Sarah Derks, MS PhD, Amsterdam UMC

Biography

Sarah Derks is a medical oncologist at Amsterdam UMC in Amsterdam ,the Netherlands. She did her residency training Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology Fellowship at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam. After acquiring a translational research fellowship from the Dutch Cancer Society, she carried out post-doctoral training (2014-2017) in the laboratory of Dr. Adam Bass at Dana-Farber Harvard Cancer Center in Boston, MA, USA, working on a variety of genome and immuno oriented studies in gastroesophageal adenocarcinomas (GEA).

Having returned to the Netherlands Dr Derks started her own research group with a focus on how GEA cells shape their immune microenvironment and how a pre-existing immune infiltrate influences response to standard therapy with the ultimate goal to identify novel targeted immunomodulatory strategies and improve survival of patients with this deadly disease.
Dr. Derks receives funding from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Dutch Cancer Society. In 2019 she became a principal investigator at the Oncode Institute.

Summary of presentation

For PD-L1 positive and MSI cancers, checkpoint inhibitors have find a clear place in the treatment of metastatic disease. However, responses to the chemo-immunotherapy vary greatly between patients and biomarkers to predict long term benefit are not available. To improve responses and outcome we have to understand the underlying biology of immune sensitivity and escape resistance which will be the key to novel treatment strategies.