Speakers

(in alphabetical order)

Andrew Bellizzi

Andrew M Bellizzi, M.D. is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Iowa. Dr. Bellizzi completed undergraduate work in Anthropology and Science Preprofessional Studies at the University of Notre Dame (‘00) and received his medical degree from Northwestern University (‘04).  Following combined training in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at the University of Virginia (‘08), he completed a fellowship in Gastrointestinal and Liver Pathology at The Ohio State University (‘09). After 2 years as a junior faculty at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, he moved to Iowa in the Fall of 2011. Dr. Bellizzi is Director of Immunohistochemistry, GI Pathology, and the GI Pathology Fellowship at the University of Iowa. He is an active member of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, the American Society of Clinical Pathology, and the College of American Pathologists, including serving as immediate past Chair of the USCAP Stowell-Orbison Award and the CAP Immunohistochemistry Committees. He is Secretary-Treasurer of the International Society for Immunohistochemistry and Molecular Morphology and is an Associate (Reviews), Section (Immunohistochemistry), and Assistant Editor (GI pathology) of Applied Immunohistochemistry and Molecular Morphology, Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and the American Journal of Clinical Pathology, respectively. Dr. Bellizzi’s research interests include the diagnosis, classification, and etiopathogenesis of human disease, with an emphasis on gastrointestinal, pancreatic, neuroendocrine, and hereditary tumors. His research program focuses on applications of diagnostic immunohistochemistry. Outside of the office, Andrew enjoys “getting into trouble” with his 14 and 16-year-old boys, Aidan and Darby. In addition to “very special stains,” he also loves hiking, cooking, craft beer, Notre Dame football, the Boston Red Sox, and the Oxford comma.

Maria Debiec-Rychter (Belgium)

Is a professor emeritus at the Department of Human Genetics, KU Leuven, Belgium. In the past, her scientific interest was focused on the development and transfer of the knowledge of genetic origin and molecular features of solid tumors (mainly sarcomas and brain neoplastic entities) to the daily medical practice, aiming at improvement of diagnostic, prognostic and predictive tools, identification of new therapeutic targets and promotion of innovative clinical trials in order to evaluate these new targets. She is an author and co-author of 318 publications in peer reviewed journals.

Wiesława Grajkowska (Poland)

Pathologist and neuropathologist, national consultant of neuropathology, professor  at The Department of Pathology, head of Laboratory of Oncological Pathology and Medical Biostructure in The Childrens Memorial Health Institute, Warsaw, Poland. Her scientific interest is focused on the development and transfer of the knowledge of genetic origin and molecular features of pediatric and adult brain tumors to the daily histopathological and onological practice, including  improvement of diagnostic, prognostic and predictive markers. She is an author and co-author of  237 publications in peer reviewed journals.

Jan Klos (Norway)

Senior Consultant in the Department of Pathology, Stavanger University Hospital, Norway. His professional focus is on diagnostic pathology, particularly hematopathology, pathology of the breast and cytopathology. He has been actively involved in teaching immunohistochemistry since 2000 as co-organizer of national and international meetings and courses as well as invited speaker. Since 2009 he is a member of the core group and assessor in NordiQC organization. He is a co-author of more than 40 publications in the field of pathology.

Konstanty Korski (Germany)

Konstanty Korski is a Senior Expert Pathologist and R&D Lead for Digital Pathology in the Roche pharma personalised healthcare (phc) Data, Analytics & Imaging group in Basel, Switzerland. He graduated from the Poznan University of Medical Sciences (2001) and is board certified in general pathology (2008). Since his graduation, he served as a staff pathologist in the Pathology Department at the Greater Poland Cancer Center in Poznan, Poland, where his main focus was breast and gynecologic pathology, cytopathology, immunohistochemistry and molecular pathology. At that time, in one of his roles he coordinated tumor sample collection process in the collaborative international effort – The Cancer Genome Project (TCGA). Konstanty joined Roche in 2014 at the Roche Innovation Centre Munich where he focused on the application of digital pathology to tumor tissue analysis and immune microenvironment characterization in the context of early phase clinical trials. In 2020, Konstanty joined the phc group in Basel where he leads the R&D DP team. The team concentrates on the extraction of information from the digital images of the H&E slides and on translating it to predictive/prognostic algorithms using state-of-the-art machine learning techniques. Konstanty co-authored more than 30 peer reviewed publications and three patent applications.

