The FibroFighters International Tumor Board

What is the International Tumor Board?

A tumor board is a convening of a multi-disciplinary group to discuss the best options for individual cancer patients. These exist at large medical centers in the US and around the world. However, challenges arise when discussing rare cancers, such as Fibrolamellar, as the professionals may have lots experience, but often not with Fibrolamellar specifically.

FibroFighters was determined to provide a better option for our unique patient community. In August 2022, we introducted the FibroFighters/xCures International Tumor Board. This board offers opintions in a non-biased manner to come to a consensus viewpoint. 

During each tumor board, we invite your local medical teams to join our group experts who are all familiar with Fibrolamellar. Our experts cover multiple disciplines, including surgical, interventional radiology, radiation oncology, and oncology.  Each meeting includes a robust discussion using the patient’s most recent scans, and xCures provides a visual graph of the patient journey, allowing everyone to see the complete picture of each patient’s case.  After the tumor board discussion, xCures compiles a detailed report of the consensus reached for each case discussed and shares this with the local treating medical team to discuss with their patient and caregivers/family members.  

Read an abstract published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology about our Tumor Board here.  

Who are the members of the International Tumor Board?

• Interventional Radiology

  – Jordan Tasse, MD, Associate Professor (Interventional Radiology @ Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL USA)
  – Bulent Arslan, MD, Professor (Interventional Radiology @ Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL USA)

• Hepatobiliary Surgery

  – Erik Schadde, FACS, FEBS (HPB) Professor (Hepatobiliary Surgeon @ Rush University Medical Center & University of Zürich,
  Zurich, Switzerland)
  – Oliver Fischer, MD, PhD, FRACS Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer (Hepatobiliary Surgeon @ St. George Hospital, Sydney,
  Australia)
  – Aslam Ejaz, MD Assistant Professor (Hepatobiliary Surgeon @ Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus, OH USA)
  – Matthew Dixon MD Associate Professor (Hepatobiliary Surgeon @ Rush University Medical Center Chicago, IL USA)
  – Tom Kato, MD Professor (Hepatobiliary Surgeon @ New York Presbyterian – Columbia, NY, USA)
  – Martin Hertl, MD, PhD Professor (Hepatobiliary Surgeon @ Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA)
  – Abhinav Humar, MD Professor (Hepato-biliary surgery @ UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, USA)
  – Nelson A. Royall, MD Assistant Professor (Hepato-biliary surgery @ NE Georgia Physicians Group, Gainesville, GA, USA)

• Thoracic Surgery 

  – Christopher Seder, MD (Thoracic Surgery @ Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL USA)

• Medical Oncology

  – Paul Kent, MD Associate Professor (Pediatric Oncology @ FibroFighters Foundation, Chicago, IL, USA)
  – Darrell Yamashiro, MD Associate Professor (Pediatric Oncology @ New York Presbyterian – Columbia, NY, USA)
  – Mark Yarchoan, MD, PhD Associate Professor (Adult Oncologist @ John’s Hopkins, Baltimore, MD, USA)
  – Albert Cornelius, MD Associate Professor (Pediatric Oncologist @ DeVos Children’s Hospital, Grand Rapids, MI, USA)
  – Anne Noonan, MD Professor (Adult Oncologist @ Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus, OH USA)
  – Mirdula Krishnan, MD Associate Professor (Adult Oncologist @ University of Nebraska, Omaha, NE, USA)
  – Kelsey Klute, MD Associate Professor (Adult Oncologist @ University of Nebraska, Omaha, NE, USA)

• Radiation Oncology

  – Thomas Kim, MD Associate Professor (Radiation Oncology @ Rush University Medical Center Chicago, IL USA)

• Nursing

  – Susanne Swazie, RN (IR Nurse Coordinatinator @ Rush University Medical Center Chicago, IL USA)

• Patient Advocacy

  – Thomas Stockwell, Patient Advocate (FibroFighters Foundation, Temecula, CA, USA)

• xCures Support Team

  – Alaa Awawda, Clinical Data Associate II (xCures) 
  – Tim Stuhlmiller PhD, VP of Scientific and Medical Affairs (xCures)

Interested in having your case discussed at a Tumor Board? 

Please reach out to Tom Stockwell tom@fibrofighters.org or Dr. Paul Kent paulkentmd@fibrofighters.org.