Meet the Rally Medical Advisory Board

Every Rally Grant awarded is scrutinized and vetted by the Rally Medical Advisory Board comprised of the top pediatric oncologists in North America. Each grant application goes through our dual peer review process. We then award grants to the highest scoring applications. We do this because we take every dollar you have given to Rally seriously. The Rally Medical Advisory Board works hard to make sure every dollar makes the biggest impact that it can.

Peter C. Adamson, MD

Sanofi; Cambridge, MA – Global Head, Oncology Development and Pediatric Innovation

Saro Armenian, D.O., MPH

City of Hope; Durante, CA – Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics and Population Sciences

Oren Becher, MD

Northwestern University; Chicago, IL – Associate Professor in Pediatrics and Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics

Smita Bhatia, MD, MPH

University of Alabama at Birmingham; Birmingham, AL – Director for Cancer Outcomes and Survivorship

Scott Borinstein, MD, PHD

Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt; Nashville, TN – Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Michael Burke, MD

Medical College of Wisconsin; Milwaukee, WI – Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Hematology / Oncology / Blood and Marrow Transplantation

Nai-Kong V. Cheung, MD, PHD

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; New York, NY – Neuroblastoma Program Head, Pediatric Oncology

Mark Chiang, MD, PHD

University of Michigan; Ann Arbor, MI – Assistant Professor, Division of Hematology / Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine

Murali Chintagumpala, MD

Baylor College of Medicine; Houston, TX - Professor of Pediatrics; Director, Neuro-Oncology Program

Eric J. Chow, MD, MPH

Seattle Children’s Hospital; Seattle, WA – Medical Director, Cancer Survivorship Program

Dai Chung, MD

UT Southwestern Medical Center; Dallas, TX – Professor and Chief in Pediatric Surgery

John Crispino, PHD, MBA

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN – Member; Director, Experimental Hematology

Brian D. Crompton, MD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Boston, MA – Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Anthony Daniels, M.D., M.Sc.

Vanderbilt Eye Institute and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center; Nashville, TN – Chief, Division of Ocular Oncology and Pathology

Christopher Derenzo, MD, MBA

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN – Assistant Member, Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy

Girish Dhall, MD

University of Alabama at Birmingham; Birmingham, AL - Director, Pediatric Hematology and Oncology

Jeffrey Dome, MD, PHD

Children’s National Health Center; Washington, D.C. – Division Chief, Hematology / Oncology; Vice President, Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders

Adam Durbin, MD, PHD

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN – Assistant Member, Division of Molecular Oncology

Adam J. Esbenshade, MD, MSCI

Vanderbilt University; Nashville, TN – Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Natia Esiashvili, MD

Emory University; Atlanta, GA – Associate Professor in Radiation Oncology Department

Angela M. Feraco, MD, MMSC

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Boston, MA – Instructor in Pediatric Oncology

Adolfo Ferrando, MD, PHD

Columbia University Medical Center; New York, NY – Associate Professor of Pathology and Pediatrics

Debra Friedman, MD

Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt; Nashville, TN – Director of the Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology

Gregory Friedman, MD

University of Alabama at Birmingham; Birmingham, AL – Associate Professor of Pediatrics Neuro-Oncology Program

Amar Gajjar, MD

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN – Director of Neuro-Oncology Division

Jonathan Gill, MD

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Houston, TX – Director, Clinical and Translational Research Program

Kelly Goldsmith, MD

Emory University; Atlanta, GA – Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Vidya Gopalakrishnan, MD

MD Anderson Cancer Center; Houston, TX – Associate Professor of Pediatrics Research and Molecular and Cellular Oncology

Adam Green, MD

University of Colorado; Aurora, CO – Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Abha Gupta, MD

The Hospital for Sick Children; Toronto, Ontario Canada – Medical Director, Adolescent and Young Adult Program

Rintaro Hashizume, MD, PHD

Northwestern University; Chicago, IL – Assistant Professor, Neurological Surgery, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics

Douglas S. Hawkins, MD, MPH

Seattle Children’s Hospital; Seattle, WA – Chair, Children’s Oncology Group; Professor of Pediatrics

Daniel Herranz, PharmD, PhD

Rutgers University; New Brunswick, NJ – Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Pediatrics

Douglas Hoffmann, MD, MPH

Marietta, GA – Pathologist / Hematopathologist

Andrew Hong, MD

Emory University; Atlanta, GA - Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Eugene Hwang, MD

Children’s National Medical Center; Washington, D.C. – Director, Neuro-oncology Fellowship Program; Director, Clinical Neuro-oncology Immunotherapeutic Program

Michael Isakoff, MD

Connecticut Children’s Medical Center; Hartford, CT – Clinical Director, Center for Cancer and Blood Disorder; Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Theodore S. Johnson, MD

Medical College of Georgia; Augusta, GA – Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Emily Johnston, PHD

University of Alabama at Birmingham; Birmingham, AL – Assistant Professor of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology

Cigall Kadoch, PHD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Boston, MA – Assistant Professor, Pediatric Oncology

Jonathan Kaufman, MD

Emory University School of Medicine; Atlanta, GA – Associate Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology

Michael Kinnaman, MD

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; New York, NY - Instructor in Pediatric Oncology

Orly Klein, MD

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford; Palo Alto, CA - Clinical Assistant Professor

Kim Kramer, MD

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; New York, NY – Pediatric Oncologist

Jacqueline Kraveka, D.O.