Artur Kowalik (Poland)

He is a specialist in medical laboratory genetics. Since 2008 he is Head of the Department of Molecular Diagnostics at the Holly Cross Oncology Center in Kielce. He also works in the Department of Medical Biology at the Institute of Biology, Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce. Scientific interests include research on cancer biology using modern molecular biology methods such as NGS and the application of liquid biopsy in cancer diagnosis and monitoring the effectiveness of cancer treatment. He is an author and co-author of 85 peer-reviewed publications, 12 book chapters, and two patent applications in the field of tumor biology, molecular pathology, and molecular diagnostics.

Jerzy Lasota (USA)

Staff Scientist at the Surgical Pathology Section of the Laboratory of Pathology, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland. Previously at the Department of Soft Tissue Pathology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, D.C., Thomas Jefferson University and Temple University’s Fels Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Biology in Philadelphia, as a Research Pathologist and in the Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory. He is an author and co-author of 130 publications, including studies on genotyping gastrointestinal stromal tumours and several book chapters on molecular genetics of soft tissue tumors.

Anais Malpica (USA)

Dr. Anais Malpica is a Professor of Pathology at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. She received her M.D. degree from the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas, Venezuela, and completed both Anatomic and Clinical Pathology residencies at Boston University and Baylor College of Medicine. This was followed by a fellowship in Surgical Pathology at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. She was the former Director of the Gynecologic Pathology Section (2006-2014) and Director of the Gynecologic Pathology Fellowship Program (2003-2013)at MD Anderson. Dr. Malpica has authored and co- authored 275 scientific articles, 184 abstracts, numerous book chapters and 1 book on biopsy interpretation of the uterine cervix and corpus (2 editions). She is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Gynecological Pathology and a former member of the editorial board of Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Gynecologic Oncology. She is currently a reviewer for Histopathology, Cancer, Advances of Anatomic Pathology, Modern Pathology, Gynecologic Oncology and other journals. She was an author and editor of the 2020 WHO Classification of Female Genital Tract Tumours. She is a former Co-chair of the Educational Committee of the International Society of Gynecologic Pathology (2014-2016), and a former member of the Endometrial Cancer Task Force (2017-2018) and the Endocervical Cancer Task Force (2019-2020) of the International Society of Gynecologic Pathology. She has been involved in multiple funded research projects as a Co-investigator or collaborator. Dr. Malpica has organized numerous seminars and conferences about gynecologic pathology throughout the world and has given over 400 lectures in local, national and international meetings, including the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, the CAP, the ASCP, the European Congress of Pathology, the International Academy of Pathology, the Latin American Congress of Pathology, the German Congress of Pathology, the Canadian Association of Pathologists, etc. She has been an invited lecturer at numerous universities in the United States, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia.

Markku Miettinen (USA)

Professor and Head of Surgical Pathology, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, previously at Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington DC and Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, USA. His main interest is pathology of soft tissues. His contribution to definition, biology and diagnosis of Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors is well recognized. He is a member of editorial boards in several top ranked pathology journals and reviewer in a number of most recognized pathology journals. His list of publications has more than 350 positions including two handbooks on Pathology of Soft Tissues and contributions to WHO Classification of Tumours of Soft Tissue and Bone. In recognition of his work honored with Totten Lecture and Award, University of Pittsburgh in 2005.

Søren Nielsen (Denmark)

Søren Nielsen is Director of Nordic immunohistochemical Quality Control (NordiQC) being an international external quality assessment (EQA) scheme for diagnostic pathology laboratories. In addition to the EQA scheme NordiQC offers technical and educational service to laboratories and IHC stakeholders globally and have entered collaboration with the main IHC industry companies for consultancy services. In NordiQC, he also functions as scientific lead, assessor and data analyst in the NordiQC general module, breast module, companion diagnostic module and HER-2 ISH module. He is a regular lecturer and organizer of national and international immunohistochemical workshops, particularly in the field of protocol optimization and standardization. He is author and co-author of more than 60 scientific papers and several book chapters based on immunohistochemical studies. Member of the editorial board of international journals and the NordiQC representative in IQN Path, being a global network for external quality schemes in pathology. Søren Nielsen is educated as biomedical scientist.

