11th Edition
BRAIN METASTASES RESEARCH
AND EMERGING THERAPY CONFERENCE
4th TO 6th OCTOBER
2023 • PARIS
2023 • PARIS
Welcome to the 11th edition of Brain Mets meeting!
Dear Friends,
We are delighted to welcome you to Paris for the Eleventh Annual Brain Metastases Research and Emerging Therapy Conference.
Past successful editions have conforted us to organize again the conference. The meeting will be held, as for previous editions under the auspices of EANS and EORTC but, also in association with the Institut Gustave Roussy since our rewarding partnership initiated during the last 10th edition.
This initiative is devoted to accelerate therapeutic discoveries and, to improve care of patients with metastatic CNS malignancies. We anticipate that this cross-sectional meeting will provide a deeper dive into basic and translational research and, also stimulate innovative and insightful clinical trial on brain metastatic patients.
These pre, intra and post diagnosis issues of great unmet need will be addressed in a dynamic and interactive framework.
Several topics will be specifically discussed like challenges in precision medicine management and, the actual role of liquid biopsies for CNS metastases patients. The increasing place of new local treatments and, combined strategies in the era of targeted therapies and immune check point inhibitors will also be addressed.
We are convinced that this conference would constitute an unparalleled platform to share basic, translational, and clinical data and explore new treatment paradigms in this patient population.
Finally, the scientific committee hopes that this meeting will provide a fantastic opportunity to develop networking with all professionals involved in brain metastases management and, lay the foundation for future collaborative projects.
The program chairs
Manmeet Ahluwalia (US), Fabrice Barlési (FR), Frédéric Dhermain (FR), Emilie Le Rhun (CH), Philippe Métellus (FR), Ricardo Soffietti (IT), Michael Weller (CH), Manfred Westphal (DE)
PROGRAM CHAIRS
Manmeet Ahluwalia
Miami, USA
Manmeet Ahluwalia, MD, FACP is the Dean and Diane Miller Family Endowed Chair in Neuro-Oncology. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University (CCLCM) where he subspecializes in treatment of patients with brain tumors and brain metastases. He is the Director, Brain Metastasis Research Program and the Associate Director, Clinical Trials, Operations in the Rose Ella Burkhardt Brain Tumor and Neuro-Oncology Center of the Neurological Institute of Cleveland Clinic. He is the Section Head of NeuroOncology Outcomes and is a staff in the Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic and has joint appointment in the Developmental Therapeutics Program, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Dr. Ahluwalia’s research focuses on the development of new therapies for patients with brain tumors and brain metastases. He is currently leading several clinical trials involving new targeted therapies as well as treatments targeting tumor blood vessels (angiogenesis) and cancer stem cells. His results have been presented nationally and internationally and have resulted in over 70 editorials, peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters. Dr. Ahluwalia serves as the Associate Editor on Tumor Section of Neurosurgery, the official Journal of Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS). He is the Associate Editor of ASCO Post, the newsletter of ASCO. He is the Section Editor of NeuroOncology for HemOnc Today. He serves as a reviewer on multiple journals including Cancer, NeuroOncology, Cancer Research, Journal of NeuroOncology, Expert Reviews in Neurotherapeutics, BMC Cancer, Molecular Cancer Research, Expert Review of Anticancer Therapy, Expert Opinion in Pharmacotherapy, Journal of Neurology & Neurophysiology.
Dr. Ahluwalia received his MD degree from the Maulana Azad Medical College, University of Delhi. He completed his residency at Fairview General Hospital and fellowship training at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
Fabrice Barlesi
Villejuif, France
A specialist in lung cancer, precision medicine and cancer immunology, Prof. Fabrice Barlesi is a major player in research on innovative cancer therapies. He was appointed Medical Director and Director of Clinical Research at Gustave Roussy in early 2020.
Professor of Medicine at the University of Aix-Marseille, Prof. Barlesi previously headed the Multidisciplinary Oncology and Therapeutic Innovations Department at the Hôpital Nord in Marseille (AP-HM), as well as the Marseille Early Cancer Trials Center (CLIP2), which he created. He holds a PhD in science and management, methods of analysis of health systems and a master’s degree in general hospital management from ESSEC.
Prof. Barlesi also co-founded the French immunology cluster Marseille Immunopôle, whose mission is to bring together the immunology expertise of the Aix-Marseille metropolitan area. In this context, he coordinates the major international research project PIONeeR (Investissement d’avenir RHU 2017) which aims to better understand, prevent and overcome resistance to immunotherapy – anti-PD1(L1) – in lung cancer. He was also vice-president of the PACA cancer cluster.