Medical University of South Carolina; Charleston, SC – Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Gadi Lalazar, MD

Rockefeller University and Weill Cornell College of Medicine; New York, NY – Instructor, Clinical Investigation

David Loeb, MD, PHD

Children’s Hospital at Montefiore; New York, NY – Chief, Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Marrow and Blood Cell Transplantation

John M. Maris, MD

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Philadelphia, PA – Director, Center for Childhood Cancer Research, Giulio D’Angio Chair in Neuroblastoma Research, Professor of Pediatrics

Melinda Merchant, MD, PHD

Epizyme; Cambridge, Massachusettes - VP Early Stage Development

Shakeel Modak, MD

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; New York, NY – Pediatric Oncologist

Daniel Morgenstern, MD, PHD

The Hospital for Sick Children; Toronto, Canada – Staff Oncologist, Solid Tumor Program

Luke Mosley, MD, MTS

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati, OH – Assistant Professor

Sabine Mueller, MD, PHD

University of California; San Francisco, CA – Associate Professor, Neurology

Esther Obeng, MD, PHD

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN – Assistant Member, Molecular Oncology

Devang J. Pastakia, MD, PHD

Vanderbilt University; Nashville, TN – Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics

Renee Read, PHD

Emory University; Atlanta, GA – Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology

Damon Reed, PHD

Moffitt Cancer Center; Tampa, FL – Associate Professor

Etan Orgel, MD, MS

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA – Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics

Lewis R. Roberts, MB ChB, PhD

Mayo Clinic; Rochester, MN – Professor in Gastroenterology Cancer Research

Jezabel Rodriguez-Blanco, PhD

Medical University of South Carolina; Charleston, SC – Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Daniel Runco, MD, MS

Indiana University; Indianapolis, IN – Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Marta Sanchez-Martin, PHD

Kyn Therapeutics; Cambridge, MA – Senior Translational Scientist

Elias Sayour, MD, PHD

University of Florida; Gainesville, FL – Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery and Pediatrics

Jeff Schwartz, MD

Sacred Heart Hospital; Pensacola, FL - Medical Director, UF Health Pediatric Subspecialty Program; Division Chief, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology; Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Kevin Shannon, MD

University of California; San Francisco, CA – Professor, Department of Pediatrics

Sanford Simon, PHD

Rockefeller University; New York, NY – Professor, Laboratory of Cellular Biophysics

Simone Sredni, MD, PHD

Northwestern University; Chicago, IL – Research Associate Professor of Neurosurgery

Sarah Tasian, MD

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Philadelphia, PA – Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Mireya Paulina Velasquez

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN – Assistant Member, Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy

Daniel Wechsler, MD, PHD

Emory University; Atlanta, GA – Professor, Department of Pediatrics

James Whitlock, PHD

The Hospital for Sick Children; Toronto, Canada – Division Head of Hematology / Oncology

Lena Winestone, MD

University of California, San Francisco; San Francisco, CA – Assistant Adjunct Professor

Jason T. Yustein, MD, PHD

Baylor College of Medicine; Houston, TX – Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics

Wafik Zaky, MD

MD Anderson Cancer Center; Houston, TX – Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Patient Care

Jiwang Zhang, MD, PHD

Loyola University; Chicago, IL – Associate Professor of Pathology

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Medical Advisory Board Cambridge

Peter C. Adamson, MD

Sanofi; Cambridge, MA – Global Head, Oncology Development and Pediatric Innovation

Dr. Adamson’s primary research focus has been on pediatric cancer drug development, specifically early phase clinical trials and clinical pharmacologic studies. Dr. Adamson serves as the Global Head of Oncology Development and Pediatric Innovation for Sanofi. Previously, Dr. Adamson served as the Chair of the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), a National Cancer Institute supported consortium of more than 200 centers across North America, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Europe, which conducts clinical-translational research including large-scale clinical trials in children with cancer. Other key roles include Director of the Office for Clinical and Translational Research at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, co-Director of the University of Pennsylvania CHOP Clinical Translational Science Award (CTSA), Program Director of the General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) and Principal Investigator of its NICHD funded Pediatric Pharmacology Research Unit (PPRU). Dr. Adamson is recognized as an Emeritus Professor CE of Pediatrics by the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.

Medical Advisory Board Durante

Saro Armenian, D.O., MPH

City of Hope; Durante, CA – Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics and Population Sciences

Saro Armenian is a pediatric hematologist/oncologist with expertise in pediatric cancer, epidemiology, and cancer survivorship. Dr. Armenian is leading a clinical research study into whether a low dose of the drug carvedilol can reduce the risk of congestive heart failure in childhood cancer survivors who received chemotherapy with anthracyclines.

Medical Advisory Board Chicago

Oren Becher, MD

Northwestern University; Chicago, IL – Associate Professor in Pediatrics and Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics

Dr. Becher received his MD from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, completed his residency at Children’s National Medical Center, and completed his fellowship at NY Presbyterian and Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases. His research areas include the development of improved clinical trials and effective treatments for children with brain tumors, particularly high-grade gliomas.

Medical Advisory Board Birmingham

Smita Bhatia, MD, MPH

University of Alabama at Birmingham; Birmingham, AL – Director for Cancer Outcomes and Survivorship

Dr. Bhatia is a graduate of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi where she also completed her residency. She completed her fellowship at the University of Minnesota and was a professor at City of Hope before moving to UAB. Her research focuses on cancer outcomes with an emphasis on the long-term health and well-being of cancer survivors. Her overarching goal is to reduce the burden of morbidity among cancer survivors.

Medical Advisory Board Nashville

Scott Borinstein, MD, PHD

Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt; Nashville, TN – Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Scott Borinstein received his M.D and Ph.D. at The Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va. He completed his residency and fellowship at Seattle Children’s Hospital in Seattle, WA. Dr. Borinstein’s research focuses on the development of better treatment for pediatric sarcomas. Specifically, his laboratory investigates how changesin DNA methylation contribute to the pathogensis of Ewing sarcoma.