Anna Porwit (Sweden)

Professor of pathology at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Division Oncology and Pathology, Lund University, Sweden since 2016, professor emerita since 2022.
Previously: Professor of pathology at the University of Toronto 2011-2015 and at Karolinska Institute 2003-2010. She is a co-author of approximately 240 original and review papers as well as chapters in several textbooks, editor of the textbook “Blood and Bone Marrow Pathology” and “Multiparameter Flow Cytometry in diagnosis of hematological malignancies” as well as co-author of some chapters in the 2008 and 2016 editions of “WHO Classification of Haematopoietic Malignancies”.

Hans-Ulrich Schildhaus (Germany)

Professor of Molecular Tumor Pathology and Head of the Molecular Pathology Laboratory at the Institute of Pathology, authorized representative for Personalized Medicine at the University Medical Center, Georg August University, Göttingen, Germany. He is also a reviewer for international journals such as the Journal of Pathology, Oncotarget, Virchows Archive, Cancer Research etc. as well as an invited speaker and lecturer of the International Academy of Pathology (IAP) in the areas of molecular pathology, fluorescence in situ hybridization and soft tissue tumors. He is also co-author of more than 100 publications in pathology. His major scientific interest is focused on lung cancer, sarcomas and the deveopment of predictive biomarkers.

R. Schneider-Stock (Germany)

Professor of Experimental Tumorpathology at the Institute of Pathology, University Hospital Erlangen. She is an Editorial board member of Gastroenterology, Pathology, Research & Practice and Histology & Histopathology. She has authored or co-authored more than 200 research papers and reviews in the field of molecular and experimental Pathology. In the last years her major research interest is focused on colon cancer progression and metastasis. Her lab is intensively using the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay and other alternative 3D test models to study tumor aggressiveness. She was the organizer of the first international CAM conference in 2022. She is an adjunct Professor at the Mahidol University Bangkok, Thailand.

K. Seliga (Poland)

Katarzyna Seliga M.Sc. PhD is a molecular biologist, biotechnologist and medical laboratory diagnostician. She graduated from the University of Warsaw (Faculty of Biology) and Nicolaus Copernicus University (Ludwik Rydygier Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz). Since 2010 she has been working at the National Cancer Institute, in the Department of Cancer Molecular and Genetic Diagnostics. Involved in the development and clinical validation of molecular diagnostic methods principally in the field of solid tumors and sarcoma diagnostics. She is responsible for the introduction of innovative methods into clinical practice e.g liquid biopsy as a tool for precise diagnostics in patients with solid tumors eligible for targeted treatment. In the year 2022 she has been awarded the Silver Cross of Merit for contribution to the development of oncology and healthcare in Poland. She is the author of numerous scientific papers, co-organizer of training conferences, national and international molecular biology workshops and the investigator in several research and clinical projects, funded by National Science Centre (NCN) and Medical Research Agency (ABM).

Simone Stolnicu (Romania)

