Multidisciplinary Management of Rectal Cancer: Questions and Answers

Vincenzo Valentini, MD, is Professor of Radiation Oncology at Università Cattolica S.Cuore, Rome, Italy and Chairman of the Oncology and Hematology Department at Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A.Gemelli, Rome, Italy. Dr. Valentini received his medical degree and his residency certification in Radiotherapy, Radiology and Experimental Oncology from Università Cattolica S.Cuore, Rome, Italy. On 2006 he was appointed as Chairman of the Radiation Oncology Department and on 2015 Chairman of the Oncology and Hematology Department at Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A.Gemelli, Rome, Italy. He is Past President of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology. He was director of the ESTRO teaching Course on Evidence and research on Rectal Cancer form 2007 to 2014 and is director ESTRO-ESOR Course on Multidisciplinary Approach of Cancer Imaging and ESTRO Course on upper GI. He promoted multidisciplinary guidelines on rectal cancer within EURECCA consortium. He was the general secretary of ISIORT (International Society of Intraoperative Radiotherapy) from 2000 to 2011. He received Honorary Membership and Gold medal awards from AROI (Association of Radiation Oncologists of India), European Society of Surgical Oncology (ESSO), Societad Espanola de oncologia Radioterapica (SEOR), Japanese Society for Radiation Oncology (JASTRO) and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Radioonkologie E.V. (DEGRO). To date he has authored more than 350 publications.

Hans-Joachim Schmoll, MD, is professor of Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology/Hematology at Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Department of Internal Medicine, previous chairman of the Department of Oncology and Hematology, and current Chair of the Division of Clinical Oncology Research. olor: rgb(31, 73, 125); font-family: Calibri, sans-serif Dr. Schmoll was appointed 1984 as Chairman of the Division of Medical Oncology at the Medical University Hannover, and 1995 as a Chair of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Department of Internal Medicine, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. He is Past President of the AIO of the German Cancer Society and has developed within the AIO 30 multidisciplinary working groups for Clinical Trials in all fields of Oncology. He was founding Chair of the Testis and the Colorectal Cancer Study Group of the AIO, and founding Chair of the European Germ Cell Cancer Cooperative Group which developed the first International Multidisciplinary Consensus Guideline for the management of Testicular Cancer. He also served as Chair of the first International Multidisciplinary Comprehensive ESMO-Guideline for the management of Colon and Rectal Cancer in 2012. He served as Chair of the Multidisciplinary Oncology Committee in the Executive Board of ESMO for several years and was Scientific Chair of the ESMO Congress in Istanbul in 2006. He is also editor of Standard Reference Book for Medical Oncology in German speaking countries, and was Editor-In-Chief of Oncotargets and Therapy as well as Oncology. Currently he is Editorial Board Member and/or Reviewer of several high-impact Oncology journals, including JCO, Lancet Oncology, New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, etc. He is Honorary Member of the German Society of Hematology/Oncology, of the AIO of the German Cancer Society and of the Hungarian Cancer Society as well as Hungarian Society of Medical Oncology and the Hungarian Society of Oncology. He is also founder and president of the Cancer Society of the state of Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. To date he has authored/coauthored more than 435 publications.

Cornelis J.H. van de Velde, MD, PhD, FRCPS, FACS(hon), is Professor of Surgical Oncology at Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands. Dr. van de Velde is a member and Past President of the Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences. He founded and was the first Chairman of the Dutch Colorectal Cancer Group, the Dutch Gastric Cancer Group, and the Dutch Breast Cancer Group. He is a Past President of the European Society of Surgical Oncology and served as President of ECCO, the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation, from 2012 to 2014, during which time he was also President of the ECCO Congress 2013 in Amsterdam. In 2007 Dr. van de Velde founded the European Registration of Cancer Care (EURECCA), a quality assurance structure in Europe on colorectal and other cancers. In 2013 he received a Royal Dutch Honor: a Knighthood of the Netherlands Lion. He has coordinated numerous national and international projects, including European randomized breast and colorectal cancer studies. To date he has authored more than 900 publications. He has been Editor-in-Chief of the Dutch Textbook of Oncology for 25 years, was Associate Editor of the EJSO, and is editor of the Oxford Textbook of Oncology.