Director of the course

Raymond L. Barnhill is currently Professor of Pathology at the Institut Curie, and the Faculty of Medicine, University of Paris Descartes, Paris, France. Dr. Barnhill received his MD degree from Duke University and was a postdoctoral fellow and graduate student in the University of Oxford. He has trained as a dermatologist, anatomic pathologist, and dermatopathologist.

His academic and research interests have largely been associated with the biology of melanocytic lesions and melanoma, but also all aspects of dermatopathology and more recently ophthalmic pathology. He has held major academic leadership appointments including Director of Dermatopathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Director of Dermatopathology (tenured professor) at Johns Hopkins University. Pr Barnhill has founded both the North American Melanoma Pathology Study Group and in 2007 the International Melanoma Pathology Study Group, of which he is currently President.

He has also been an active member of the WHO Melanoma Program and the EORTC Melanoma Group and many other professional societies. In 2011, he received the Founder’s Award from the American Society of Dermatopathology. Pr Barnhill is the author of a substantial number of original articles, chapters and reviews, and the author, co-author, or editor of five books, including three leading textbooks in dermatopathology and the pathology of melanoma.

Dr. Boris Bastian received his MD degree and Dr. med degree from the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich. After completing a residency in dermatology at the University of Wurzburg, he received additional training in dermatopathology and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco before joining the institution’s faculty and starting his research laboratory at UCSF’s Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. In 2010 he moved to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to become Chairman of the Department of Pathology. In 2011 he returned to UCSF where he holds the title of Gerson and Barbara Bakar Distinguished Professor of Cancer Biology. He founded and directs the Clinical Cancer Genomics Laboratory at UCSF, which performs molecular diagnostics for patients of the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. He has clinical responsibilities in the Dermatopathology Section of the Departments of Dermatology and Pathology, where he also oversees the molecular diagnostic laboratory.

Dr. Bastian’s research laboratory focuses on the molecular genetics of cutaneous neoplasms, with a particular emphasis on the discovery of genetic alterations useful for diagnosis, classification, and therapy. His laboratory has contributed to the discovery of several genetic alterations in melanocytic neoplasia that are relevant for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes and to the current WHO classification of melanocytic neoplasms. He served as the President of the Society of Melanoma Research from 2010 to 2013. He has received numerous awards for his work including the election to the German National Academy of Sciences, the Lila Gruber Award for Cancer Research of the American Academy of Dermatology, and an Outstanding Investigator Award of the National Cancer Institute. .

Current position:
Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Weill Medical College of Cornell University
Director of Dermatopathology and Director of Immunohistochemistry
Department of Pathology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
1275 York Ave, New York, NY 10065

Training:
Medical school – University of Freiburg, Germany
Postdoctoral research at NCI/NIH
Residency in Anatomic Pathology and Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Fellowship in Dermatopathology under Dr. Barnhill

David Elder is Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, which is the oldest teaching hospital in the United States. He trained in New Zealand at the University of Otago with John Blennerhassett MD, and with Vincent McGovern, MD of the Sydney Melanoma Unit in Australia. He then moved to Philadelphia, initially with Wallace H Clark Jr., MD at Temple University and then at the University of Pennsylvania where Ted Enterline, MD was Director of Anatomic Pathology and a strong influence. Dr Elder was Vice Chair and Director for Anatomic Pathology in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine from 1999 through 2011, and currently leads its Dermatopathology Program within the Section of Surgical Pathology.

In 2004 he was made a Distinguished Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia and in 2011 he was honored with a Life Membership of the British Society for Dermatopathology. He is a founding member of the Penn Melanoma and Pigmented Lesion Study Group (founded by Wallace Clark) since 1978, leading its pathology component for many of these years. During this time, this group described dysplastic nevi, and defined the radial and vertical growth phases of melanoma. In other studies, prognostic models for melanoma were developed, using histopathologic and other markers. These have included proliferation markers, and markers of the tumor host response. The group has also been closely involved with the development of new targeted therapies and of immunotherapy for melanoma.

Dr. Elder has also been a leading member of the Melanoma Genetics Consortium (Genomel), serving as Principal Investigator of an NIH grant supporting this program for 10 years. This group has defined the biology of genes that convey risk for the development of melanoma in Europe, Australia and the Americas. Dr. Elder has published over 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles and reviews, mostly in the field of melanoma and related conditions. In addition, he has authored or edited several textbooks, including the 3rd and 4th series US Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Fascicles on Melanocytic Tumors of the Skin, and the latest four editions of “Lever’s Histopathology of the Skin”. Other publications include the Atlas and Synopsis of Lever’s Histopathology of the Skin which is in its 3rd Edition and presents a unified pattern classification system for inflammatory and neoplastic skin diseases, complementing the “Big Lever”.