Medical Advisory Board Milwaukee

Michael Burke, MD

Medical College of Wisconsin; Milwaukee, WI – Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Hematology / Oncology / Blood and Marrow Transplantation

Dr. Burke received his MD from Ross University School of Medicine in Portsmouth, Dominica. He completed his residency at the Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University and his fellowship in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. His research interests revolve around relapsed childhood leukemia.

Medical Advisory Board New York

Nai-Kong V. Cheung, MD, PHD

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; New York, NY – Neuroblastoma Program Head, Pediatric Oncology

Dr. Cheung is a pediatric oncologist who specializes in immunologic approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of pediatric cancers. His focus is the treatment of neuroblastoma, a tumor that arises from primitive cells of the sympathetic nervous system and that primarily affects young children.

Medical Advisory Board Ann Arbor

Mark Chiang, MD, PHD

University of Michigan; Ann Arbor, MI – Assistant Professor, Division of Hematology / Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine

Dr. Chiang received his M.D., PH.D. and training from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. His research interests revolve around T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, NOTCH signaling and mouse modeling of hematological malignancies.

Medical Advisory Board Houston

Murali Chintagumpala, MD

Baylor College of Medicine; Houston, TX
Professor of Pediatrics; Director, Neuro-Oncology Program

Dr. Chintagumpala is a Professor of Pediatrics and the Director of the Neuro-Oncology Program at Texas Children’s Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine. He is a senior member of the Solid Tumor Program and the Co-Director of the Retinoblastoma Center of Houston. With more than 30 years of clinical experience he has led and participated in several clinical trials in both solid tumors and brain tumors.

Medical Advisory Board Seattle

Eric J. Chow, MD, MPH

Seattle Children’s Hospital; Seattle, WA – Medical Director, Cancer Survivorship Program

Dr. Chow received his M.D. with thesis from the University of California in San Francisco. His Research is focused on cancer survivorship, with focus on childhood cancer survivors and hematopoietic cell transplantation survivors of all ages. Dr. Chow and his team are interested in better understanding exposures that influence (both good and bad) a cancer survivor’s subsequent risk for developing heart disease and related conditions. Dr. Chow holds leadership positions within the Children's Oncology Group’s Outcomes and Survivorship Committee and the National Cancer Institute-sponsored Childhood Cancer Survivor Study.

Medical Advisory Board

Dallas

Dai Chung

UT Southwestern Medical Center; Dallas, TX – Professor and Chief in Pediatric Surgery

Dr. Chung is a Professor in the Department of Surgery and the Chief of the Division of Pediatric Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He specializes in pediatric surgery. He earned his medical degree at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Texas, where he also completed an internship and a residency in surgery. He received advanced training through a fellowship in pediatric surgery at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center/University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, as well as through research fellowships with the National Institutes of Health at Shriners Burns Hospital and the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Medical Advisory Board Memphis

John Crispino, PHD, MBA

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN – Member; Director, Experimental Hematology

Dr. Crispino is the Director of the Division of Experimental Hematology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Previously, Dr. Crispino was the Associate Director of Education and Training at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, IL as well as a Lora S Lurie Professor of Medicine. Dr. Crispino studies the biology of normal and malignant blood cell development. In 2002, his team discovered that GATA1 mutations are associated with acute megakaryocytic leukemia in children with Down syndrome. Since that time, his laboratory has focused on understanding why children with DS face an increased risk of both myeloid and lymphoid leukemia and on developing improved therapies for the malignancies.

Medical Advisory Board Boston

Brian D. Crompton, MD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Boston, MA – Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Dr. Crompton is a pediatric oncologist who specializes in caring for patients with solid tumor malignancies and cancer predispositions. His laboratory focuses on utilizing proteomic and genomic approaches to expand our understanding of cancer biology and identify novel treatment approaches for pediatric sarcomas. One goal of his laboratory is to validate the use of specific tyrosine kinase inhibitors in combination with other agents in the treatment of Ewing sarcoma. Dr. Crompton’s group is also focused on developing new non-invasive tumor profiling techniques, also known as liquid biopsies, to quantify disease burden, monitor patients for clinical responses to therapy, and discover clinically relevant patterns of tumor evolution.

Medical Advisory Board Nashville

Anthony Daniels, M.D., M.Sc.

Vanderbilt Eye Institute and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center; Nashville, TN – Chief, Division of Ocular Oncology and Pathology

Dr. Daniels is chief of the Division of Ocular Oncology and Pathology and director of the Ocular Oncology Fellowship Program in the Department of Ophthalmology at Vanderbilt Eye Institute and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. He graduated from Princeton University and subsequently received a master’s degree in public health policy from the London School of Economics. After attending the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Dr. Daniels completed an internship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and then both his ophthalmology residency as well as a vitreoretinal surgery fellowship at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at Harvard Medical School. He subsequently did additional training in the management of ocular tumors at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and at the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Daniels specializes in ocular tumors in adults and children, including melanoma, retinoblastoma, ocular metastases, lymphoma and ocular surface tumors. His research focuses on drug discovery and animal models for eye cancers.

Medical Advisory Board Memphis

Christopher Derenzo, MD, MBA

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN – Assistant Member, Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy

Dr. DeRenzo’s research is focused on harnessing the body’s immune system to treat pediatric patients with solid tumors. Specifically, he works with T cells, and his efforts are aimed at developing novel methods to enhance T-cell therapies for pediatric patients with solid tumors.

Medical Advisory Board Birmingham

Girish Dhall, MD

University of Alabama at Birmingham; Birmingham, AL - Director, Pediatric Hematology and Oncology

Dr. Girish Dhall is a Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, and Bone Marrow and Transplantation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Dhall serves as the Co-Chair of the Children’s Oncology Group study for treatment of CNS germ cell tumors in children. His major area of interest is clinical research in CNS germ cell tumors and infant medulloblastoma and designing early phase clinical trials for patients with pediatric brain tumors. Dr. Dhall earned his degrees from the University of Mumbai and completed his internship and residency at New York Medical College. He completed fellowships with the New York University and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Medical Advisory Board Washington, D.C.