Prof. Barlesi has authored and co-authored nearly 300 publications in international journals or specialized books. In 2018, the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) awarded him the prestigious Heine H. Hansen Award. Fabrice Barlesi is listed as one of the most influential researchers in the world (Highly cited researchers by Web of Science Group).
Frédéric Dhermain
Villejuif, France
Born the 17th of March 1961, married, four children.
Mail: Frederic.dhermain@gustaveroussy.fr
Position: Senior Radiation Oncologist, full-time since 2003, Head of the Brain Tumor Board (250 new patients in 2015).
Areas of interest : Gliomas, Meningiomas, Primary and Secondary Brain tumors in Adults and Pediatrics. Functional Imaging and multi-modality treatments (MRI and PET).
More than 75 publications in: Lancet Neurol, Brain, Mutation Research, Annals of Oncology, Int J Radiat Biol Oncol Phys, Cancer Radiotherapie, Br J Haematology, Europ J Cancer, Radiother Oncology, J Neuro-Oncology, Radiat Oncol, Neurology, Neurosurgery. Chapter in Handbook of Neurology (Springer).
Reviewer for: Neuro-Oncology, Clinical Cancer Research, Oncotarget.
Ongoing scientific subjects: Prognostic impact of Perfusion / Permeability characteristics in intra-cranial tumors, functional MRI and PET in RT of Gliomas compared to conventional MRI and CT scan, Stereotactic therapy and other high-precision RT tools in Brain metastases.
Ph.D Thesis at the University Paris-Sud on “Functional MRI and Gliomas”, Pr Bourhis Director, Dr Ducreux Co-Director (LIMEC, INSERM Unit 788), 1st September 2010.
Experience with IMRT, Proton therapy, Stereotactic Radiotherapy (Cyberknife), Radio-chemotherapy, Multimodality imaging for diagnosis and radiotherapy.
Member of the EORTC Brain Tumor Group (Treasurer), Quality assurance and Imaging sub-comitees, SNO (Society of NeuroOncology), ESTRO and ANOCEF (Board). GCP trained.
Recent Publications
Dhermain F, Deutsch E. Stereotactic radiation and checkpoint inhibitors in melanoma patients with BM: a question of drug, timing or both? Ann Oncol. 2016 Mar;27(3):371-2.
Dhermain F, Barani IJ. Complications from radiotherapy. Handb Clin Neurol. 2016;134:219-34.
Le Rhun E, Dhermain F, Vogin G, Reyns N, Metellus P. Radionecrosis after stereotactic radiotherapy for brain metastases. Expert Rev Neurother. 2016 Aug;16(8):903-14.
Dhermain F, Reyns N, Colin P, Métellus P, Mornex F, Noël G. Stereotactic radiotherapy in brain metastases. Cancer Radiother. 2015 Jan 29. pii: S1278-3218 Le Rhun É, Dhermain F, Noël G, et al. ANOCEF guidelines for the management of brain metastases. Cancer Radiother. 2015 Feb 6. pii: S1278-3218
Martin V, Moyal É, Delannes M, Padovani L, Sunyach MP, Feuvret L, Dhermain F, Noël G, Laprie A. Radiotherapy for brain tumors: which margins should we apply? Cancer Radiother. 2013 Oct;17(5-6):434-43.
Émilie Le Rhun
Zurich, Switzerland
Dr. Emilie Le Rhun has been Senior Neuro-Oncologist at the Department of Neurosurgery at the University Hospital Lille, France, since 2007 and at the Cancer Center Oscar Lambret since 2005. She is also providing the Neuro-Oncology service for the Hospital in Valenciennes, France, since 2007. She qualified in medicine at the University of Brest, France in 1999. Her medical thesis addressed the neuropsychological features of primary progressive aphasia. Subsequently she obtained her training in Neurology from 1999-2003 at Lille University Hospital and was board-certified in Neurology in 2003 and in Neuro-Oncology for Oncology in 2008. Since November 2016, she has been on sabbatical leave in Zurich, Switzerland, and Toronto, Canada.
Dr. Le Rhun`s main research interests are brain metastases, leptomeningeal metastasis and palliative and supportive care. She serves on the editorial board of Neuro-Oncology and has co-authored more than 40 original publications in the field of clinical neuro-oncology research. She is chairing the CNS metastases committee of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Brain Tumor Group and the task forces of the Association de Neuro-Oncologie d’Expression Française (ANOCEF) on CNS metastases and cognition, quality of life and supportive care. She also participates in the Guideline Committees on Gliomas, Brain Metastasis and Palliative Care of the European Association of Neuro-Oncology (EANO) and chairs a Joint Guideline Task Force of EANO and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) on Leptomeningeal Metastasis. In 2015, Dr Le Rhun was elected one of two “Young Neuro-Oncologists” of the EORTC Brain Tumor Group.
