Dr. Robert James (RJ) Cusimano is a cardiac surgeon at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre and Professor, Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto. A native of Toronto and the third of eight children, Dr. Cusimano earned his medical degree from the University of Calgary in 1983, interned in the Atlantic Canadian provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island), before completing his Residency in General Surgery, and Cardiac Surgery at the University of Toronto.

He became a staff surgeon at the Toronto General Hospital in 1993 – the first Canadian of Italian heritage to achieve this status.

In 2006, Dr. Cusimano was invited to teach cardiac surgery at Xingxiang Medical University in China — becoming the first non-Chinese physician to do so. The surgical procedure was televised to 100 million people in China. Dr. Cusimano was awarded an honorary degree from Xingxiang University for his work. He has since made return visits to China to continue teaching cardiac surgery techniques used at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre.

Dr. Cusimano is the longest-serving member of Toronto General Hospital’s heart transplant team, a position he has held since 1993. As such, he has performed more heart transplants than any other adult surgeon in Toronto.

He is a recognized specialist in Insertion, modification and removal of cardiac rhythm management devices.

He is also an active member of the ventricular assist program at the Toronto General Hospital, focused on providing heart disease patients with a ‘bridge to transplant’ cardiac-assist device, or mechanical heart technology, like the Left Ventricular Assist Device or LVAD, and Transcatheter Valve therapies.

In 2016, Dr. Cusimano led a first international conference on cardiac tumours — an increasingly common heart condition – which can often be fatal. The Toronto Cardiac Tumour Conference was created to share knowledge and best practices about the diagnosis, treatment and management of these little-known, —- benign or malignant tumours of the heart.

Dr. Kirwan is a seasoned clinical trialists/researcher and a recognized expert in the area of clinical research. Dr. Kirwan is skilled at building dedicated operational teams which perform accurately and efficiently to surpass client expectations. Dr. Kirwan is highly regarded in academic circles. She holds teaching posts at several of Europe’s leading universities; and she is a regular featured speaker within the industry at numerous international conferences and meetings. She is the author of many scientific articles which have been published in leading U.S. and European journals. She holds a Master’s degree and PhD in Clinical Epidemiology from the Erasmus University, Rotterdam.

Dr. Lestuzzi is a specialist in Cardiology, with particular expertise in echocardiography at Pordenone Hospital, co-operating, since 1984, with the Reasearch Hospital (IRCCS) CRO; National Cancer Institute of Aviano (Pordenone) in Italy. From December 1999 to December 2016 she worked at the Cardiology Unit in the Oncology Department of the IRCCS CRO, where she is responsible of the research in the field of cardio-oncology. Currently, the director of the Cardiological and Cardio-Oncological Rehabilitation Unit (Cardiology Department) of the Azienda Sanitaria Friuli Occidentale (ASFO), continuing the same activities.

Federico Navarria MD received his MD degree from Trieste University in 2012 with summa cum laude and completed his residency training in Radiation Oncology at Padua University in 2017 with summa cum laude.

From 03/04/2017 to 12/05/2017 he attended an Internship at Francis H. Burr Proton Therapy Center, Radiation Oncology Department, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Boston and was involved in research projects on review of potential toxicities associated with escalated radiation doses with Protons or IMRT in Retroperitoneal Sarcoma patients, Scientific Director: Thomas DeLaney MD.

From December 2017 he has been working as a Radiation Oncologist at Radiation Oncology Dept, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico di Aviano (CRO) – IRCCS, focusing mainly on clinical and translational research of Soft tissue and Bone Sarcoma, Rare Tumors, Gastrointestinal tumor and Gynecological tumors.

He has gained experience in conventional and advanced radiotherapy techniques (IMRT, VMAT, IMRT-Tomotherapy, SBRT, IGRT, IORT, endocavitary and interstitial brachytherapy), hypofractionated radiotherapy regimens and IMRT with “Simultaneous Integrated boost” in the management of acute and chronic radiotherapy toxicity and in the field of integrated radio-chemotherapy treatments, in the integration of radiotherapy with new molecular target drugs, in the management of patients with metastatic disease, in the context of pain therapy and in the management of concomitant chemotherapy regimens with radiotherapy.

He has competence in methodology in the field of research and scientific production.

He is a member of the Italian Sarcoma Group (ISG), of the Italian Association of Radiation Oncology (AIRO), Member of the AIRO Study Group for IORT and of the European Society of radiation Oncology (ESTRO).

