JEROME E. GROOPMAN, M.D.

CHAIRMAN
Beth Israel Deaconess, Boston, MA

Dr. Jerome Groopman holds the Dina and Raphael Recanati Chair of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School and is Chief of Experimental Medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He received his B.A. from Columbia College summa cum laude and his M.D. from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York where he was elected to AOA. He served his internship and residency in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital, then his specialty fellowships in hematology and oncology at the University of California and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Groopman Chaired the Advisory Committee to the FDA for Biological Response Modifiers. He serves on many scientific editorial boards and has published many research papers. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 2000. Dr. Groopman's research has focused on blood development, cancer, and AIDS, and he has been a major participant in the development of many AIDS-related therapies. He is a staff writer for The New Yorker and has written for The New York Times and The Washington Post. He is author of "The Measure of Our Days" (1997), Second Opinions (2000), "The Anatomy of Hope" (2004), and the recently released, "How Doctors Think." "The Measure of Our Days," explores the spiritual lives of patients with serious illness and was the basis for the ABC Television series "Gideon's Crossing".

ROSS C. DONEHOWER, M.D.

Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD

Dr. Ross C. Donehower is the first Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor of Clinical Investigation of Cancer. His current clinical interests lie in gastrointestinal cancers and drug development. Dr. Donehower did postgraduate training in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins, and has worked at the U.S. Public Health Service and at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda. He is currently director of both the Division of Medical Oncology in the Department of Oncology and of the Medical Oncology Fellowship Training Program at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center as well as a Professor of Oncology and Medicine. Dr. Donehower did pioneering work in clinical studies of paclitaxel (Taxol®), one of the most important chemotherapy agent developed in the last several decades.

S.GAIL ECKHARDT, M.D.

University of Colorado, Aurora, CO

Dr. Gail Eckhardt is the Stapp-Harlow Endowed Professor and Head, Division of Medical Oncology in the Department of Medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado. Previously. Dr. Eckhardt was Associate Director of Clinical Research and Director of the Drug Development Fellowship Training Program at the Institute for Drug Development, Cancer Therapy and Research Center in San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Eckhardt has served in many national roles including the NIH/NCI Developmental Therapeutics Study Section (2006-2009), the FDA Oncology Drug Advisory Committee (2005-2009), the Board of Directors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (2004-2007), the NCI Investigational Drug Steering Committee (2005 to present) and as Associate Editor of the Journal of Clinical Oncology (2002-2005). Dr. Eckhardt has published more than 65 original articles, is the PI of about 50 Phase I trials and several active NIH/NCI research grants.

JAMES F. HOLLAND, M.D.

Mount Sinai, New York, NY

Dr. James F. Holland is Distinguished Professor of Neoplastic Diseases at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He attended Princeton University and Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons. He interned and served his residency at the Presbyterian Hospital in New York before service in the army, and then returned to New York for an oncology fellowship. He joined the National Cancer Institute in 1953, and moved to Roswell Park Cancer Institute in November 1954. He served as the American representative to the Soviet Union for cancer research in 1972-3. Holland was recruited to Mount Sinai Medical Center in 1973 as Director of the Cancer Center and Chairman of the Department of Neoplastic Diseases. He retired from these positions in 1993 and 1998 respectively, but continues to work full time in research and patient care. He has served as President of the American Association for Cancer Research, President of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Chairman of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B, Scientific Adviser to the National Cancer Institute and the World Health Organization. He is the Scientific Director of the TJ Martell Foundation for Leukemia, Cancer and AIDS Research. Dr. Holland has received the Lasker Prize, the American Cancer Society National Award, the Distinguished Scientific Award of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and many other prizes, awards, and honorary degrees.

STEPHEN NIMER, M.D.

Memorial Sloan Kettering, New York, NY

Dr. Stephen Nimer is a Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, and also is Head of the Division of Hematologic Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, Chief of the Hematology Service, and a Member of the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research. He received his medical degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, and completed his Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine, where he was named Chief Medical Resident. He remained at UCLA for his Fellowship in Hematology and Oncology. Dr. Nimer is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the American Society of Hematology, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the American Association for Cancer Research. He is on the editorial boards of several journals, such as Leukemia Research and the American Journal of Oncology Review. He is a reviewer for the New England Journal of Medicine, Blood, and Nature Medicine. Dr. Nimer has published over 120 research articles and given numerous presentations at scientific meetings.

DAVID R. PARKINSON, M.D.

Nodality, Inc, San Francisco, CA

Dr. David R. Parkinson is President and CEO of Nodality, a South San Francisco-based biotechnology company focused on the biological characterization of signaling pathways in patients with malignancy to enable more effective therapeutics development and decision-making. Until recently Dr. Parkinson was Senior Vice President, Oncology Research and Development at Biogen Idec. At Biogen he oversaw all oncology discovery research efforts and the development of the oncology pipeline. Previously he had served as Vice President, Oncology Development, at Amgen and Vice President, Global Clinical Oncology Development at Novartis. During his tenures at Amgen and Novartis, Dr. Parkinson was responsible for clinical development activities leading to a series of successful global drug registrations for important cancer therapeutics, including Gleevec®, Femara®, Zometa®, Kepivance®, and Vectibix®. Dr. Parkinson worked at the National Cancer Institute from 1990 to 1997, serving as Chief of the Investigational Drug Branch, then as Acting Associate Director of the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program, before leaving for Novartis. He has also held academic positions at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas and New England Medical Center of Tufts University School of Medicine. He received his M.D. as gold medalist from the University Of Toronto Faculty Of Medicine in 1977, with Internal Medicine and Hematology/Oncology training in Montreal at McGill University and in Boston at New England Medical Center. Dr. Parkinson is a past Chairman of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Biologics Advisory Committee and is a recipient of the FDA's Cody Medal. He is a past President of the International Society of Biological Therapy, and past Editor of the Journal of Immunotherapy. He currently serves on the National Cancer Policy Forum of the Institute of Medicine and is a member of the FDA's Science Board. He was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the American Association of Cancer Research, and continues to serve as Chairman of the AACR Finance Committee.

MARK J. RATAIN, M.D.

University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Dr. Mark Ratain is Leon O. Jacobson Professor of Medicine, Chairman, Committee on Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics and Associate Director for Clinical Sciences, Cancer Research Center in the Department of Medicine at The University of Chicago. Dr. Ratain is an expert in the use of investigational agents to treat advanced solid tumors. He also has a special interest in pharmacogenetics--the study of how genetic variation affects the body's response to medications. Dr. Ratain is developing new diagnostic tests in order to create individualized anticancer therapies based on each person's genetic makeup. He serves as chair of the Pharmacogenetics of Anticancer Agents Research (PAAR) Group, which brings together teams of experts from across the nation to investigate advancements in pharmacogenetics.