Jeffrey Dome, MD, PHD

Children’s National Health Center; Washington, D.C. – Division Chief, Hematology / Oncology; Vice President, Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders

Dr. Jeffrey Dome is a pediatric hematologist-oncologist in Washington, DC. He specializes in pediatric solid tumors, with an emphasis on Wilms tumors and other pediatric kidney tumors. He is also the chair of the Renal Tumor Committee for the Children’s Oncology Group (COG).

Medical Advisory Board Memphis

Adam Durbin, MD, PHD

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN – Assistant Member, Division of Molecular Oncology

Dr. Durbin received his MD and PhD from the University of Toronto, studying pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma and osteosarcoma. He completed his residency at Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston Medical Center, and then his fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital. He is currently an Assistant Member in the Division of Molecular Oncology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital studying epigenetic and transcriptional regulation of high-risk pediatric cancers, including neuroblastoma and rhabdomyosarcoma, drug discovery for pediatric high-risk tumors, and pathogenesis and modeling of rare tumors.

Medical Advisory Board Nashville

Adam J. Esbenshade, MD, MSCI

Vanderbilt University; Nashville, TN – Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Dr. Esbenshade is a pediatric neuro-oncologist. He completed his fellowship and a Master of Science in Clinical Investigation at Vanderbilt University in 2010. His research is focused on cancer control, supportive care and survivorship. His specific interests include establishing evidence-based management for the metabolic and infectious complications of pediatric cancer. In the Children’s Oncology Group, he currently serves as the Vice Chair of both the Cancer Control and Supportive Care Committee and the Young Investigators Committee.

Medical Advisory Board Atlanta

Natia Esiashvili, MD

Emory University; Atlanta, GA – Associate Professor in Radiation Oncology Department

Dr. Esiashvili’s clinical interests include brain tumors and sarcomas. She is a member of the American Society of Therapeutic Radiation Oncology, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American College of Radiology, the Children’s Oncology Group and the Pediatric Radiation Oncology Society, among others. She serves as a manuscript reviewer for International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics, and has published several journal articles and book chapters. She has received various awards for her work in radiation oncology, as well spoken at a number of national and international conferences.

Medical Advisory Board Boston

Angela M. Feraco, MD, MMSC

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Boston, MA – Instructor in Pediatric Oncology

Dr. Feraco is an Instructor in Pediatric Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital and conducts research within the Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care at Dana-Farber. She attended medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, and completed her residency and chief residency in the Boston Combined Residency Program, followed by fellowship training in pediatric hematology/oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital. She received her Master of Medical Science in Medical Education from Harvard Medical School. Angela’s research seeks to alter the current communication paradigm during the early treatment phase of childhood cancer, thereby facilitating enhanced family outcomes across the illness trajectory.

Medical Advisory Board New York

Adolfo Ferrando, MD, PHD

Columbia University Medical Center; New York, NY – Associate Professor of Pathology and Pediatrics

Dr. Ferrando is currently conducting research related to T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia. In 1999, he was rewarded the Special Doctorate Award from the University of Oviedo in Spain. He has served on the Editorial Board of Leukemia and is a member of the American Society of Hematology.

Medical Advisory Board Nashville

Debra Friedman, MD

Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt; Nashville, TN – Director of the Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology

Dr. Friedman’s research emphasis is long term outcomes for cancer survivors. Novel therapeutic protocols for childhood cancer, designed to decrease adverse long-term effects of therapy.

Medical Advisory Board Birmingham

Gregory Friedman, MD

University of Alabama at Birmingham; Birmingham, AL – Associate Professor of Pediatrics Neuro-Oncology Program

Dr. Friedman is a graduate of the College of William and Mary and the Medical College of Georgia. He completed his pediatric residency and fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at UAB. His primary interests are pediatric neuro-oncology and conducting pediatric brain tumor research. His overarching goal is to improve outcomes for children with malignant brain tumors by developing and improving novel, targeted therapeutics like oncolytic engineered herpes simplex virotherapy in the lab and then translating these therapies to clinical trials.

Medical Advisory Board Memphis

Amar Gajjar, MD

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN – Director of Neuro-Oncology Division

Dr. Gajjar’s current clinical research interests focus on innovative protocols for the treatment of childhood brain tumors, with a focus on medulloblastomas, PNET and Rhabdoid tumors (ATRT). He is co-chair of the Department of Oncology, Interim Chair for the Department of Pediatric Medicine and Co-Leader for the Neurobiology and Brain Tumor Program, as well as the Scott and Tracie Hamilton Endowed Chair in Brain Tumor Research.

Medical Advisory Board Houston

Jonathan Gill, MD

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Houston, TX – Director, Clinical and Translational Research Program

Dr. Gill’s main clinical interest is in sarcomas and rare solid tumors in children. His primary research interest is in Developmental Therapeutics and developing clinical trials introducing new agents or novel combination therapies. He is a member of the Children’s Oncology Group, Bone Tumor Committee.

Medical Advisory Board Atlanta

Kelly Goldsmith, MD

Emory University; Atlanta, GA – Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Dr. Goldsmith received her MD from the University of Alabama School of Medicine, followed by training at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She is currently an assistant professor of pediatrics and the director of the MIBG therapy program. Her laboratory focuses on neuroblastoma and experimental therapeutics that restore therapy sensitivity. Her work has led to a first in pediatric phase 1 clinical trial.

Medical Advisory Board Houston

Vidya Gopalakrishnan, MD

MD Anderson Cancer Center; Houston, TX – Associate Professor of Pediatrics Research and Molecular and Cellular Oncology

Dr. Gopalakrishnan received her PhD from The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her research focuses on studying the molecular basis of medulloblastoma and identifying novel therapeutic targets for the disease.