Dr Andrew Newcomb obtained his fellowship in Cardiothoracic Surgeon from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons July 2007. Andrew is trained in all aspects of cardiothoracic surgery including heart failure, congenital, thoracic and aortic surgery. His subspecialty training includes complex valve surgery.

His special interests include: Complex aortic surgery, endovascular treatment of aortic dissection, minimally invasive valve surgery and surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation.

Dr. Abdul Razak is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. Clinically, he is a Staff Medical Oncologist in Phase 1 Clinical Trials and Sarcoma at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Sinai Healthcare Systems, Toronto. He also leads the Medical Oncology Sarcoma Program at both institutions.

Originally from Malaysia, he underwent medical and oncology training in Ireland, England as well as Canada. He was the recipient several international awards, to include the Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (2011), Merit Award from the Conquer Cancer Foundation (2011) as well as the Mick Knighton Mesothelioma Award from the British Lung Foundation (2007). Nationally, Dr. Abdul Razak was also the inaugural recipient of the Sarcoma Cancer Foundation of Canada Fellowship (2013). Locally, his work was recognized by the McCullough and Till Paper of the Year Award (2017).

Dr. Razak’s main interest is new drug development, especially in the field of sarcoma. He has authored several high impact publications such as Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer Discovery, Clinical Cancer Research and Cancer. He was also the author of the oncology chapter for Davidson’s Textbook of Medicine (23rd and 24th edition).

Dr. Razak has trained several of the next generation of sarcoma oncologists from various parts of the world to include Saudi Arabia, Canada, Hong Kong, Israel, Australia and Jordan. These fellows since then has formed their own alumni and launched their own successful collaborations. Dr. Razak also has been integral in connecting and training the next generation of drug developers from Ireland and Malaysia within his role at the Drug Development Program at the Princess Margaret.

Socially, Dr. Razak enjoys spending time with his family. He is the father of two young children whom he spends much of his free time with.

Dr. Michael Reardon grew up in Houston, Texas, where he attended Baylor College of Medicine graduating with honors and as a member of AOA. He completed a 5 year general surgery residency under Dr. Michael DeBakey in the Baylor Affiliated Hospitals and a 2 year cardiothoracic residency under Dr. Denton Cooley at the Texas Heart Institute.

He started and ran his own private practice as well as serving full time on the faculty of Baylor College of Medicine where he was Professor of Surgery with tenure, Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Program Director for the Thoracic Surgery Residency and Vice Chair of Academic Affairs in the Department of Surgery. He has spent his entire career at The Methodist Hospital serving in numerous administrative positions including President of the Medical Staff.

Currently, Dr. Reardon is Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Allison Family Distinguished Chair of Cardiovascular Research, Senior Attending Surgeon at The Methodist Hospital, Senior Scientist the Houston Methodist Research Institute and Surgical Director of Structural Heart Disease at the Houston Methodist Hospital. He also serves as Clinical Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. He has written over 600 medical and scientific papers, book chapters and abstracts and frequently lectures on his research and clinical interests of cardiac valvular disease, thoracic aortic disease and cardiac tumors. In 1998, Dr. Reardon performed the first successful autotransplant worldwide for a malignant left atrial sarcoma and the first successful autotransplant for a malignant left ventricular sarcoma in 2003. Since then, Dr. Reardon has performed more than 52 such surgeries has traveled to Poland, Belgium, New Zealand and Israel to perform these surgeries. He presently serves as the national surgical Principal Investigator for the SURTAVI, Evolut Low Risk Randomized, Reprise III and Reprise IV TAVR trials. He is internationally recognized as a leader in cardiac tumors and in the catheter based approach to structural heart disease.

Dr. Patrik Rogalla completed his medical studies as well as his radiology residency at the Free University of Berlin in Germany. After having completed a Clinical fellowship in gastro-intestinal imaging at the University of California UCSF in the United States, he returned to Germany, where he began working at the Charité University Hospital. There, he progressively held roles, which eventually led him to his appointment as Professor of Radiology.

In July 2009, Dr. Rogalla was appointed as Full Professor of Radiology at the University of Toronto and held the position as Head of the Abdominal Imaging Division from July 2010 until December 2017. In February 2018, he was appointed as Head of the Cardiothoracic Imaging Division and Deputy Head of Innovation at JDMI. Furthermore, Dr. Rogalla is the Director of Computed Tomography at JDMI and served as the Site Director at the Princess Marga- ret Cancer Centre until June 2020.

Dr. Rogalla has published more than 169 original articles, several book chapters and is holding two international patents; he is actively involved in many professional and international radiological societies. In June 2020, he grad- uated from the Rotman School of Business with an MBA in Health and Life Sciences.