The Joint Scientific Advisory Committee for the SU2C-MRA Melanoma Dream Team Translational Cancer Research Grant is dedicated to seeking out the most innovative and promising melanoma cancer research projects. The Committee is comprised of highly accomplished senior laboratory researchers and physician-scientists, as well as advocates. The scientific oversight provided by the Joint Scientific Advisory Committee is critical to achieve Stand Up To Cancer's mission to translate the most promising cancer research into real advances in cancer diagnosis, treatment, and prevention as quickly as possible.
Joint Scientific Advisory Committee Biographies
Phillip A. Sharp, Ph.D., Chairperson
Institute Professor
David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA
A world leader of research in molecular biology and biochemistry, Dr. Phillip A. Sharp is institute professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. Dr. Sharp earned a B.A. degree from Union College, KY in 1966, and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in 1969. He did his postdoctoral training at the California Institute of Technology, where he studied the molecular biology of plasmids, and then studied gene expression in human cells at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory under James Watson. Much of Dr. Sharp's scientific work has been conducted at MIT's Center for Cancer Research, which he joined in 1974.
Dr. Sharp's research interests have centered on the molecular biology of gene expression relevant to cancer and the mechanisms of RNA splicing. His landmark achievement was the discovery of RNA splicing in 1977. The discovery that genes contain nonsense segments that are edited out by cells in the course of utilizing genetic information is important in understanding the genetic causes of cancer and other diseases. For this work he received the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. His lab has now turned its attention to understanding how RNA molecules act as switches to turn genes on and off (RNA interference). These newly discovered processes have revolutionized cell biology and could potentially generate a new class of therapeutics.
Dr. Sharp has received numerous awards and honorary degrees, and has served on many advisory boards for the government, academic institutions, scientific societies, and companies. In addition to the Nobel Prize, his awards include the Gairdner Foundation International Award, the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, the National Medal of Science for Biological Sciences and the inaugural Double Helix Medal from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. Dr. Sharp co-founded Biogen (now Biogen Idec), Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, an early-stage therapeutics company and Magen Biosciences Inc., a biotechnology company developing agents to promote the health of human skin.
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William G. Kaelin Jr., M.D., Vice Chairperson
Professor
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Boston, MADr. William G. Kaelin Jr., is a professor at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA. He received his medical degree from Duke University in 1982 and was a house officer in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He went on to become a medical oncology clinical fellow at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. David Livingston, where he began his studies of tumor suppressor proteins. He became an independent investigator at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in 1992 as a James S. McDonnell Scholar and became a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator in 1998. Dr. Kaelin is also a professor in the Department of Medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital, senior physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and associate director for Basic Research at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center.
Dr. Kaelin's research interests have focused on tumor suppressor genes and the normal functions of the proteins they encode. The long-term goal of his work is to lay the foundation for the development of new anticancer therapies based on the functions of specific tumor suppressor proteins. His studies of tumor suppressor genes linked to hereditary forms of cancer have uncovered molecular pathways that are important in non-hereditary cancers and have accelerated the development of new treatments for kidney cancer.
Dr. Kaelin is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine and has served on numerous boards and committees, including the American Association for Cancer Research's Board of Directors and the NCI Board of Scientific Advisors. He has received many awards for his work, including the AACR-Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Prize for Cancer Research and the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer.
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Suzanne L. Topalian, M.D., Vice Chairperson
Professor of Surgery and Oncology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Director, Melanoma Program, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center
Baltimore, MDDr. Topalian is a physician-scientist whose research focuses on cancer immunology and immunotherapy. She received a B.A. in English from Wellesley College and a medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine, after which she completed a residency in general surgery at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. Following a 21-year tenure in the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute, NIH, first as a research fellow and subsequently as a senior investigator, Dr. Topalian joined the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine faculty in 2006 to direct the Melanoma Program in the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Topalian has published more than 100 original research articles and reviews on cancer immunology. She is internationally recognized for this work, which has provided a foundation for the translational development of immunotherapies for melanoma and other cancers, including cancer vaccines, adoptive T cell transfer, and immunomodulatory monoclonal antibodies. These efforts have opened new avenues of scientific interest and clinical investigation in cancer therapeutics.
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James P. Allison, Ph.D.
Chairman, Immunology Program
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Director of Ludwig Center for Cancer Immunotherapy
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Center
New York, NY
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Richard B. Gaynor, M.D.
Vice President
Cancer Research and Clinical Investigation
Eli Lilly and Company
Indianapolis, IN
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Jeffrey E. Gershenwald, M.D.
Professor of Surgery & Cancer Biology
Department of Surgical Oncology
Division of Surgery
University of Texas
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Houston, TX
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Thomas J. Hornyak, M.D., Ph.D.
Chief, Dermatology
Maryland VA Health Care System
Associate Professor of Dermatology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (appointment pending)
University of Maryland School of Medicine Baltimore, MD
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Beverly A. Teicher, Ph.D.
Chief, Molecular Pharmacology Branch
National Cancer Institute
Developmental Therapeutics Program
Rockville, MD
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Michael J. Weber, Ph.D.
Director
University of Virginia Cancer Center
Charlottesville, VA
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Ellen V. Sigal, Ph.D.
Chairperson and Founder
Friends of Cancer Research
Arlington, VA
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Doug Ulman
CEO
Lance Armstrong Foundation
Austin, TX
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