Medical Advisory Board Aurora

Adam Green, MD

University of Colorado; Aurora, CO – Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Adam Green, MD, is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and an attending pediatric neuro-oncologist at Children's Hospital Colorado. He completed his undergraduate degree in neurobiology at Dartmouth College and attended medical school at NYU. He served as a resident and chief resident in pediatrics at the University of Colorado and as a pediatric hematology-oncology fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children's Hospital. There, he trained in translational research in pediatric brain tumors with Drs. Andrew Kung and Stu Orkin, and in childhood cancer disparities with Dr. Carlos Rodriguez Galindo. His lab investigates novel targets and therapeutic strategies in the treatment of pediatric high-grade glioma. There are several clinical trials currently open or in development based on work from his lab. He also studies causes and interventions for demographic and socioeconomic outcomes disparities in childhood cancer.

Medical Advisory Board Toronto

Abha Gupta, MD

The Hospital for Sick Children; Toronto, Ontario Canada – Medical Director, Adolescent and Young Adult Program

Dr. Gupta received her MD at the University of Toronto. She completed her pediatrics residency at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital (New Haven, CT) and Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (Ottawa) before moving back to Toronto to complete her fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at The Hospital for Sick Children. To complement her training, Dr. Gupta completed a one-year fellowship in Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology with a focus on sarcoma. She is the Medical Director of the Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Program at Princess Margaret where she is working with a team of people to create the infrastructure to ensure consistent and high-quality delivery of information and services to young people with cancer. At SickKids, along with pediatric urologist, Dr. Armando Lorenzo, she is Co-Medical Director of the Fertility Preservation Program. The goal of this program is to ensure consistent and high-quality delivery of information regarding fertility preservation to children and adolescents with cancer.

Medical Advisory Board Chicago

Rintaro Hashizume, MD, PHD

Northwestern University; Chicago, IL – Assistant Professor, Neurological Surgery, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics

Dr. Hashizume received his MD, PhD and residency training from St. Marianna University School of Medicine followed by his postdoc training at MD Anderson. His current research focuses on the treatment of DIPG. Both his clinical and research areas of interest are treatment of primary adult and pediatric brain tumors, and translation of findings from research into treatment of brain tumor patients.

Medical Advisory Board Seattle

Douglas S. Hawkins, MD

Seattle Children’s Hospital; Seattle, WA – Chair, Children’s Oncology Group; Professor of Pediatrics

Dr. Hawkins is the Group Chair of the Children's Oncology Group (COG), a National Cancer Institute supported consortium of more than 200 centers across North America, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Europe, which conducts clinical-translational research including large-scale clinical trials in children with cancer. Dr. Hawkins is a clinician at Seattle Children's Hospital and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Prior to becoming COG Group Chair in 2020, he was the Chair of the COG Soft Tissue Sarcoma Committee and a member of the COG Bone Tumor Steering Committee. Dr. Hawkins had focused on clinical research, particularly in the treatment of pediatric sarcomas. He was the chair of two COG clinical trials, one for Ewing sarcoma and another for rhabdomyosarcoma. He chairs the international EURO EWING Consortium External Advisory Board and also chairs the international Frontline and Relapse in RhabdoMyoSarcoma Study (FaR-RMS) Data Monitoring Committee.

Medical Advisory Board New Brunswick

Daniel Herranz, PharmD, PhD

Rutgers University; New Brunswick, NJ – Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Pediatrics

Daniel Herranz, PharmD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Pediatrics at Rutgers University. Over the last 10 years, Dr. Herranz has pursued a combined training in metabolism and epigenetics and how both affect human cancer development through the generation and analysis of relevant mouse models. After obtaining his training in Pharmacy from the Complutense University of Madrid, Dr. Herranz completed a PhD in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from the Autonomous University of Madrid under the supervision of Dr. Manuel Serrano at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO). After completing his PhD, Dr. Herranz joined the laboratory of Adolfo Ferrando at Columbia University in April 2011 as a Postdoctoral Fellow. Dr. Herranz is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and a Resident Member at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. His successful early career has been recognized by his being selected as a 2022 AACR NextGen Star.

Medical Advisory Board Marietta

Douglas Hoffmann, MD, MPH

Marietta, GA – Pathologist / Hematopathologist

Dr. Hoffmann earned his doctorate in medicine from University of Michigan Medical School and completed his pathology residency at University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He completed a fellowship in hematopathology at UCLA’s Center for the Health Sciences in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Dr. Hoffmann also has a keen interest in health care finance, and holds an MBA with finance concentration, and a masters degree in finance, both from Georgia State University J.Mack Robinson College of Business.

Medical Advisory Board Atlanta

Andrew Hong, MD

Emory University; Atlanta, GA - Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Dr. Hong received his MD from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. He completed his internship and residency at the Boston Combined Residency Program in Pediatrics and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology fellowship training at Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. He is currently on the faculty at Emory University and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta / Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. He is also the chair of the Renal Tumor Biology Committee for the Children’s Oncology Group (COG). His lab focuses on using functional genomics to interrogate kidney and brain cancers with the ultimate goal of identifying new therapeutic targets.

Medical Advisory Board Washington, D.C.

Eugene Hwang, MD

Children’s National Medical Center; Washington, D.C. – Director, Neuro-oncology Fellowship Program; Director, Clinical Neuro-oncology Immunotherapeutic Program

Dr. Hwang received his M.D. at Duke University School of Medicine, completed his residency at Brown University, and returned to Duke to finish his fellowships in Pediatric Hematology-Oncology and Pediatric Neuro-oncology. He is currently an associate professor at Children’s National Medical Center, where he designs and leads developmental therapeutic clinical trials for children with brain cancer, with an emphasis on immunotherapy.

