Meet the speakers!
dr. Craig Clifford
Medical Oncologist at BluePearl Malvern, Lecturer, Author, Clinical Scientist and Consultant.
Dr. Craig Clifford is a graduate of Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine and received an MS degree in Animal Science/Virology from the University of Delaware. After completing an internship and a medical oncology residency at the University of Pennsylvania, he became a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (Oncology) in 2003. He is a medical oncologist and director of Clinical Studies at Blue Pearl Malvern in Pennsylvania.
He is active in clinical research within a referral setting and serves as an advisory board member with both industry and non-profit foundations. He is a renowned oncologist who has authored/co-authored over 70 papers and book chapters. He is a frequent lecturer at major veterinary meetings in the USA and abroad.
Dr. Clifford is a member of the VCA Pet Cancer Care Alliance Committee and has served on the VCS executive board, ACVIM Exam Rating Committee, Residency Training and Credentials Committee, Oncology Pathology Working Group, Co-chair of the Standards of Excellence in Residency Education Task Force and an Examiner for the Australian Scientist’s Oncology Specialty Exam.
Dr. Julius Liptak
BVSc MVetClinStud FANZCVSc DACVS-SA DECVS
ACVS Founding Fellow, Surgical Oncology
ACVS Founding Fellow, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
RCVS Specialist in Surgical Oncology
Dr. Julius Liptak has a passion and commitment to surgical oncology. He developed this interest prior to and during his residency training in Australia. Dr. Liptak was then selected as Fellow in Surgical Oncology at the Animal Cancer Center at Colorado State University, the best recognized and, at the time, the only training programs in the world for veterinary surgical oncologists.
Dr. Liptak is an internationally recognized surgical oncologist. He is the co-editor of the seminal veterinary oncology textbook, Withrow and MacEwen's Small Animal Clinical Oncology, with Drs. Vail and Thamm. With three colleagues, Dr. Liptak is also writing the first edition of A Color Atlas of Surgical Oncology for Dogs and Cats. He has over 100 publications in veterinary and human peer-reviewed journals and veterinary textbooks; and is either the first or supervising author on seminal papers on oncologic diseases such as hepatocellular carcinoma, retroperitoneal sarcomas, and chest wall tumors, and surgical procedures including chest wall resections and reconstructions in dogs, rectal pull-through surgery in dogs, ventral bulla osteotomies in cats, and maxillectomies in cats.
Dr. Liptak was the founding President of the Veterinary Society of Surgical Oncology. In 2010, he was awarded the Stephen J. Withrow Award for Advancing the Art and Science of Surgical Oncology. In 2012, Dr. Liptak became an ACVS Founding Fellow, Surgical Oncology - one of four in Canada and less than 100 in the world. In 2020, Dr. Liptak was accepted as an RCVS Specialist in Surgical Oncology, one of six in the world. In 2021, he became an ACVS Founding Fellow, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, one of only ten in the world. His main interests centre around maxillofacial surgery for oral tumors, chest wall resection and reconstruction for rib tumors, musculoskeletal oncology such as bone tumors and soft tissue sarcomas, and soft tissue tumors such as apocrine gland anal sac adenocarcinomas. Dr. Liptak is one of the pioneers in sentinel lymph node mapping and using patient-specific, customized 3D-printed titanium implants for oncologic reconstructions.
Dr. Liptak is committed to providing optimum care for animals with cancer and their owners, continuing to provide education to veterinary professionals to optimize the treatment of cancer in animals (follow Dr. Liptak on Facebook at Animal Cancer Surgery and Instagram at animalcancersurgeon), and improving the outcome for animals (and people) with cancer through education and research.
dr. Sjoerd Klarenbeek
DVM, Dipl ECVP, PhD
Dr. Sjoerd Klarenbeek studied veterinary medicine at Utrecht University, The Netherlands, where he also completed his specialization in veterinary pathology, becoming EBVS board-certified in 2009. He obtained his PhD researching breast cancer at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, where he also led the institute’s experimental pathology facility, and (co-) authored more than 40 scientific publications. He has broad experience in diagnostic pathology of domestic animals, cancer research, experimental pathology, and teaching. For several years he served in the Animal Experiments Committee for ethical review of animal experiments at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). He currently works as a diagnostic veterinary pathologist for Royal GD Animal Health in Deventer, where he studies disease in companion animals and farm animals, in a team of 11 pathologists. Current areas of interest include digital pathology and image analysis through machine learning. In his free time he enjoys playing tennis and plays guitar in a rock band.
(Picture: courtesy of 'De Gelderlander' (gelderlander.nl)
Prof. dr. Christian Blank
Professor By Special Appointment Internal Medicine in particular, clinical research of immunotherapy of cancer
Christian U. Blank is professor for Internal Medicine, especially clinical research on cancer immunotherapy (LUMC) and staff member at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI). In addition, he is professor at the University of Regensburg/Germany, and is he founding and faculty member of the International Neoadjuvant Melanoma Consortium (INMC).
Christian Blank obtained his MD from the Medical School of the Technical University Munich, Germany, where he also completed his Doctoral thesis (summa cum laude) at the Department for Medical Microbiology and in 1997. He worked as Junior House Officer (1997–1998) at the University Clinic Munich, at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, and the University of Birmingham. He went on to attain the position of Physician at the Department of Hematology and Oncology, University of Regensburg, Germany (1998–2001). During 2001–2003, Dr Blank held a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the lab of Professor Thomas Gajewski, University of Chicago, IL, USA. Subsequently he was appointed as Physician and Research Group Leader at the Department of Hematology and Oncology, University of Regensburg, Germany (2003–2007). Dr Blank has obtained two Specialist Degrees in Internal Medicine (2007) and in Hematology/Oncology (2009). Since 2007, he has been appointed Staff Member at the Department of Medical Oncology, and a Group Leader at the Division of Molecular Oncology and Immunology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute - Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital (NKI-AVL), Amsterdam. In 2010, Dr Blank became University Lecturer (Privatdozent) at the University of Regensburg. In addition to his academic background, Dr Blank obtained his Master of Business Administration (MBA), from the University of Warwick, England, UK (2006). Dr Blank is committed to teaching, lecturing on medical courses at the NKI-AVL and the Medical School of the University of Regensburg, where he was appointed Professor in 2015. In 2020 he was additionally appointed Professor at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) in The Netherlands (oration on 14.10.2022 with the title “A cycle of life of T cell activation”).
(text: courtesy of www.universityleiden.nl, picture: courtesy of eurekalert.org)