Emmanuel Ukudolo
US, April 4, 2016 – The National Cancer Institute (NCI),part of the National Institutes of Health(NIH) today named the Blue Ribbon Panel of scientific experts that will determine the scientific direction and goals of Vice President Joe Biden’s National Cancer Moonshot Initiative.
The panel will serve as a working group for the National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB) and will provide scientific guidance from thought-leaders in the cancer community.
Members of the panel are Tyler Jacks, Ph.D. (Co-Chair)Chair, National Cancer Advisory Board, and Director, Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge; Elizabeth Jaffee, M.D. (Co-Chair)Professor and Deputy Director for Translational Research, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore; Dinah Singer, Ph.D. (Co-Chair) Acting Deputy Director and Division of Cancer Biology Director, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland; Peter Adamson, M.D. Professor and Director, Experimental Therapeutics in Oncology, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Others are James Allison, Ph.D. Professor and Chair of Immunology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston; David Arons, J.D. Chief Executive Officer, National Brain Tumor Society, Newton, Massachusetts; Mary Beckerle, Ph.D. CEO and Director, Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City; Mitch Berger, M.D. Professor and Chair, Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco; Jeff Bluestone, Ph.D. Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, University of California, San Francisco; Mikael Dolsten, M.D., Ph.D. President, Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development, and Executive Vice President, Pfizer, Inc., New York City
Still on the panel are James Downing, M.D. President and CEO, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee; Levi Garraway, M.D., Ph.D. Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and Assistant Professor of Medicine, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston; Gad Getz, Ph.D.Director, Cancer Genome Computational Analysis Group, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Laurie Glimcher, M.D. Professor of Medicine and Dean, Weill Cornell Medical College, and Incoming President and CEO, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston; Lifang Hou, M.D., Ph.D. Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago; Neal Kassell, M.D. Professor of Neurosurgery, University of Virginia, Charlottesville; Maria Elena Martinez, Ph.D. Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health, Reducing Cancer Disparities Program, UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center; Deborah Mayer, Ph.D., R.N. Professor of Adult and Geriatric Health, University of North Carolina School of Nursing, and Director of Cancer Survivorship, UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Chapel Hill
The panel also includes Edith Mitchell, M.D., F.A.C.P, Professor of Medical Oncology and Associate Director for Diversity Services, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia; Augusto Ochoa, M.D. Professor of Pediatrics and Director, Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center, Louisiana State University, New Orleans; Jennifer Pietenpol, Ph.D. Professor of Oncology, Professor of Biochemistry, and Director, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville; Angel Pizarro, M.S.E.Technical Business Development Manager, Amazon Web Services Scientific Computing and Research Computing, Philadelphia; Barbara Rimer, Dr.P.H. Alumni Distinguished Professor and Dean, University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, Chapel Hill; Charles Sawyers, M.D. Chair, Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, New York City; Ellen Sigal, Ph.D. Founder and Chair, Friends of Cancer Research, Washington, D.C.; Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.B.B.Ch.Founder, Chair, and CEO, NantWorks LLC, Los Angeles; Chi Van Dang, M.D., Ph.D. Professor of Medicine and Director, Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Wai-Kwan Alfred Yung, M.D.Professor of Neuro-Oncology and Chair of Clinical Cancer Care, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston.
“This Blue Ribbon Panel will ensure that, as NIH allocates new resources through the Moonshot, decisions will be grounded in the best science,” said the Vice President.
“I look forward to working with this panel and many others involved with the Moonshot to make unprecedented improvements in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer.”