Phillippe Métellus
Marseille, France
Philippe METELLUS is Professor of Neurosurgery at the Clairval Hospital Center in Marseille, France. He is specialized in brain tumors and is the actual leader of the Glioma and the Brain Metastases program in France. Besides his clinical activity, he is running translational and basic science research program in the INSERM UMR 911 unit. He obtained his doctorate in medicine (Neurosurgery specialty) from the University of Marseille in 2002 and his PhD in 2011 for his research on angiogenesis and invasion in gliomas. He received a master of Neurosciences from the Paris-Sud University in Paris, and completed his fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA (2006) and at The Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, USA (2007).
Prof. Philippe METELLUS is authored or co-authored more than 150 peer-reviewed articles and received substantial awards for coordinating a variety of clinical and translational research projects. He is also reviewer for a number of international journals such as Journal of Neuro-Oncology, Neuro-Oncology, The Lancet Oncology, World Neurosurgery, Journal of Neurosurgery… He is a board member of the French National Society of Neurosurgeons. Since 2012, he has been one of the elected members of the Neuro-Oncology section of EANS (European Association of Neurosurgical Societies). In 2013, he has been invited to join the Brain Mets Platform of EORTC (European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer) and has been elected member of the Neuro-Oncological committee of the World Federation of Neurological Societies (WFNS).
Prof. Philippe METELLUS clinical and research activities are focused on Gliomas and Brain Metastases. A surgical research program on gliomas located in eloquent areas including awake craniotomies with electroencephalographic recordings has been developed with his neurological team in 2011. Also, a translational research program on Gliomas and Brain Metastases biology is conducted with the oncological transfer laboratory at the Aix-Marseille University. These programs involve a multi-disciplinary brain tumor consortium including, Neurologists, Neuro-Oncologists, Medical Oncologists, Radiation Oncologists, Neuro-Radiologists, Pathologists and the translational oncology university platform. In addition, since November 2016, Prof. Metellus coordinates a “Committee for Research, Clinical Innovation and Education (CRICE)”. This structure, created within Clairval Hospital Center, aims to boost, structure and develop the clinical research within the establishment.
In 2011 and 2012, Prof. Philippe METELLUS organized the 1st and 2nd Annual Brain Metastases Research and Emerging Therapies Conference in Brain Metastasis. In 2013, for its 3rd edition, this European Conference has been held under the auspices of EORTC, at the request of this European institution. This initiative has been reconducted in 2014 and 2015 with the RTOG (Radiation Therapy Oncology Group) participation, the North American equivalent of the EORTC. This conference has been yet organized in 2016 again under the auspices of EORTC and with the support of French (ANOCEF and SNCF) and European (EANO and EANS) societies and this 6th edition has been granted 9 European CME credits (ECMEC) by the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME).
Riccardo Soffietti
Turin, Italy
- Professor of Neurology and Neuro-Oncology, University of Torino, Medical School
- Head, Dept. Neuro-Oncology, University and City of Health and Science University Hospital of Turin, Italy.
- Founding Member and President of European Association of Neuro-Oncology (EANO) (from 2012 to 2014)
- Member of the Education Committee of European Cancer Organization (ECCO)
- Member of the Congress Program Committee of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN)
- Chair of the Subspecialty Scientific Panel of Neuro-Oncology of EAN
- Member of the Steering Committee of the Brain Tumor Group of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer ( EORTC )
- Coordinator of the EORTC study n° 22952-26001 (Phase III) “No radiotherapy versus whole brain radiotherapy for 1 to 3 brain metastases from solid tumor after surgical resection or radiosurgery”.
- Chairman of the Research Group for Neuro-Oncology of the World Federation of Neurology
- Cancer Expertise for research projects of the European Community and of Ministry of Health and Research of Italy, France, Switzerland and Netherlands.
- Advisor of the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
- Member of the International Group on Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology (RANO).
- 350 publications (including full papers, chapters in books, monographies, abstracts of International Congresses).
- Executive Editor of Neuro-Oncology
- Member of the Editorial Board : Neuro-Oncology Practice, Anticancer Drugs, Journal of Neurology, Current Cancer Therapy Reviews, CNS Oncology and Neurological Sciences.
- Referee: Neurology, Lancet Neurology, Brain, European Journal of Neurology, Lancet, Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Clinical Cancer Research, Cancer, European Journal of Cancer, The Oncologist, Journal of Neuro-Oncology, Critical Review in Hematology and Oncology, Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy, Oncology Research, Tumori, Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, Expert Review of Anticancer Therapy, Future Oncology, British Medical Cancer Journal.