Medical Advisory Board Hartford

Michael Isakoff, MD

Connecticut Children’s Medical Center; Hartford, CT – Clinical Director, Center for Cancer and Blood Disorder; Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Dr. Isakoff is a graduate of New York University School of Medicine. He trained in pediatric medicine at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital and completed his fellowship in pediatric hematology and oncology at Boston Children’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Isakoff has been practicing medicine since 1999, the last 14 years at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. He is the Clinical Director of The Center for Cancer & Blood Disorders, the Medical Director for the Clinical Trials Unit, The Director for the Sarcoma Program at The Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders and the Program Director for the Reid R. Sacco Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Program. Dr. Isakoff is also an Associate Professor at The University of Connecticut School of Medicine.

Medical Advisory Board Augusta

Theodore S. Johnson, MD, PHD

Medical College of Georgia; Augusta, GA – Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Dr. Johnson received his MD and PhD from the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. As a translational physician-scientist, Dr. Johnson opened the Pediatric Immunotherapy Program at Augusta University for children with cancer. The Johnson Laboratory uses immune-competent animal models of in vivo solid tumor growth to study the contribution of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), and other immunosuppressive pathways, to immunological tumor tolerance.

Medical Advisory Board Birmingham

Emily Johnston, PHD

University of Alabama at Birmingham; Birmingham, AL – Assistant Professor of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology

Dr. Johnston is a pediatric oncologist at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Her research focuses on health disparities in end-of-life care for children with cancer. In particular, she is interested in how we determine what good end-of-life care is for children with cancer and how we can ensure everyone has access to the end-of-life care they deserve.

Medical Advisory Board Boston

Cigall Kadoch, PHD

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Boston, MA – Assistant Professor, Pediatric Oncology

Cigall Kadoch, PhD completed her graduate studies at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the Laboratory of Dr. Gerald Crabtree. Here, Dr. Kadoch worked to identify and characterize novel components of a chromatin remodeling complex, among them, SS18, which is translocated in synovial sarcoma (t(X;18)), resulting in the hallmark SS18-SSX oncogenic fusion protein. Through a series of biochemical and mechanistic investigations, Kadoch uncovered a mechanism of oncogenesis driven by SS18-SSX mediated perturbation to mSWI/SNF (BAF) chromatin remodeling complexes.

Medical Advisory Board Atlanta

Jonathan Kaufman, MD

Emory University School of Medicine; Atlanta, GA – Associate Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology

Dr. Kaufman earned his MD from the Medical College of Georgia and completed his training at Emory University School of Medicine. His research interests include new drug development for relapsed multiple myeloma patients, identification of induction therapy for these patients, new therapies for Amyloidosis and novel conditioning regimens for myeloma transplant patients.

Medical Advisory Board New York

Michael Kinnaman, MD

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; New York, NY
Instructor in Pediatric Oncology

Dr. Kinnaman received his MD from Stony Brook University School of Medicine and completed his residency at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore. As a pediatric oncologist, he specializes in taking care of children, adolescents, and young adults diagnosed with pediatric sarcomas. He is a member of the Iacobuzio-Donahue Lab Group, with research efforts focused on describing and detailing the clonal evolution of cancer cells in pediatric sarcomas.

Medical Advisory Board Palo Alto

Orly Klein, MD

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford; Palo Alto, CA - Clinical Assistant Professor

Dr. Klein is a board certified pediatric oncologist specializing in blood and marrow transplantation. She attended medical school at Mount Sinai School of Medicine where she also completed her residency in pediatrics. She completed a fellowship in pediatric hematology and oncology at the joint program of Johns Hopkins and the National Cancer Institute. She is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford and studying the mechanisms of lung dysfunction after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Medical Advisory Board New York

Kim Kramer, MD

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; New York, NY – Pediatric Oncologist

A pediatric oncologist who specializes in the care of children with neuroblastoma and other cancers that have spread in the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord). Kim is conducting translational research to better understand why this happens and to try to find more-effective treatments, particularly for relapsed disease. In my research, I am investigating novel treatments to eliminate microscopic tumor cells in the central nervous system.

Medical Advisory Board Charleston

Jacqueline Kraveka, D.O.

Medical University of South Carolina; Charleston, SC – Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Dr. Kraveka is actively involved in clinical pediatric research in the Children’s Oncology Group, where she is a member of the Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and Neuroblastoma Committees. She serves on the Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma, Neuroblastoma Developmental Therapeutic and the Neuroblastoma Clinical and Biological Risk Factors Task Force Subcommittees. Dr. Kraveka is also a COG Study Committee Member for ANBL0532, a Phase III Randomized Trial of Single versus Tandem Myeloablative Consolidation Therapy for High-Risk Neuroblastoma.

Medical Advisory Board New York

Gadi Lalazar, MD

Rockefeller University and Weill Cornell College of Medicine; New York, NY – Instructor, Clinical Investigation

Dr. Lalazar received his MD from the Hebrew University and completed his residency and fellowship in Gastroenterology at the Hadassah medical center in Jerusalem, Israel. His research focuses on creating disease models for pediatric and non-cirrhotic liver cancers and utilizing them to identify novel treatment approaches.

Medical Advisory Board New York

David Loeb, MD, PHD

Children’s Hospital at Montefiore; New York, NY – Chief, Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Marrow and Blood Cell Transplantation

Dr. Loeb received his MD and PhD from Columbia University in New York City, followed by training in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at Johns Hopkins University, where he was currently an Associate Professor. He is currently the Chief of the Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Marrow and Blood Cell at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore. His research interests revolve around translational research related to childhood sarcomas. He has a laboratory research effort aimed at understanding the role of a transcription factor called WT1 in the biology of sarcomas, another project aimed at identifying and targeting sarcoma stem cells, and is involved in numerous clinical trials, both investigator-initiated trials at Johns Hopkins as well as trials run through cooperative groups.

