Prof. Eric Van Cutsem

Eric Van Cutsem, MD, PhD, is full professor at University of Leuven (KULeuven) and the University Hospitals Gasthuisberg, Belgium and Division Head of Digestive Oncology and since October 2023 Professor Emeritus with tasks at the University of Leuven, amongst which Board member of the Faculty of Medicine of KULeuven.

He is a member of the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine and president of the Belgian Foundation against Cancer (Stichting tegen Kanker; Fondation contre le Cancer).
In 2018 he became doctor honoris causa of the Medical University of Warsaw, Poland and received several national and international awards, amongst which were in 2019 the ESMO Award and the European Awards in Medicine for Cancer Research. He became in 2024 honorary member of the Hungarian Society of Clinical Oncology and of the Spanish TTD group (Group of Gastrointestinal Tumors).

He published extensively: >740 articles in PubMed and more than 1600 according Thomson Web of Science, leading to > 120.000 citations and an H-factor of 150. He is worldwide in the top 1% of highest cited researchers in the field of Clinical Medicine, is amongst the highest Cited researchers at the University of Leuven and in the top 3 most cited Medical Scientists in Belgium.

His research interests are various aspects of Gastrointestinal and Digestive cancers (colorectal, gastric, pancreas, bile duct, esophageal cancer and neuroendocrine tumors). He serves on many industry advisory boards for new anti-cancer drugs and treatment modalities and Independent Data Monitoring Committee of clinical trials.

He is known as world wide clinical expert in Gastrointestinal Oncology and consults for patients across the globe and featered in Belgium in the media program: Topdokters. He co-founded and is chair of ESMO/World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer in Barcelona, Spain and continues to chair ESMO GI. He serves/served on the board or key committee of ESMO (European Society Medical Oncology; executive board, several committees), UEG (United European Gastroenterology; educational committee, public affairs committee, scientific committee), ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology; program committee, international affairs committee), ENET (European NeuroEndocrine Society; advisory board, registry), EORTC (European Organisation Research Treatment Cancer; executive board, chair of GI Cancer group), ECO (European Cancer Organisation; program committee), ESDO (European Society Digestive Oncology; president), ESO (European School of Oncology; Scientific council) and of patient advocacy groups EuropaColon (medical director) and Digestive Cancers Europe (DICE; co-founder, executive board), the Foundation Engie (CSR) France & Belgium.

He has been appointed from 2025 onwards as member of Scientific Council of IARC /WHO (International Agency for Research on Cancer/ World Health Organisation). He was chairman of the governmental colon cancer prevention task force in Flanders, Belgium, was/is in Belgian active as president and treasurer of Belgian Group Digestive Oncology and as president/vice-president of Familial Polyposis Association (FAPA).

He is/was member of the Scientific Advisory board for different international hospitals/cancer centers: Institut National du Cancer (INCA), Toulouse & Paris, France; University of Ulm & Leipzig, Germany; Humanitas Hospital, Milan, Italy & Avignon, France and is member of the board of directors of the regional hospital of Halle (vice-president since 09-2023) and member of the board of CUROZ, network of hospitals in East-Flanders & Vlaams Brabant, Belgium.
He was instrumental in the law on the recognition of Digestive Oncology and was member of the governmental commission of recognition for specialists in gastroenterology/ digestive oncology from 2014-2024.

Alina Comanescu

Alina Comanescu brings her multinational experience in the public and private sectors to the DiCE Board, work that she has been involved in since 2009. Since 2013 she has been active in the cancer patient advocacy field on both national and European levels, this has been in her role as Founder of the Romanian Community Health Association ‘Asociația Sănătate pentru Comunitate’.

In this capacity she created a cancer patient advocacy strategy amid the complex political, cultural and regulatory landscape of Romania.

Her vision for how DiCE can best represent and support the digestive cancer patient community in Europe includes:

• Advocating for systematic screening to prevent what is preventable.
• Working to provide and gain support for patients along the entire digestive cancer patients` pathway including services related to better quality of life and the right to be forgotten.
• Working with stakeholders for the adoption of a patient centric approach – making sure the patient view is a part of the implementation of Europe`s Beating Cancer Plan.

