Dr. Richard D. Carvajal is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center where he serves as both Director of Experimental Therapeutics and Director of the Melanoma Service within the Division of Hematology/Oncology. He serves as Co-Leader of the Precision Oncology and Systems Biology Program within the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Richard’s research is focused on the development of novel therapies for patients with melanoma and other cancers, with the overall objective of controlling and curing these diseases. To achieve this goal, he has used our increasing knowledge of the underlying biology of cancer to rapidly integrate this knowledge, novel targeted and immunotherapeutic agents, and efficient trial design in order to improve the outcomes of cancer patients everywhere. Richard's melanoma research has included the study and treatment of uncommon clinical and molecular subsets of melanoma such as melanomas arising from the eye (uveal melanomas), from the mucosal surfaces of the body (mucosal melanomas), and from the palms of the hands, soles of the feet or under the fingernails (acral melanomas).

He has been the principal investigator or co-investigator of over 500 clinical trials, including a number of investigator-initiated, multi-center, Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) sponsored and industry-supported clinical trials. His research has been supported by the National Cancer Institute, the Food and Drug Administration, the Conquer Cancer Foundation, the Melanoma Research Alliance, the Melanoma Research Foundation and the Empire Clinical Research Investigator Program. He has authored or co-authored more than 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts, books, and book chapters.

In addition to Richard's work at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, he serves as the co-chair of the International Rare Cancer Initiative Uveal Melanoma working group, a joint initiative between the National Cancer Institute, the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, and the Cancer Research UK to enhance international collaboration in the conduct of clinical trials for uveal melanoma.

Dr. Christopher Crane is a Vice Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) specializing in gastrointestinal cancers. Prior to joining MSKCC, he served as Program Director/Chief of the Gastrointestinal Section, and Program Director of the Residency and Fellowship training programs in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Christopher is leading several cancer clinical trials across the country. He is interested in the role of radiation dose escalation using novel technologies in the treatment of liver and pancreatic cancers. He has helped develop technologies that allow administration of higher doses of radiation in GI malignancies and states that technology such as image guidance has helped with the challenge of internal organ motion.

Christopher has been involved with the NCI-Gastrointestinal Steering Committee, NRG Oncology Group, ASTRO, ASCO, Locally advanced and Advanced Pancreatic Clinical Practice Guidelines and the Emeritus Scientific and Medical Advisory Board of PANCAN.

Dr. Sapna Patel is a medical oncologist and Associate Professor, Director of the Uveal Melanoma Program, and Melanoma Fellowship Program Director at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas specializing in uveal, cutaneous, and mucosal melanoma with one of the largest metastatic uveal melanoma practices in the world.

Sapna has led several investigator-initiated and multi-institutional clinical trials, including studies of targeted therapy, immunotherapy, T-cell therapy, and antibody-drug conjugates for uveal melanoma. Her lab work focuses on translational research, characterizing longitudinal molecular signatures in tumor samples from patients receiving treatment. She also leads several cutaneous melanoma projects with SWOG and serves as Melanoma Chair for SWOG. She has received intramural and extramural funding including NIH grants. Her goal is to develop effective therapies for adjuvant and metastatic settings, and to identify biomarkers to predict clinical benefit.

Dr. Vincent J. Picozzi is Director for the Pancreaticobiliary Program at Virginia Mason Medical Center. A summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate from Yale University, Vincent obtained his MD degree from Stanford University, did his internship and residency at Harvard University (Brigham and Women's Hospital) and fellowships in hematology and oncology again at Stanford. He also holds a Master’s degree in Medical Management, Delta Omega, from Tulane University. Vincent was an instructor in hematology and oncology at Stanford for two years before joining Virginia Mason, where he has been for the past 36 years.

Vincent has one of the largest pancreaticobiliary oncology practices in the United States. He has received numerous accolades as a clinician, including designation as one of Seattle’s Best Doctors and one of America’s Top Cancer Doctors for the last fifteen consecutive years (2008-2022). He also directs an active, comprehensive clinical and translational research program in pancreaticobiliary cancer at Virginia Mason and has published nearly 200 papers and abstracts.

Vincent has educational committees for the GI Oncology Symposium and ASCO for non-colorectal cancers and served as Educational Chair for both in 2016. He has been a featured speaker at virtually every major clinical oncologic meeting in the United States, including ASCO (the American Society of Clinical Oncology), ASH (the American Society of Hematology), ASTRO (the American Society of Therapeutic Radiation Oncology), Digestive Diseases Week, AHPBA (The American Hepatopancreaticobiliary Association), ACOS (the American College of Surgeons), the Best of ASCO, the GI Oncology Symposium and the World Pancreas Symposium.