Medical Advisory Board Philadelphia

John M. Maris, MD

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Philadelphia, PA – Director, Center for Childhood Cancer Research, Giulio D’Angio Chair in Neuroblastoma Research, Professor of Pediatrics

Dr. Maris received his MD from The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed his residency at CHOP. He completed a fellowship in hematology/oncology at CHOP and has board certifications for the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Pediatrics/Pediatric Hematology-Oncology. He has special interest in the molecular genetics and treatment of neuroblastoma.

Medical Advisory Board Cambridge

Melinda Merchant, MD, PHD

Epizyme; Cambridge, Massachusettes - VP Early Stage Development

Dr. Merchant received her doctorate in medicine from the University of Miami School of Medicine. She was an Assistant Attending at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and also worked at the National Cancer Institute as a Staff Clinician and Head of the Clinical Sarcoma Program. Before joining Epizyme, she was the Senior Medical Director at AstraZeneca and Clinical Director of the Pediatric Oncology Branch of the NCI.

Medical Advisory Board New York

Shakeel Modak, MD

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; New York, NY – Pediatric Oncologist

Dr. Modak is a pediatric oncologist who specializes in the treatment of children and young adults with neuroblastoma and other solid tumors, such as desmoplastic small round cell tumors. His multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals discusses each patient’s case in order to put together an individualized treatment plan. Memorial Sloan-Kettering treats a large number of patients with neuroblastoma, and this volume has afforded him and his team a wealth of knowledge and depth of expertise that benefits all patients.

Medical Advisory Board Toronto

Daniel Morgenstern, MD, PHD

The Hospital for Sick Children; Toronto, Canada – Staff Oncologist, Solid Tumor Program

Dr. Morgenstern is a Staff Oncologist at The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto and Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. He originally trained in the UK, including combined medical and PhD degrees from the University of Cambridge and clinical training at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. He moved to Canada in 2016 and is currently Director of the New Agent and Innovative Therapy (NAIT) and Therapeutic mIBG Programs, and co-lead of the neuroblastoma service. Dr. Morgenstern’s clinical activities are focussed on neuroblastoma and solid tumour patients participating in early phase clinical trials. His research interests are similarly in early phase trials and, in particular, the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors in paediatric cancers and the development of precision medicine approaches for paediatric solid tumours.

Medical Advisory Board Cincinnati

Luke Mosley, MD, MTS

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati, OH – Assistant Professor

Luke Mosley, MD, is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Pediatric Palliative Care and Department of Anesthesia at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and Attending Physician in Pediatrics and Palliative and Comfort Care at the University of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Dr. Mosley completed his medical training and earned a Master of Theological Studies in theology and bioethics at Vanderbilt University and completed his residency and fellowship training at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

Medical Advisory Board San Francisco

Sabine Mueller, MD, PHD

University of California; San Francisco, CA – Associate Professor, Neurology

Dr. Mueller received her M.D. and PH.D. from the University of Hamburg followed by her training at Harvard Medical School and the University of California, San Francisco. Her research focus is on testing new therapeutic approaches for children with brain tumors and long-term follow up can assessing the vascular side effects in pediatric brain tumor survivors. She is also the Director of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Center where she oversees the overall program including clinical services and research.

Medical Advisory Board Memphis

Esther Obeng, MD, PHD

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN – Assistant Member, Molecular Oncology

Dr. Obeng received her MD and her PhD from the University of Miami. She completed her residency in the Boston Combined Residency Program in Pediatrics and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology fellowship training at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital. Her research focuses on the genomics of myeloid malignancies, specifically using functional genomics to identify and interrogate novel synthetic lethal pathways in pre-leukemic cells.

Medical Advisory Board Nashville

Devang J. Pastakia, MD, PHD

Vanderbilt University; Nashville, TN – Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics

Dr. Pastakia received his MD from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and completed his residency and fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System. Dr. Pastakia focuses on central nervous system tumors, participating in trials of standard and novel agents to improve outcomes. His research focuses on outcomes for brain tumor patients, working collaboratively with surgical and psychosocial outcomes researchers.

Medical Advisory Board Atlanta

Renee Read, PHD

Emory University; Atlanta, GA – Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology

Dr. Read received her PH.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, MO followed by training at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Her current research focuses on Glioblastomas and the roles of developmental signaling pathways in neural progenitor cells that give rise to Glioblastomas. Her research has led to an early-phase clinical trial of a drug that targets the Hippo pathway transcriptional effector YAP.

Medical Advisory Board Tampa

Damon Reed, MD

Moffitt Cancer Center; Tampa, FL – Associate Professor

Dr. Reed’s main clinical interest is in sarcomas. He is currently conducting a phase I/II study of TH-302 in combination with Doxorubicin in patients with advanced soft tissue sarcomas. He has been published twice in peer review journals.