Gian Paolo Morgano

Gian Paolo Morgano is a research methodologist specializing in guideline development and decision-threshold determination.

He currently works at the European Commission (EC) Joint Research Centre (JRC), where he leads the development of the Colorectal Cancer Screening and Diagnosis Guidelines and oversees the methodological framework for EC cancer guideline development. Dr. Morgano holds a PhD in Health Research Methodology from McMaster University, where he also serves as a part-time assistant professor.

Cesare Hassan

Cesare Hassan, MD, PhD, graduated in Medicine and Surgery in 1994, and he became a specialist in Gastroenterology and Digestive Endoscopy at ‘Sapienza University’ in Rome in 1998.

His clinical and research turned mainly to the development of new approach for colorectal cancer screening, mainly focusing on clinical validation, cost-effectiveness and decision-making, as well as for prevention of upper GI-cancer, including endoscopic and medical treatment of pre-malignant gastric conditions and Barrett oesophagus. To date, his work has resulted in over 500 peer-reviewed publications, and is regularly invited to present at major national and international meetings. Dr. Hassan is currently the Treasurer of the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, where he also served as Chair of the Guideline Committee, and he is Associated Professor of Gastroenterology at Humanitas University (Milan, Italy). His current research focuses on implementation of Artificial Intelligence for detection, characterization, and Quality Improvement of diagnostic endsocopy.

Isabel Mosquera-Metcalfe

For the last seven years I have been studying social inequalities in cancer screening, mainly in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa.

My most recent achievement is coordinating the development of a web-based tool that matches barriers on the process of cancer screening organization and evidence-based interventions to overcome them. This tool (INTERVENER) will be made publicly available in the coming months.

I am coordinating the piloting of two implementation research projects on cervical cancer control among vulnerable groups in European countries. Moreover, I am leading an analysis of the regional colorectal cancer screening programmes in Spain.

Zorana Maravic

A part of Europacolon and now DiCE since 2012, Zorana has always worked closely with our Full Members and Associate Members. With grace, poise and calm, she is working to help Members’ organisations and DiCE grow.

As CEO, Zorana continues her commitment to DiCE taking on the management of the organisation and ensuring the delivery of its missions and goals. In her past role as Director of Operations she was responsible for the co-ordination and support of Member groups, as well as strengthening the network, through establishing relationships with new organisations. During this she has proven her capacity to deliver successfully. Key projects have included:

• A Survey on the Unmet Needs of Patients Living with Metastatic Colorectal Cancer (mCRC). She recruited more than 800 patients and had the results under her authorship published widely
• DiCE events: Masterclass events – an educational annual meeting for Member groups
• Awareness campaigns including European Colorectal Cancer Awareness Campaigns (ECCAM)
• Pharmaceutical industry and independent consortia projects
• Developing patient support materials with the Patient Advisory Committee (PAC)

Zorana also acts as a public speaker on topics such as patient support, biosimilars and CRC screening. From 2016 until 2018, Zorana served as a Board Member of EuropaColon.

Before working in the Not-For-Profit sector, Zorana worked for 10 years in the pharmaceutical industry, primarily in sales and marketing of innovative oncology drugs as well as on oncology clinical trials.

She holds a degree in molecular biology from the University of Belgrade, Serbia. In 2017, at the University of Sheffield, UK she gained an Executive MBA in Health Management.

Mārcis Leja

Mārcis Leja is a Professor of Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine and Director of the Institute of Clinical and Preventive Medicine, University of Latvia and a consulting gastroenterologist at the Digestive Diseases Centre, Riga, Latvia. He has served as a member of the European Cancer Mission Board from 2019 to 2021; currently is a member of the Research Committee of United European Gastroenterology (UEG) and the European Helicobacter and Microbiota Study Group (EHMSG) as well as a fellow of Latvia Academy of Science and American Gastroenterological Association (AGA).