Vincent also has held a number of leadership positions with national and regional organizations, including ASCO, ASH, the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG), the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network where he is a past chairman and current board member for the Scientific and Medical Advisory Board, the Pancreas Cancer Research Team (PCRT-Executive Committee) and the Providence Hospice of Seattle (Executive Board). He also has proudly served on the Executive Board of the Washington State Medical Oncology Society since its inception 30 years ago, twice serving as president. Recently, Vincent is the co-principal investigator and Clinical Trials Consortium chairman of the new Precision Promise Clinical Research Consortium sponsored by the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

A Professor of Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgical Oncology at the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Dr. Venu G. Pillarisetty treats patients with pancreatic cancer and other diseases involving the pancreas. He attended Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, did his General Surgery residency at the University of Massachusetts, and completed fellowships in Tumor Immunology and Surgical Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center prior to joining the faculty at the University of Washington.

Funded by the NIH, the DoD, and several industry partnerships, Venu's research laboratory work using cultured slices of fresh human tumors has revealed unique targetable aspects of tumor immunobiology. As a clinical trialist, he is actively working to translate his laboratory findings to patient care through NIH cooperative group studies.

Dr. Marlana Orloff is an associate professor of medicine and medical oncologist at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital – Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA. Her clinical and research focus is on primary and advanced melanomas. Her main interest is in rare melanomas including uveal, conjunctival and mucosal melanoma.

Marlana's research is centered on investigating the epidemiology of uveal melanoma and discovery of novel therapies for primary and advanced uveal, conjunctival, mucosal and cutaneous melanoma. She works very closely with the team at Wills Eye Hospital to manage hundreds of patients with primary and metastatic ocular melanoma. Marlana is a member of a multidisciplinary team of medical oncologists, interventional radiologists, radiation oncologist and numerous other essential personnel that treats patients with metastatic uveal melanoma from all over the country. She is principal and co-investigator on a number of clinical trials enrolling patients with primary and advanced melanomas of all types.

Dr. Mike Pishvaian is an Associate Professor in the Department of Oncology at Johns Hopkins University.  Mike is an MD and has a PhD in Tumor Biology, having earned both degrees at Georgetown in 2001.  He remained at Georgetown after graduation, completing his medical residency in 2004, then his fellowship in Hematology/Oncology in 2007.  He served on the faculty at Georgetown until moving to MD Anderson in 2019.  At MD Anderson, he was the co-director for Clinical Research at the Zayed Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research.  He then moved to Johns Hopkins, and is the Director of the Gastrointestinal, Developmental Therapeutics, and Clinical Research Programs at the National Capital Region Cancer Center.

Mike is a translational oncologist, focused on providing novel therapies for patients, particularly in the areas of pancreatic cancer and refractory colorectal cancer.  His work has been focused in the area of precision medicine, with a special focus on therapy targeted towards homologous recombination DNA repair deficient tumors, and Mike is a Co-investigator on an NIH RO1 to study mechanisms of resistance to PARP inhibitor-based therapy, and a Co-PI of a U01 grant aimed at studying ex vivo patient derived models of cancer for patients with pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Steven C. Katz joined TriSalus in 2018 as Chief Medical Advisor and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Boards. In September 2020, Steven became the first Chief Medical Officer of TriSalus. Previously, as a full-time academic surgical oncologist, he developed a reputation as a leader in solid tumor immunotherapy, cellular therapeutics, cancer biology, liver immunology and execution of immunotherapy clinical trials. His laboratory has focused on studying liver immunosuppressive cells and strategies for enabling immunotherapy in liver tumors. He also currently serves as Associate Professor of Surgery at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. His clinical expertise is in the surgical therapy and multi-disciplinary management of liver tumors, pancreas tumors, sarcoma and melanoma.

Steven attended the New York University School of Medicine, received the Alpha Omega Alpha Award, and was inducted into the Alpha Omega Honor Society. He completed his general surgery residency at the New York University Medical Center and was appointed as the Chief Resident. His training included two-year fellowships in Immunology and then Surgical Oncology at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where he served as the Chief Administrative Fellow. Steven earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, with a double-major in molecular biology/biochemistry and government.

Steven has received research grants from numerous societies, the NIH and DOD. He has led five solid tumor CAR-T clinical trials, testing novel delivery approaches. He serves as a reviewer for several scientific journals and has served on numerous editorial boards. Steven also participates in NIH study sections and American Board of Surgery exam committees.