Studied medicine and graduated from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Iasi, Romania in 1991. She became Assistant Professor in 1993, completed pathology residency training and received her PhD in Medicine at the University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology of Targu Mures (UMFST), Romania. She completed her training in gynecologic and breast pathology as a fellow/observer at University of Granada, Spain, University of Trieste, Italy, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston USA and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, USA. Since 1997, she is a consultant pathologist at the Department of Pathology, UMFST, Romania, specialized in the diagnosis of gynecologic and breast diseases. She is also a professor of pathology at the same university, teaching students, residents and PhD students for three decades. She was an invited lecturer and course director of continuing education courses on gynecologic and breast pathology offered by national (Eurogynpath) and international (European Society of Pathology, Canadian Association of Pathologists, International Academy of Pathology, International Gynecologic Cancer Society, American Society of Clinical Pathologists, Latin American Society of Pathology, International Society of Gynecological Pathologists) medical organizations. She was Secretary (2013-2016) and Chair (2017-2021) of Gynecologic Pathology Working Group of the European Society of Pathology (ESP) serving on abstract review and scientific committees regarding the ESP activities. She is currently member of International Society of Gynecologic Pathologists (ISGyP) Global Advisory Network, Officer-at-Large on the Board Committee of ISGyP and member of Financing Committee of ISGyP. Dr Stolnicu actively worked to finalize the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the ESP and ISGyP. She works as part of Project ECHO, a joint educational venture of International Gynecologic Cancer Society and ISGyP serving as a pathology mentor through remote sessions with cancer centers in Caribbean Countries. She is also an expert panel of International Collaboration on Cancer Reporting (ICCR) Carcinoma of the Cervix dataset and a member of the Pathology National Committee in Romania. She serves as a member of editorial board and/or reviewer for many peer-reviewed journals, has authored and coauthored more than 400 publications in indexed, peer-reviewed journals and is editor/author of 25 medical books in the field of gynecologic and breast pathology, including the 2020 WHO classification of the female genital tract tumors. 

Tibor Tot (Sweden)

Is an associate professor of pathology at the University of Uppsala, former head of Laboratory Medicine Dalarna and of the Department of Pathology and Clinical Cytology at the Central Hospital in Falun, Sweden. The last years he was one of the faculty members in the breast pathology arm of the European School of Pathology, invited faculty member in European School of Radiology and one of the scientific directors in the European School of Oncology Certificate of Competence in Breast Cancer program. In addition to more than 100 journal articles and 20 book chapters, he published the book Practical Breast Pathology, an official teaching material of the European School of Pathology. He is also co-author of the Thieme Series on Art and Science of Mammography. With radiological – pathological correlation of breast diseases as the main field of interest, he is repeatedly invited lecturer at the European Congress of Radiology, European Congress of Pathology, and other international and national congresses, symposia, and teaching courses all over the world. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Virchows Archiv, Vojnosanitetski pregled (Belgrade), the Journal of OncoPathology, and the Journal of Solid Tumors, one of the editors of Case Reports in Pathology, member of the European Working Groups for Breast Cancer Screening Pathology and the past chair of the Working Group for Breast Pathology of the European Society of Pathology.

Joanna Trubicka

Molecular biologist, assistant profesor at The Department of Pathology and a staff member of Laboratory of Oncological Pathology and Medical Biostructure in The Children’s Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw, Poland. Her research interests mainly concentrate on molecular biomarkers crucial for cancer diagnosis and treatment.  Her study is focused on: 1/identification of new genetic alterations characteristic for different histological tumor types, 2/determination of the usefulness of the identified alterations as prognostic markers and predictive markers for treatment schemes, 3/identification of molecular markers predisposing to tumour in children.  She is an author and co-authored over 62 publications on clinical studies and molecular genetics of tumors in peer reviewed journals.

Andrzej Tysarowski (Poland)

Dr Andrzej Tysarowski, specialist in medical laboratory genetics, MBA in Healthcare Management. Awarded the Silver Cross of Merit for contributions to the development of oncology and health care in Poland. He is the diagnostics coordinator at the National Cancer Strategy programme and member of the European Board of Medical Genetics. Since 2003, he has been working at the National Cancer Institute, where he is the head of the Cancer Molecular and Genetic Diagnostics Department. He is involved i.a in the implementation of modern molecular biology techniques for oncological genetic diagnostics, particularly those based on NGS and liquid biopsy (ctDNA) testing. He is the author of many scientific papers, co-organizer of training conferences, national and international molecular biology workshops and the investigator in several research and clinical projects, funded by National Science Centre (NCN) and Medical Research Agency (ABM).

Janusz Rys (Poland)

Graduated from Medical Faculty Jagiellonian University (1984), board certified pathologist (1991). Since 2002 is Head of Department of Tumor Pathology, Centre of Oncology, Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Institute and Centre of Oncology, Kraków, Poland. Since Februar 2021, he is also the director of the M. Sklodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology, Cracow Branch. Author and co-author of over 195 articles published, most of them concerning breast and soft tissue pathology. Editor in chief of the Polish Journal of Pathology.