His main research interests include screening, prevention and early detection of cancer, in particular - gastrointestinal cancer.
Since 2013 the group led by Dr Leja is conducting a randomised gastric cancer prevention study GISTAR (www.gistar.eu); the study is managed in close cooperation with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). As for now, the study has recruited more than 11,000 generally healthy individuals to be followed up for the risk of cancer. Recently (2023) a project “Towards gastric cancer screening implementation in the European Union” has been launched and will be coordinated by Dr Leja.

The related interests of Dr Leja include the use of volatile organic marker (VOC) diagnostic concept in gastrointestinal cancer detection, the role of microbiota in health and disease as well as the use of large data and AI for prevention and early detection.

Dr Leja has developed an extensive collaboration in the field of early gastric cancer detection and prevention in the EU and beyond involving countries like U.K., Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, the US (National Cancer institute, Vanderbilt University), Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Taiwan and China.

Dr Leja is author of more than 200 research publications (of those at least 140 Scopus or WoSCC), 6 book chapters.

Dominika Novak-Mlakar

Dominika Novak Mlakar, MD, PhD, Head of Cancer Screening Centre at the National institute of Public Health, Slovenia, is a physician with a postgraduate specialization in public health with an emphasis on cancer screening/

In 2006, she participated in the preparation of documents for the establishment of a national organized population-based screening programme for colorectal cancer (Program Svit). Since 2009, she has been involved in the implementation of the programme at the national level. In 2018, she was nominated as the head of the Program Svit. She has published several scientific articles on cancer screening and public health.

Carmen Ungurean

Dr. Carmen Ungurean is a public health specialist at the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) Romania, where she coordinates national programs on cancer prevention and control.

Her work focuses on noncommunicable diseases, with expertise in cancer primary prevention, cancer screening, HPV vaccination, and health policy development. She has contributed to building the national capacity and to designing national strategies for cancer primary and secondary prevention. Dr. Ungurean collaborates with national,  European and international partners in advancing evidence-based public health initiatives.

Patrick Michl

Prof. Michl has specialised in Gastroenterology and currently serves as Professor and Director of the Dept. of Gastroenterology at Heidelberg University Hospital in Germany.

His long-standing scientific and clinical focus is on gastrointestinal tumors.  He serves as council member of the EuropeanPancreatic Club (EPC) and member of the Public Affairs Committee of the United European Gastroenterology, being involved in numerous clinical, translational and basic research with main focus on pancreatic cancer. In particular, his research interests include molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis and novel avenues of early diagnosis.

Carlo Senore

Carlo Senore has a medical degree from the University of Turin. He also completed his post-graduate degree there in Internal Medicine. Following this he gained a Master of Science, Epidemiology from McGill University in Montreal.

He currently runs the Piedmont Region Screening Program at the region’s university hospital ‘CPO Piemonte; AOU Città della Salute e della Scienza’ in Turin. This is following extensive experience in public health particularly related to cancer screening programs.

Since 2004 he has been a member of the faculty at the University of Turin, Medical School lecturing in evidence based medicine as well as being a part of the post-doctoral School of Oncology there.

His research fields include:

• Colorectal and breast cancer screening organisation and evaluation cancer screening compliance; comparative effectiveness of CRC screening strategies; health technology assessment; guidelines development; smoking prevention and control; cancer screening and healthy lifestyle promotion interventions (diet, physical activity and tobacco consumption).
• Experience in design, implementation and analysis of randomized trials evaluating screening strategies, diagnostic technologies and primary prevention interventions, in the development of clinical guidelines and implementation of quality control projects aimed at assessing quality of treatment of colorectal cancer.

Monique van Leerdam

Prof. Monique van Leerdam is a medical doctor and clinical epidemiologist, working in the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam and the Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands.

She is a medical expert in prevention, early detection and treatment of early gastrointestinal neoplasia. She was involved in several CRC screening trials in the Netherlands that have led to the introduction of the Dutch CRC screening program in 2014. Since the start of the Dutch CRC screening program she is one of the PI’s of the monitoring and evaluation committee of this screening program informing the government about the results. Furthermore, she has a long record of studies in hereditary cancer syndromes. Next to this, she is involved in several (inter)national guidelines, in the Public Affairs Committee of the United European Gastroenterology and in the European Committee Initiative on CRC, updating new European guidelines.