He has also edited a series of monographs called Consultant Pathology, and is currently serving as the Lead Editor for the latest revision of the WHO “Blue Book” on classification of skin neoplasms. Dr Elder continues to pursue his interests in the classification and diagnosis of skin disease and in particular the diagnosis and prognosis of melanoma and other melanocytic tumors, and regularly participates in the clinical activities of his specialty at Penn.

Conjoint Medical Director, Melanoma Institute Australia
Senior Staff Specialist, Tissue Pathology and Diagnostic Oncology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney
Clinical Professor, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney
National Health and Medical Research Council Practitioner Fellow

Richard Scolyer studied medicine at the University of Tasmania (BMedSci, MBBS). After completing clinical training in Australia and overseas, he undertook pathology training at the Canberra Hospital and at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital leading to Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. Richard is currently Consultant Pathologist and Co-Director of Research, Melanoma Institute Australia; Senior Staff Specialist, Tissue Pathology and Diagnostic Oncology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney; and Clinical Professor, The University of Sydney.

Richard has presented on more than 150 occasions at conferences throughout the world, and is a co- author of more than 400 articles and book chapters on melanocytic pathology and related research. In 2006, Richard was awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine by The University of Sydney for his thesis of publications on melanocytic pathology. He received a NSW Premier’s Award for Outstanding Cancer Research in 2009 and 2012 and the Thomson Reuters 2015 Citation Award in the Clinical Medicine category. Richard is Vice Chair of the Melanoma Expert Panel of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) for the 8th edition of their Cancer Staging System, an editorial board member of the American Journal of Surgical Pathology, a member of the International Editorial Advisory Board of Histopathology and Senior Associate Editor of Pathology. Richard is currently President of the Australasian Division of the International Academy of Pathology. Together with other MIA colleagues, Richard is chief investigator on a 5 year NHMRC program grant and has a personal Fellowship from the NHMRC.

Nathalie Cassoux MD, PhD
Nationality France and Switzerland
Ophthalmologist Chair ocular oncology
Head of department of surgical oncology, Institut Curie, Paris, France
Professor of Ophthalmology (2015) Paris V Descartes
Habilitation to lead research (2014) Paris 6
Thesis of Science bio informatics (2002) Paris 13
Masters in cell oncogenesis Paris 11 (1997)
Qualified in Ophthalmology (1994) Paris 6
MD (1994) Paris 6

Nathalie Cassoux is head of the Surgical Oncology Department at Institut Curie in Paris. She obtained MD degrees at Pierre et Marie Curie Paris 6 university and a PhD thesis in bioinformatics working on neural network. She is full professor in Ophthalmology, chair ocular oncology at the University Paris 5 Descartes She is in the board of the French Society of Ophtalmology (SFO) and past president of the European Oncology Group (OOG). She’s author or coauthor of 132 peer-reviewed articles H 30.Clinical activities are focused on ocular tumors (retinoblastoma, uveal melanoma, conjunctival and eyelids tumors and ocular lymphoma. The research interests are focused on translational ocular oncology (genetic of ocular tumors, animal models, preclinical assessment). He coordinates at Institut Curie a research team on orthotopic xenografted models of ocular tumors and participates to multidisciplinary group of scientists and doctors devoted to uveal melanoma and retinoblastoma research.

Last significant publication:
1: Dehainault C, Golmard L, Millot GA, Charpin A, Laugé A, Tarabeux J, Aerts I, Cassoux N, Stoppa-Lyonnet D, Gauthier-Villars M, Houdayer C. Mosaicism and prenatal diagnosis options: insights from retinoblastoma. Eur J Hum Genet. 2016 Dec 21.
2: Assayag F, Nicolas A, Vacher S, Dehainault C, Bieche I, Meseure D, Aerts I, Cassoux N, Houdayer C, Doz F, Decaudin D. Combination of Carboplatin and Bevacizumab Is an Efficient Therapeutic Approach in Retinoblastoma Patient-Derived Xenografts. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2016 Sep 1;57(11):4916-4926.
3: Cassoux N, Thuleau A, Assayag F, Aerts I, Decaudin D. Establishment of an Orthotopic Xenograft Mice Model of Retinoblastoma Suitable for Preclinical Testing. Ocul Oncol Pathol. 2015 Apr;1(3):200-6. doi: 10.1159/000370156. Review.
4: Eloy P, Dehainault C, Sefta M, Aerts I, Doz F, Cassoux N, Lumbroso le Rouic L, Stoppa-Lyonnet D, Radvanyi F, Millot GA, Gauthier-Villars M, Houdayer C. A Parent-of-Origin Effect Impacts the Phenotype in Low Penetrance Retinoblastoma Families Segregating the c.1981C>T/p.Arg661Trp Mutation of RB1. PLoS Genet. 2016 Feb 29;12(2)
5: Lumbroso-Le Rouic L, Aerts I, Hajage D, Lévy-Gabriel C, Savignoni A, Algret N, Cassoux N, Bertozzi AI, Esteve M, Doz F, Desjardins L. Conservative treatment of retinoblastoma: a prospective phase II randomized trial of neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by local treatments and chemothermotherapy. Eye (Lond). 2016 Jan;30(1):46-52
6: Dehainault C, Garancher A, Castéra L, Cassoux N, Aerts I, Doz F, Desjardins L, Lumbroso L, Montes de Oca R, Almouzni G, Stoppa-Lyonnet D, Pouponnot C, Gauthier-Villars M, Houdayer C. The survival gene MED4 explains low penetrance retinoblastoma in patients with large RB1 deletion. Hum Mol Genet. 2014 Oc

