Sponsorship in Academic Medicine

Speakers: 

Charu Aggarwal, MD, MPH, FASCO

Leslye M. Heisler Professor for Lung Cancer Excellence

Department of Medicine

Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Catherine Lai, MD, MPH Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine (Hematology-Oncology)

Physician Leader, Leukemia Clinical Research Unit

University of Pennsylvania

Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine

Panelists:

Oluwadamilola M. Fayanju, MD, MA, MPHS

The Helen O. Dickens Presidential Professor

Chief, Division of Breast Surgery

Surgical Director, Rena Rowan Breast Center

Director of the Program in Implementation Innovation, Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation (PC3I)

Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania / Penn Medicine

Stephen J. Bagley, MD, MSCE

Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hematology-Oncology) at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Section Chief, Neuro-Oncology, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine

Clinical Director, Penn Brain Tumor Center

Bios:

Dr. Aggarwal is the Leslye Heisler Professor of Medicine in the Hematology-Oncology Division at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Aggarwal specializes in the management of patients with lung cancer, with a specific and clinical research focus on the development of novel immunotherapeutic approaches, and the discovery and application of biomarkers to guide therapy and monitor treatment. She serves as the Section Chief for Thoracic and H/N Malignancies within the Division of Hematology-Oncology, and serves as the local and national principle investigator for multiple clinical trials focusing on the development of targeted therapies and novel immunotherapeutic approaches. Dr. Aggarwal has led trials evaluating the role of plasma-based next generation sequencing in the management of patients with metastatic lung cancer. She has extensive experience in the planning, design and execution of clinical trials, is an active member of ECOG. She has served on the Annual Meeting Scientific Program Committee of American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), ASCO Education Committee and was a selected participant of the ASCO Leadership Development Program’s class of 2020.

Catherine Lai, MD, MPH, is an Associate Professor and the Physician Leader of the Leukemia Clinical Research Unit at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also Medical Director of the outpatient hematologic malignancies clinic at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. Dr. Lai specializes in detecting, monitoring, and treating acute leukemia and myeloid malignancies in adults. Dr. Lai’s research focuses on integrating health outcomes into clinical trials with novel therapeutics, with a focus on measuring physiologic age and interventions to improve early mortality and overall survival, minimize treatment toxicity and maximize tolerability to therapy. Through her enthusiasm and leadership, Dr. Lai has partnered with Blood Cancer United, formally the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, to establish a Philadelphia Leukemia Consortium to collaborate with local institutions. Prior to joining Penn, Dr. Lai served as the Director of Leukemia at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, DC. She completed her Hematology/Oncology fellowship at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Lai received her master’s in Public Health in Epidemiology from George Washington University.  

Oluwadamilola “Lola” Fayanju, MD, MA is the Helen O. Dickens Presidential Professor in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Chief of the Division of Breast Surgery for Penn Medicine. She is also Surgical Director of the Rena Rowan Breast Center in the Abramson Cancer Center, and Director of the Program in Implementation Innovation at the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation (PC3I). Dr. Fayanju received both her undergraduate degree in History and Science and a master of arts in Comparative Literature from Harvard. She received her medical degree and a master of population health sciences (MPHS) from Washington University in St. Louis, where she also completed her residency in general surgery. She completed fellowship training in Breast Surgical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Dr. Fayanju is an academic breast surgical oncologist whose research spans four areas: (1) addressing disparities and promoting equity in breast cancer presentation, guideline-concordant treatment, outcome, and clinical trial participation (2) improving prognostication and treatment for biologically aggressive variants of breast cancer including inflammatory, lobular, and metaplastic carcinoma (3) optimizing value in oncologic care through the collection and application of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and data on social determinants of health (SDOH) and (4) elucidating the importance of race, ethnicity, and gender in the conduct of research and the promotion of a diverse healthcare and medical research workforce. Her research has been supported by a diverse array of organizations including the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and she has published in a variety of journals including Annals of Surgery, Cancer, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, JCO Oncology Practice, JAMA Oncology, JAMA Surgery, and JAMA. 

Stephen J. Bagley, MD, MSCE, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Neurosurgery and Section Chief of Neuro-Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. As a clinician-scientist, Dr. Bagley focuses both his research and clinical efforts on patients with primary brain and spinal cord tumors. He has particular expertise in translational immunotherapy trials for gliomas, as well as an interest in using blood and cerebrospinal fluid for less invasive molecular characterization and monitoring of brain tumors. Dr. Bagley has led retrospective studies, single institution prospective clinical trials, and multicenter prospective trials conducted nationally through the National Cancer Institute sponsored National Clinical Trials Network. In addition, he has chaired numerous Neuro-Oncology committees and workshops with international scope through the Society for Neuro-Oncology (SNO) and the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Dr. Bagley earned his MD and MSCE degrees from Penn and completed both his internal medicine residency and hematology/oncology fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.