Blue Ribbon Panel Working Groups

Clinical Trials Working Group

Cancer clinical trials continue to be the gold standard by which new preventive, treatment, supportive care, and other interventions are tested and compared with existing interventions. New clinical trial designs are emerging with the recognition that a single cancer type may consist of many different molecular subtypes and that a given molecular alteration may drive many different types of cancer. At the same time, it is important that more patients have the opportunity to enroll in trials, to ensure that the results of trials are as broadly applicable as possible and that answers are obtained as quickly as possible.

Co-Chairs:

Mitch Berger, M.D.
University of California, San Francisco

Charles Sawyers, M.D.
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Members:

Jim Abbruzzese, M.D.
Duke Cancer Institute

David Arons, J.D.
National Brain Tumor Society

Sangeeta Bhatia, M.D., Ph.D.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Jeannine Brant, Ph.D., APRN, AOCN,FAAN
Billings Clinic
JADPRO

Mac Cheever, M.D.
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

George Demetri, M.D.
Harvard Medical School
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Neal Kassell, M.D.
Focused Ultrasound Foundation
University of Virginia

Michael Kelley, M.D.
Duke University Medical Center
Durham VA Medical Center
Department of Veterans Affairs

Edith Mitchell, M.D., FACP
Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University
National Medical Association

Peter O'Dwyer, M.D.
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center

Rick Pazdur, M.D.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Steven Piantadosi, M.D., Ph.D.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles

Eric Rubin, M.D.
Merck Research Laboratories

Ellen Sigal, Ph.D.
Friends of Cancer Research

Patrick Soon-Shiong M.D., FRCS(C),FACS
Nantworks LLC

David Tuveson, M.D., Ph.D.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Jedd Wolchok, M.D., Ph.D.
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Enhanced Data Sharing Working Group

Sharing data among investigators and institutions is essential for building on the cancer research progress made so far, but many barriers to effective sharing exist. Barriers can arise from technological or infrastructural limitations (data are stored on different systems or are generated by different methods, making them incompatible). Poor access or participation can also be a barrier (some data may not be shared, and some researchers may not be able to access or analyze even data that are publicly available).

Co-Chairs:

Gad Getz, Ph.D.
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center

Angel Pizarro, M.S.E.
Amazon Web Services Scientific Computing and Research Computing

Members:

David Atkins, M.D., M.P.H.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

William S. Dalton, Ph.D., M.D.
Moffitt Cancer Center

David Glazer
Google

Melissa Haendel, Ph.D.
Oregon Health & Science University

David Heckerman, M.D.
Microsoft

Taha Kass-Hout, M.D., M.S.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Warren Kibbe, Ph.D.
National Cancer Institute

Isaac Kohane, M.D., Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School

Mia Levy, M.D., Ph.D.
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center

Shannon McWeeney, Ph.D.
Oregon Health & Science University

Heidi Rehm, Ph.D., FACMG
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Harvard Medical School
Partners Healthcare Personalized Medicine

Sharon Terry, M.A.
Genetic Alliance

Joyce Tung, Ph.D.
23andMe

John Wilbanks
Sage Bionetworks

Cancer Immunology Working Group

In the past few years, the rapidly advancing field of cancer immunology has produced several new methods of treating cancer, called immunotherapies, that increase the strength of a patient’s immune responses against tumors. Such treatments have led to dramatic successes in some cancers but not others. At the same time, the concept of adjusting the immune response, or immunomodulation, is being extended into cancer prevention, with the goal of developing strategies to spur the immune system to both prevent the development of cancer in the first place and prevent recurrence.

Co-Chairs:

James Allison, Ph.D.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Elizabeth Jaffee, M.D.
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Members:

Jeff Bluestone, Ph.D.
University of California, San Francisco
 
Mikael Dolsten, M.D., Ph.D.
Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development
Pfizer, Inc.

Olja Finn, Ph.D.
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Laurie Glimcher, M.D.
Weill Cornell Medical College
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Alex Huang, M.D., Ph.D.
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Carl June, M.D.
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Alan Korman, Ph.D.
Bristol-Myers Squibb

Wendell Lim, Ph.D.
University of California, San Francisco
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Lynn Matrisian, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Pancreatic Cancer Action Network

Ira Mellman, Ph.D.
Genentech

Augusto Ochoa, M.D.
Louisiana State University

Roger Perlmutter, M.D., Ph.D.
Merck Research Laboratories

Tatiana Prowell, M.D.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Toni Ribas, M.D., Ph.D.
University of California, Los Angeles

Nancy Roach
Fight Colorectal Cancer

Bob Schreiber, Ph.D.
Washington University School of Medicine

Ellen Sigal, Ph.D.
Friends of Cancer Research

Alexander Szalay, Ph.D.
Johns Hopkins University

Marc Theoret, M.D.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Lou Weiner, M.D.
Georgetown University Medical Center

Implementation Science Working Group

Studying the impact of cancer on large populations can provide important information that influences practices, policies, and programs that directly affect the health of millions of people each year. To improve cancer outcomes, it is essential to identify and test methods for more effectively disseminating information about new approaches for cancer prevention, risk assessment, screening, prognosis, treatment, and survivorship. Interventions must fit within real-world public health and clinical settings and be accessible and understandable to practitioners and the public.

