NUTRITION INTERVENTION: THE BENEFITS OF A MULTIMODAL APPROACH

Dr Michael D. Bastasch is the medical director and a radiation oncologist at the University of Texas Health/East Texas Cancer Institute in Athens, Texas, US. He received his medical degree from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City, Kansas, US. He completed his residency in radiation oncology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Dr Bastasch provides oversight and management for radiation oncology services in the treatment of approximately 170 adult patients each year. He practices community-based patient care for a large diverse population of patients, including pediatric, adult, geriatric, and mentally ill patients, and is results and outcome oriented. Dr Bastasch initiated the high dose rate program for gynecologic, breast, and prone breast technique. He has authored/coauthored many articles in peer-reviewed journals and presented at national and international conferences.

Dr Martin R. Chasen is an associate clinical professor in the Departments of Medicine and Community and Family Medicine at University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada, and the medical director of palliative care at William Osler Health System in Brampton and Etobicoke, Ontario. He obtained a specialist degree in internal medicine, medical oncology and Palliative care from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He currently holds professorships at the Universities of Toronto, McMaster, Ottawa, and McGill in Canada. Dr Chasen was the medical lead for both Ottawa and Brampton, Ontario, when these sites received European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) accreditation as a designated site for integrated oncology and palliative care. He is the national principal investigator on a CIHR grant, The MENAC trail Multimodal Intervention for Cachexia in Advanced Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy. Dr Chasen has authored/coauthored more than 110 peer-reviewed publications, abstracts, and book chapters.

Dr Alessandro Laviano is an associate professor of internal medicine in the Department of Translational and Precision Medicine at the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. He received his medical degree from the Sapienza University of Rome. Dr Laviano completed a fellowship in nutrition and metabolism at the State University of New York Health Science Center in Syracuse. His specific interests include regulation of eating behavior in health and disease; disease-associated anorexia-cachexia; metabolic derangements during disease, particularly in cancer; hyperphagia and obesity; hospital-related malnutrition; clinical consequences of malnutrition; and artificial nutrition. Dr Laviano has authored/coauthored more than 220 articles published in peer-reviewed journals, more than 50 book chapters, and more than 200 abstracts presented at national and international conferences.

Dr Carla Prado is a professor at the University of Alberta in Canada and a Campus Alberta Innovate Program (CAIP) chair in Nutrition, Food and Health. She is also the director of the Human Nutrition Research Unit at the university. Dr Prado received her PhD in human nutrition and metabolism from the University of Alberta, Canada, and is a registered dietitian in both Canada and Brazil. Dr Prado is an expert in assessing nutritional status through the precise measurement of body composition and energy metabolism. The focus of her current research program is to develop targeted nutrition interventions for the prevention and treatment of low muscle mass in patients with cancer. She is currently the principal investigator for 2 randomized controlled trials investigating the impact of nutrition intervention on body composition and health. She is also conducting the first study looking at protein requirements in cancer using indicator amino acid oxidation rate technique. She is currently a member of the GLIM Body Composition Working Group, and the Sarcopenic Obesity Consensus Group (ESPEN/EASO). She is an Associate Editor of Clinical Nutrition and the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle.

Dr Anthony Sung is an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapy and associate director of the Duke Microbiome Center at the Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina, US. He received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, US. Dr Sung completed his residency in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, US, and fellowship at Duke University School of Medicine. His current research interests include hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT), with a focus on preventing complications such as infections, gastrointestinal toxicity, and graft-versus host disease through modulation of the microbiome; delivery of care, such as home-based HCT and mHealth, medication adherence, and behavioral economic incentives; costs associated with HCT; and novel cellular therapies. Dr Sung’s research encompasses murine, phase 1, phase 2, and correlative studies. He has authored/coauthored numerous articles published in peer-reviewed journals and presented his research at several conferences.