neoantigens, this unexpected discovery has spurred efforts to identify, validate, and deliver immunogenic neoantigens to “therapeutically phenocopy” the exceptional survivor state. His group has spearheaded these efforts, including the landmark first clinical trial of precision mRNA neoantigen vaccines for pancreatic cancer. The promising results of this trial have galvanized his group’s efforts to uncover and apply the principles of successful vaccination to extend their use in pancreatic and other similarly high-need cancers. Vinod has received several honors for his work, including the 2023 Trailblazer Prize for Clinician Scientists from the Foundation for the NIH.

Nelson J. Dusetti is Director of Research at INSERM and heads the Translational and Therapeutic Target Research in Pancreatic Cancer team at the Cancer Research Center of Marseille (CRCM), France. His research focuses on pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, combining patient-derived models, multi-omics approaches and translational studies to improve treatment stratification and identify therapeutic vulnerabilities.

His work has contributed to the development of transcriptome-based strategies for precision oncology in pancreatic cancer. His current research investigates how pancreatic tumors evolve under therapeutic pressure, with the aim of understanding the mechanisms driving treatment resistance and exploiting these evolutionary trajectories to develop more effective personalized therapies.

Barbara Grünwald is a trained Molecular Biotechnologist with a PhD in Experimental Medicine from the Technical University in Munich. Following a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PMCC) in Toronto, she now holds dual appointments at the University Hospital Essen and at PMCC. Her work is centred around the premise that cancer heterogeneity at the cellular and spatial level is not random noise but a fundamental basis on which solid tumor tissues operate.  Current research in Grünwald lab is focused on tumor-host interactions in solid tumors with a particular emphasis on pancreatic cancer and tissue self-organizational mechanisms that underlie malignant behavior, immune function, and drug resistance. Her team applies a systems biology approach that combines traditional methods such as histopathology with state-of-the-art multimodal profiling techniques, applied to human tissues and patient-derived 3D models. In close collaboration with partners from the clinic, the Grünwald lab strives to develop mechanistic insights into tumor heterogeneity along with tools to effectively navigate this phenomenon during clinical decision making.

Matthias Löhr is the Professor of Gastroenterology & Hepatology at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Löhr earned his MD in Germany, Univ. of Hamburg and his Dr. med. in pancreatic pathology. After residency in pathology, postdoc at Scripps, La Jolla, CA. Residency in Medicine and gastroenterology at Univ. of Erlangen and later Univ. of Rostock where he earned his PhD on pancreatic diseases. 2000-07 double appointment at the Univ. of Heidelberg and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) as Professor of Molecular Gastroenterology. Since 2007, at Karolinska Institutet where he leads the Pancreas team. Löhr led UEG guidelines for chronic pancreatitis (HaPanEU), IgG4-related diseases, for Pancreatic Exocrine Insufficiency and the consensus for Fatty Pancreas. He was the secretary general of EPC, program director of Pancreas 2000 and president of the United European Gastroenterology (UEG). He received the life time achievement award of EPC in 2023 and of the International Association of Pancreatology (IAP) in 2026. He authored 450 publications. Current areas of interest are chronic and autoimmune pancreatitis, pancreatic function/pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, fatty pancreas, endo-exo axis, IPMN, familiar pancreatic cancer/IAR, early pancreatic cancer, and liquid biopsy.

Professor Jeanin Elise van Hooft, MD, PhD, MBA, is Chair of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands. A fellow of the EBGH, FESGE, and FASGE, she specializes in interventional endoscopy, with a particular focus on hepato-pancreatico-biliary procedures.

Since 2009, she has led a research group dedicated to pancreatic diseases and the endoscopic treatment of gastrointestinal strictures, resulting in over 350 peer-reviewed publications and numerous invited lectures worldwide. A leading figure in her field, Professor van Hooft chairs the internationally recognized Pancreatitis Working Group Netherlands (PWN), fostering national collaboration and innovation in pancreatitis research and care.

She chairs the Scientific Committee of the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE), sits on the board of Women in Endoscopy (WIE), and is a research board member of the Dutch Pancreatic Cancer Group (DPCG). She additionally holds an MBA from the Amsterdam Business School, University of Amsterdam (Triple Crown accredited).

C. Benedikt Westphalen is a medical oncologist and clinician scientist at LMU University Hospital Munich, where he directs the Center for Personalized Medicine and heads the Precision Oncology Program at the Comprehensive Cancer Center Munich.

His research bridges molecular diagnostics, clinical trials, and patient care, with a focus on gastrointestinal cancers. Pancreatic cancer has been central to his work since his postdoctoral training at Columbia University, where he studied the cellular origins of pancreatic and gastrointestinal tumors and the role of progenitor cells in tissue regeneration and early carcinogenesis. His current work addresses biomarker-driven therapy, tumor-agnostic treatment strategies, and the translation of molecular findings into clinical practice, including real-world evidence generation in precision oncology.

He serves as investigator in national and international trials in pancreatic and biliary tract cancer and cancers of unknown primary. He chairs the ESMO Precision Oncology and Taxonomy Committee and is a member of the ESMO Council. At the European level, he serves on the Cancer Mission Board of the European Commission and leads the European Cancer Hub Germany. He has authored more than 170 peer-reviewed publications, including ESMO recommendations on molecular tumor boards, genomic reporting, and tumor-agnostic drug development, and serves as Section Editor for ESMO Gastrointestinal Oncology and The Oncologist.