Arnaud de la Fouchardière is a pathologist working in the Cancer Care Hospital in Lyon (France). As a fellow he has received training both in clinical dermatology and pathology in Lyon’s university hospital. His initial pathology/research projects including his medical and PhD thesis were centered on cutaneous B-cell lymphomas, especially marginal zone lymphomas. During those research years he became familiar with cytogenetic studies (FISH and old-school CGH techniques) and other molecular tools.

In 2004, he takes over a position as assistant in the pathology department of Lyon’s cancer care hospital and becomes the pupil of Christiane Bailly (France’s leading pathologist in the field of melanocytic tumors). During the five years prior to Christiane’s retirement he will receive intensive training in melanocytic consultation cases. Since 2009, he occupies a very unusual position as a general pathologist with expertise in melanocytic tumors. He receives over 2000 consultation cases a year (99% are melanocytic).

He has gradually built a diagnostic research team called «Melanoledge” aiming to combine clinical, pathological, genetic and molecular data in order to have a better insight on the genesis of nevi and melanomas. This integrative ancillary diagnostic approach is layered by a morphologic and immunohistochemical screening selecting the few cases eligible for molecular testing such as CGH –array and FISH techniques. Although his position is unbound to medical schools/universities, he is strongly engaged in teaching: he gives twice a year a 3 day course on melanocytic tumors with some colleagues, he teaches pathology residents and has been among the first to perform interactive online teaching (webinars sessions) on the use of immunohistochemistry in melanocytic tumors.

Professor of Dermatology and Pathology
University of Michigan
lorilowe@med.umich.edu

Dr. Lowe received her undergraduate degree from Occidental College, Los Angeles, California in 1981 and her M.D. degree from the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Houston, Texas in 1985. She did a transitional internship at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Houston, Texas from 1985-1986. She then completed her residency training in dermatology at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, followed by a Dermatopathology Fellowship at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado. Dr. Lowe is board certified in both Dermatology and Dermatopathology.

From 1991-1996 Dr. Lowe was a Senior Staff Physician and Director of Dermatopathology at Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Michigan. In 1996 she joined the faculty as Assistant Professor in the Departments of Pathology and Dermatology at the University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 1998 and to Professor in 2004. She served as the Director of Dermatopathology in the Department of Pathology from 1996-2012.

While at the University of Michigan Medical School, Dr. Lowe has been actively involved in the dermatopathology service, teaching and academic pursuits. She has been recognized institutionally and nationally as an educator and clinician. In 2013, Dr. Lowe received the Walter Nickel Teaching Award given by the American Society of Dermatopathology and also received the Outstanding Clinician of the Year Award bestowed by the University of Michigan Medical School. In 2015, she was inducted into the University of Michigan League of Clinical Excellence. Dr. Lowe received the William B. Taylor Resident Teaching Award from the Department of Dermatology, University of Michigan in 1999 and 2005 for exemplary teaching. She has been recognized annually since 2003 in America’s Top Doctors for Cancer by Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. She has served on national committees, including the American Board of Dermatology, Dermatopathology Test Committee and the American Board of Pathology, Dermatopathology Test Committee and has served on the editorial boards of both the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology and Cancer. Dr. Lowe is the author or co-author of more than 140 publications in peer-reviewed journals and has been an invited speaker at more than 120 national or international meetings.

Claire Lugassy is currently pursuing her research on the mechanism of metastasis in the Department of Translational Research, Institut Curie, Paris France.

Dr. Lugassy received her M.D. from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Paris, France.Paris, and a Certificate of General and Experimental Oncology from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Paris and Institute Pasteur.

Dr. Lugassy has held academic appointments at Cochin Hospital, Paris France, Johns Hopkins University, USA, and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) USA.

For more than 20 years she has investigated the significance of the association between tumor cells and the abluminal surface of vessels.

With Dr. Raymond Barnhill she has developed the concept of angiotropism, pericytic mimicry and extravascular migratory metastasis: an embryogenesis-derived program of tumor spread.

This recent field of cancer research questioned the paradigm that tumor cells metastasize exclusively via circulation within vascular channels, and may greatly influence the development of new effective therapeutics for metastasis.

Alexandre Matet, MD, PhD, is ocular oncologist and surgeon at Institut Curie, France, involved in adult and pediatric eye tumors. His main research interests focus on post radiation retinal damage after treatment of uveal melanoma, and retinoblastoma genetics.