Philip E. Castle, PhD, MPH, is the Director of the Division of Cancer Prevention (DCP) and a Senior, Tenured Investigator in the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) at the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) (Rockville, MD, USA).

Previously, he was a Tenured Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Bronx, NY, USA) (2014-20), Chief Scientific Officer of the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) (2011-2), and Senior, Tenured Investigator (2010) and Tenure-Track Investigator (2003-10) in DCEG/NCI.

The presentation titled “The Best Cancer Is the Cancer That Never Happens” by Dr. Castle focused on the importance of cancer prevention, stressing on the need for precision in cancer prevention and addressing disparities in cancer care. He introduced the national cancer plan goals and strategies for preventing and controlling cancer, and CAP-IT is an important part of this effort. -“The best cancer is the cancer that never happens”.

Robert J. Coffey, MD, Professor of Medicine (Gastroenterology) and Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at Vanderbilt University, is a physician-scientist whose work extends from basic cell biology to clinical investigation. The focus of his research is the study of the role of the EGF receptor (EGFR) and its ligands in GI neoplasia with a special emphasis on colorectal cancer (CRC). Dr. Coffey directs the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center GI Special Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE), which focuses on CRC and has been funded since 2002.

Dr. Coffey’s presentation “Overcoming Immune Exclusion in Microsatellite Stable CRC: Roles for Extracellular Vesicles and Supermeres” provided an insight into the molecular mechanisms of specifically microsatellite stable colorectal cancer & revealed the role played by extracellular vesicles and supermeres.