- Award for Excellence in Clinical Research (Society for Neuro-Oncology, US, 2009)
Michael Weller
Zurich, Switzerland
Dr. Michael Weller has been Chairman of the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland, since 2008. He qualified in medicine in Cologne, Germany, after completing his thesis on proliferative disorders of the retina. A postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Clinical Immunology, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland, followed where he identified death receptor targeting as a potential treatment strategy for malignant gliomas. In 2005, he was appointed Chairman of the Department of General Neurology at the University Hospital Tübingen, Germany, where he had previously received his education in clinical neurology.
Dr. Weller has received several awards in recognition of his contributions to cancer research, including the German Cancer Award in 2007. He served as Chairman of the Neuro-Oncology Group of the German Cancer Society from 2001-2008. He is the Chairman of the German Glioma Network of the German Cancer Council, joined the Executive Board of the European Association for Neuro-Oncology (EANO) in 2010 and served as President of EANO for 2014-2016. He is also the Chairman of the Brain Tumor Group of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) (2015-2018) and hosts the World Federation of Neuro-Oncology Societies (WFNOS) Meeting 2017 in Zurich, Switzerland.
Dr. Weller was involved in major practice-changing clinical trials including the registration trial for temozolomide in glioblastoma and served as PI on the NOA-03, NOA-04, NOA-08 and G-PCNSL-SG-1 trials in Germany and the DIRECTOR and ARTE trials in Switzerland. Dr Weller has a research focus on the immunology of gliomas and served as the PI of the phase III immunotherapy trial, ACT IV (Rindopepimut). He is also a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Neurochemistry, Journal of Neuro-Oncology, Brain, Glia and Neuro-Oncology, and he was the Associate Editor Europe of Neuro-Oncology from 2006-2013.
Dr. Weller has co-authored more than 600 original publications in peer-reviewed journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, Science, Nature, Nature Medicine, Lancet Oncology, PNAS, The Journal of Clinical Investigation, and The Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Manfred Westphal
Hamburg, Germany
Professor Manfred Westphal was born in Hamburg, where he also went to school and studied medicine at the University Hospital in Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). The academic year of 1978-1979 was spent at the Medical School of the University of Glasgow as scholar of the German National Scholarship Foundation. Based on his scientific research in experimental neuro-endocrinology as a medical student he obtained a research education grant from the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) and became a research fellow at the University of California San Francisco in the Hormnone Research Laboratory with C.H. Li. His main interest during that time was neuro-endocrinology focusing on peptide biology of opiate peptides, particularly ?-endorphine. He also started to study cell biology of brain tumors with Charles B. Wilson. This work was continued after his return to the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf in 1984 where the Laboratory of Brain Tumor Biology in the department for neurosurgery was founded. Professor Westphal completed his residency at the UKE and in 1999 was appointed acting chairman.
In 2002 he was elected as director of the Neurosurgical Department at the University of Düsseldorf and shortly afterwards confirmed as director and chair of the Neurosurgical Department at the UKE. With the focus on neurooncology and vascular neurosurgery Professor Westphal has published 265 original papers, in addition to numerous book chapters and book editions. He is member of several scientific associations and was for more than eight years elected member of the study section for neurosciences at the DFG in Bonn. He started the Committee for Neurooncology at the EANS being its chair for 8 years, until he became secretary from 2003 until 2007. Therafter he chaired the Committee for Neuro-Oncology of the World Federation of Neurological Surgery from 2009 to 2013. Since 2004 he represents the EANS as Board Member in the European Brain Council (EBC in Brussels).Prof. Westphal was also president of the German Academy of Neurosurgery for the electoral period of 2013/2014.
Manfred Westphal, MD serves as chairman of the department of neurosurgery at the university medical center Hamburg Eppendorf since 1999. He founded the Hans-Dietrich Herrmann Laboratory for Brain Tumor Biology in 1984 after returning from a postdoctoral fellowship at UCSF Medical Center. His interest has been in clinical and experimental neuro-oncology so besides numerous publications in the field of growth factors, angiogenesis, Invasion and glioma stem cell biology he has chaired or co-chaired four phase III trials including carmustine wafers, convection enhanced delivery of a toxin conjugate, suicide gene therapy with simitagene ceradenovec and a trial anti-EGF-R monoclonal antibody; in addition he participated in many other clinical trials as co-chair or investigator. His clinical and translational studies resulted in 280 peer reviewed articles. In 2014 he shared the Warner Prize for Cancer Research. He served as secretary of the EANS, secretary of the European Brain Council (Brussels) and as president of the German Academy of Neurosurgery. For two periods of totally 9 years he was elected to the neuroscience review oard of the German Research Council (Bonn).
