Cathy Eng, MD, FACP, FASCO, Professor of Medicine, Hematology and Oncology, is the David H. Johnson Endowed Chair of Surgical and Medical Oncology, Co-Director of GI Oncology and the Co-Leader of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Research Program, Director of the new Young Adults Cancers Initiative, and the Chair, Developmental Research Program for the GI SPORE, at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. Currently, she serves on the Scientific Review Committee and the Clinical Trials Shared Resource Oversite Committee. She continues to assume leadership positions devoted to clinical research. She has focused on the development of phase l-Ill clinical trials using novel therapeutics for biomarker discovery and enhanced drug utilization in colorectal, appendiceal and anal cancer patients.
Nationally, Dr. Eng has also been highly active serving on ASCO, ECOG, and SWOG. She has served on multiple committees for ASCO including the Career Development Committee, Education Committee for Colorectal Cancer; ASCO Scientific Program Committee Track Leader for the Gastrointestinal Cancer-Colorectal/Liver Track and served on the Steering Committee 2012-2015. She is the former Chairman of the Scientific Program Committee of the ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancer Symposium from 2012-2013 and Chairman, Steering Committee, Gl Cancers Symposium 2016. She was chosen for the ASCO Leadership Development Program and served on the ASCO Government Relations Committee; worked with the ASCO Cancer Prevention Committee on the consensus statement regarding HPV vaccination; served on the ASCO Nausea and vomiting Guidelines Committee, ASCO Taxonomy Task Force, ASCO Social Media Committee, and is currently on the ASCO Colorectal Guidelines Committee, ASCO Scientific Program Committee (Colorectal Cancer Track) and the ASCO Communications Committee. She was the co-chair of the SWOG Rectal/Anal Cancer Subcommittee and is currently the Vice-Chair for the SWOG GI Committee. She was the Chairman of the NCI Rectal/Anal Task Force (two terms) and currently serves on the NCI GI Steering Committee.
She has published in many peer reviewed journals including JCO, Lancet Oncology, Nature Review, The Annals of Oncology, Cancer, and Annals of Surgical Oncology. She has previously received an NCI grant “Administrative Supplements to the institutional CCSG grant to Support Biomarker Studies Associated with NCI-supported Clinical Trials of Immunotherapy". She was a co-Pl for the MD Anderson Moonshot for HPV-Associated Malignancies (Section Lead for the Rare Cancers subsection) and is a grant reviewer on the MD Anderson Colorectal Cancer Moonshot and the Sabine award. She has served as a consultant to the FDA and AHRQ, Cancer Research UK: Training & Career Development Board - Clinician Scientist Fellowship, the Italian Association for Cancer Research, the Dutch Digestive Foundation, the Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) - Farrah Fawcett Foundation Joint Scientific Advisory Committee (JSACand is a grant review for the SWOG Impact Award.
Sonia Kupfer, MD is an adult gastroenterologist with clinical and research interests in gastrointestinal cancers and health disparities. She graduated from Yale University and completed her medical training including Chief Residency and Gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Chicago. Dr. Kupfer holds grants from the National Institute of Health to study colorectal cancer disparities. She is Director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Risk and Prevention clinic at the University of Chicago. In 2022, Dr. Kupfer was appointed as Director of the Physician-Scientist Development Program in the Department of Medicine. Dr. Kupfer is Past-President of the Collaborative Group of the Americas on Inherited Gastrointestinal Cancer and on the leadership council of the International Society for Gastrointestinal Hereditary Tumors (InSiGHT). She serves on several committees for the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) and is on the Board of Editors for the journal Gastroenterology. In 2017, Dr. Kupfer was awarded the Division of Biological Sciences Diversity and Inclusion Junior award and the Joseph B. Kirsner Mentorship Award. In 2019, Dr. Kupfer was awarded the AGA Young Investigator Award.