Co-Chairs:

María Elena Martínez, Ph.D.
University of California San Diego Moores Cancer Center

Augusto Ochoa, M.D.
Louisiana State University

Members:

Otis Brawley, M.D.
American Cancer Society

Graham Colditz, M.D., Ph.D.
Washington University School of Medicine

Karen Emmons, Ph.D.
Kaiser Foundation Research Institute

Shelley Fuld Nasso
National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship

Scarlett Gomez, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Cancer Prevention Institute of California

Lifang Hou, M.D., Ph.D.
Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Paul Jacobsen, Ph.D.
Moffitt Cancer Center

Deborah Mayer, Ph.D., R.N., AOCN, FAAN
University of North Carolina School of Nursing
UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

Edith Mitchell, M.D., FACP
Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University
National Medical Association

Kathi Mooney, Ph.D., R.N.
Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah

Jamie Ostroff, Ph.D.
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Electra Paskett, Ph.D.
Ohio State University College of Public Health
Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center

Celette Skinner, Ph.D.
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Teshia G. Arambula Solomon, Ph.D.
University of Arizona Cancer Center

Bryan Weiner, Ph.D.
University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health

Pediatric Cancer Working Group

Children are not just small adults; their cancers are different in many ways from those in older individuals. Improving childhood cancer outcomes requires both a better mechanistic understanding of cancer in general as well as an understanding of cancer in children specifically. Important issues to address include the molecular drivers of childhood cancer, which are often different from those of adult cancers; the causes of childhood cancer; and the development of therapies that are less toxic to children’s developing bodies.

Co-Chairs:

Peter Adamson, M.D.
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

James Downing, M.D.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Members:

Scott Armstrong, M.D., Ph.D.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Smita Bhatia M.D., M.P.H.
University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center

Michael Dyer, Ph.D.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Maryamm Fouladi, M.D.
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Todd Golub, M.D.
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Nancy Goodman, J.D.
Kids v Cancer

Daphne Haas-Kogan, M.D.
Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center

Peter Ho, M.D., Ph.D.
Epizyme

Steve Hunger, M.D.
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Peter Langmuir, M.D.
Incyte Corporation

Danielle Leach, M.P.A.
Alliance for Childhood Cancer
St. Baldrick's Foundation

John Maris, M.D.
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Will Parsons, M.D., Ph.D.
Texas Children’s Cancer Center

Carlos Rodriguez-Galindo, M.D.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Kevin Shannon, M.D.
UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center

Kim Stegmaier, M.D.
Harvard Medical School
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Precision Prevention and Early Detection Working Group

Advances in genomic technologies should lead to improved prevention and early detection strategies. As we develop a better understanding of common genetic variants that are associated with higher or lower risk of certain cancers, we may be able to use that knowledge to identify individuals who may or may not benefit from prevention strategies. And techniques to analyze bits of tumor DNA (and other molecules) that are released into the blood and other body fluids may enable noninvasive screening for very early cancers.

Co-Chairs:

Mary Beckerle, Ph.D.
Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah

Jennifer Pietenpol, Ph.D.
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center

Members:

Sadik Esener, Ph.D.
Oregon Health & Sciences University

Charlie Fuchs, M.D., M.P.H.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Harvard Medical School

Sam Gambhir, M.D., Ph.D.
Stanford University School of Medicine

Judy Garber, M.D., M.P.H.
Harvard Medical School
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Bill Hait, M.D., Ph.D.
Janssen Research & Development, LLC

Ernie Hawk, M.D., M.P.H.
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Lifang Hou, M.D., Ph.D.
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Mary Scroggins
Pinkie Hugs, LLC
In My Sister's Care

Victor Velculescu, M.D., Ph.D.
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Tumor Evolution and Progression Working Group

Cancer genomics has yielded a greater understanding of the mutations that occur within cancer cells and their roles in tumor initiation and progression. Concurrent with an increased understanding of cancer genomics, a greater appreciation has developed for the enormous heterogeneity of cancer cells that evolve within a tumor, the metabolic changes in both the cancer cell and immune cells in the microenvironment, and the roles of the non-cancer cellular and molecular components of the tumor microenvironment that both support and suppress tumor progression.

Co-Chairs:

Chi Van Dang, M.D., Ph.D.
Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania

Levi Garraway, M.D., Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Members:

Cory Abate-Shen, Ph.D.
Columbia University Medical Center

Bob Abraham, Ph.D.
Pfizer, Inc.

Joe Gray, Ph.D.
Oregon Health & Science University

Dan Haber, M.D., Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School

Bill Kaelin, M.D.
Harvard Medical School
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Daniel Liebler, Ph.D.
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

Joan Massague, Ph.D.
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Martin McMahon, Ph.D.
Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah

Katherine Nathanson, M.D.
Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Nelly Polyak, M.D., Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Aviv Regev, Ph.D.
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

David Solit, M.D.
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Jonathan Weissman, Ph.D.
University of California, San Francisco
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Alfred Yung, M.D.
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center