Promoting Excellence in Education, Research,
and Patient Care in the Rapidly Evolving
Management of Gastrointestinal Cancer
International Society of
Gastrointestinal Oncology
isgioEstablished 2003

ISGIO President and President-elect

ISGIO President 2020
Dr. Howard Hochster
Dr. Ghassan Abou-Alfa
Ghassan Abou-Alfa, MD
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Ghassan Abou-Alfa joined Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in 2001. He earned his medical degree from the American University in Beirut. In 1992, he joined the Yale School of Medicine for postdoctoral training. He received his MBA degree from Columbia University in 2016. Ghassan specializes in treating patients with gastrointestinal malignancies. His work focuses on investigating novel targeted therapies in clinical studies, and advocates for greater awareness of the disease's global impact. Ghassan is honored to chair the National Cancer Institute Hepatobiliary Task Force, and the AIDS Malignancy Consortium (AMC) Non-AIDS Defining Malignancies (NADC) Liver/GI Task Force. He also co-chairs the hepatobiliary cancers subgroup of the Alliance cooperative group.

Ghassan work focuses on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) which affects a diverse population from many cultures and economic backgrounds: truly a global disease. Ghassan continues his work to help advance the field. His research focuses on incorporating small biological molecules into standard cancer therapies. In recent years, he led the initial international effort that helped evaluate sorafenib in HCC. He later and in a trial led by the multi-cooperative groups, they investigated combining sorafenib with doxorubicin, an effort that is supported by the National Cancer Institute. Ghassan continues to lead several international efforts and is involved in conducting clinical trials with colleagues around the world. An effort that helps better understand the challenges of managing a disease with varying risk factors, in different regions of the world.

Ghassan has taken on an advocacy role as research funding has lagged despite the worldwide impact of this disease. He co-authored with hepatobiliary surgeon the chairman of surgery at U. Penn Ronald DeMatteo 100 Questions and Answers About Liver Cancer book, now in its third edition. He also co-authored with his wife Eileen O’Reilly, also a medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, a similar book on bile ducts cancers now in its second edition.

Part of the global effort, Ghassan helped chair multiple training course for oncologists globally, and helped sustain monthly videolinked educational conferences with different regions of the world, for almost a decade now.

ISGIO President-elect 2020
Dr. Weijing Sun
Dr. Weijing Sun
Weijing Sun, MD
University of Kansas School of Medicine

Weijing Sun, MD is currently the Sprint Professor of Medical Oncology; Professor of Medical Onoclogy and Cancer Biology; the Chief of Medical Oncology Division, University of Kansas School of Medicine; and the Associate Director of University of Kansas Cancer Center.

He graduated from Shanghai Medical University (now mergied with Fudan University). He had his Internal Medicine residency training at Loyola University Medical Center, and Hematology-Oncology fellowship training at University of Pennsylvania. He served his assistant and associate professorship and had been the director of GI Medical Oncology at University of Pennsyvania until 2012. He then served his professorship, as the director of GI Medical Oncology and co-director of GI Cancer Research Exellency at the University of Pittsburgh until August, 2017 when he accepted the current position at the University of Kansas.

He is a national and international expert in gastrointestinal cancers. He is focusing on the treatment and clinical research of GI malignancies, mainly on the development of new drugs and biologic/targeted oriented agents in treatment/therapy (including translational and immune research) of GI cancers with great experiences in the early phase clinical trial (phase I, II) designing, protocol development and conduction, and many of these have been published. He has served as a member of ECOG-ACRIN GI core committee; a member of NCI GI Cancer's Steering Committee Hepatobiliary Task Force. He has served as PI for many investigate initiated studies and pharmaceutical companies' trials.

He has authored many publications including original clinical research articles, reviews, and invited editorial comments in a variety of peer-reviewed journals. He has also written chapters as a GI oncology expert for several medical textbooks including WebMD, Textbook of Gastroenterology. He is the editor-in-chief of the textbook of Multidisciplinary Therapy of GI Malignancies. He has had more than 130 publications. He is serving as a member of editorial boards or review committees for several professional journals. He serves as deputy editor-in-chief of Journal of Hematology & Oncology; associated editor of Journal of Practical Oncology.

He served ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) scientific program committee (both colorectal and non-colorectal cancer subcommittees); and currently is serving as the head of colorectal cancer education committee of the 2020 ASCO annual meeting. He serves as the activity director of ISGIO (International Society of Gastrointestinal Oncology), and recently elected as the president -elect of the organizatin. He served as the president and the board chair of CAHON (Chinses American Hematologist-Oncologist Network).

He has been named as a 'top doctor' by US News and local magazines.