Medical Advisory Board Los Angeles

Etan Orgel, MD, MS

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA – Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics

Dr. Etan Orgel is an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics and the Director of the Medical Supportive Care Service for the Cancer and Blood Disease Institute at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. He is the Co-Chair of the Supportive Care Committee for the Therapeutic Advances in Childhood Leukemia & Lymphoma trial consortium. Within the Children Oncology Group (COG), Dr. Orgel serves on multiple trial committees focused on supportive care challenges for children and adolescents undergoing therapy. His clinical focus is in treating leukemia and lymphoma with specific expertise in the treatment of Acute Leukemia of Ambiguous Lineage (ALAL). He is leading an investigative stratum within a COG frontline trial investigating best therapy for children with this rare form of leukemia. Dr. Orgel is a translational clinician-scientist with NIH and foundation funding supporting his two primary areas of research: reducing the impact of obesity and the adipocyte marrow microenvironment on B-ALL chemoresistance, and separately, incorporating novel agents and strategies to limit chemotherapy-induced permanent hearing loss from radiation and platinum chemotherapy. He completed his medical training at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, earned a Master of Science degree in clinical investigation from the University of Southern California, and completed his pediatric residency and fellowship training at the Children’s National Medical Center and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Medical Advisory Board Minnesota

Lewis R. Roberts, MB ChB, PhD

Mayo Clinic; Rochester, MN – Professor in Gastroenterology Cancer Research

Dr. Lewis R. Roberts is the Peter and Frances Georgeson Professor in Gastroenterology Cancer Research and a Consultant in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Mayo Clinic, where he is Director of the Hepatobiliary Neoplasia Clinic, Co-Chair of the Hepatobiliary Cancer Disease Group of Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Co-Principal Investigator of the Mayo Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Hepatobiliary Cancers, Associate Director of Pre-Doctoral Programs in the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences and Director for Research at Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine. Dr. Roberts earned his medical degree from the University of Ghana Medical School, a PhD in Physiology and Biophysics from The University of Iowa, and completed postgraduate training in Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and Cancer Genetics at Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Roberts clinical practice is focused on liver and bile duct cancers and gastrointestinal endoscopy. His research include studies of the molecular mechanisms of liver and biliary carcinogenesis; biomarkers to improve the diagnosis and treatment of liver, bile duct and pancreas cancers; and prevention, diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis and liver cancer in Africa as well as in immigrant African communities in the USA.

Medical Advisory Board Charleston

Jezabel Rodriguez-Blanco, PhD

Medical University of South Carolina; Charleston, SC – Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Jezabel Rodriguez-Blanco, PhD completed her graduate studies in neurosciences at the University of Oviedo (Spain). Then, after receiving additional training in neurosciences at the University of Columbia (NY), she completed a postdoctoral appointment in cancer research at the University of Miami (FL). During her years as a postdoc her work was aimed to understand the role developmental pathways play in cancer, specifically in medulloblastoma. Now as an independent investigator at MUSC, Dr. Blanco’s research is still focused on medulloblastoma, and aimed at identifying novel therapeutics for these underserved group of patients. Due to the significant morbidity that current multimodal therapy has in developing children, one of her major research lines is focused on finding targeted therapeutics for these tumors. Additionally, she is working to find novel therapeutics for some of the most lethal forms of pediatric brain tumors. This second research line includes tumors considered very high-risk disease such as the TP53 mutant Sonic Hedgehog subgroup or the MYC amplified group 3 medulloblastoma, and high-grade gliomas, such as the virtually incurable diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.

Medical Advisory Board Indianapolis

Daniel Runco, MD, MS

Indiana University; Indianapolis, IN – Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Dr. Daniel Runco is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. He attended Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and completed residency in pediatrics at Riley Hospital for Children and Indiana University School of Medicine. He served as Chief Resident and Clinical Lecturer in the Department of Pediatrics at Riley Hospital for Children before completing fellowship in hematology/oncology at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Dr. Runco also earned a Master of Science in Clinical Research from Emory University Laney Graduate School before joining the Indiana University School of Medicine faculty. His clinical focus is caring for children with tumors of the brain and spine and his research interests include nutrition, feeding dysfunction, and supportive care in children undergoing cancer treatment. Dr. Runco was recognized as a Children’s Oncology Group Young Investigator at the State-of-the-Science Nutrition Meeting in 2018 and continues to be active in several national professional societies.

Medical Advisory Board Cambridge

Marta Sanchez-Martin, PHD

Kyn Therapeutics; Cambridge, MA – Senior Translational Scientist

Dr. Sanchez-Martin is a translational scientist committed to bringing new therapies to the clinic of pediatric oncology patients. She now serves as a Senior Translational Scientist for Kyn Therapeutics conducting translational research in onco-immunology and targeting immunometabolism and immunosuppression in cancer. Previously, she focused on the discovery and pre-clinical development of new targeted therapies and combinations for the treatment of pediatric lymphoid leukemias and generating a repository of patient-derived mouse models to implement precision medicine approaches in pediatric cancers.

Medical Advisory Board Gainesville

Elias Sayour, MD, PHD

University of Florida; Gainesville, FL – Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery and Pediatrics

Dr. Sayour trained at Duke University where he completed a pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship and NIH research fellowship in cancer biology and developmental therapeutics. He enrolled in the Duke University Graduate School and completed his Ph.D. Dr. Sayour has been involved in translating bench work into clinical trials governing the development of dendritic cell vaccines with adoptively transferred cytotoxic T cells against recurrent medulloblastoma. He has also started an integrative pediatric immunotherapy working group at the University of Florida that includes surgeons, clinicians, veterinarians, and pre-clinical scientists working to advance novel directed therapeutics against refractory malignancies. Their goals are to identify novel antigen targets and construct robust immunotherapeutic treatments against these malignancies.

Medical Advisory Board Pensacola

Jeff Schwartz, MD

Studer Family Children's Hospital at Sacred Heart Hospital, Pensacola, FL; Medical Director, UF Health Pediatric Subspecialty Program; Division Chief, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology; Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Dr. Schwartz received his medical degree from the University of Kentucky. He completed his Pediatric Residency at Wake Forest University and his Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has been the Children’s Oncology Group Principal Investigator for his center since 2010. While his primary focus is clinical care, his research interests include supportive care.

Medical Advisory Board San Francisco

Kevin Shannon, MD

University of California; San Francisco, CA – Professor, Department of Pediatrics

Dr. Shannon received his MD from Cornell University Medical Center followed by training at UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, TX. His research program focuses on hematopoietic growth control, leukemogenesis, RAS signaling, mouse cancer modeling and molecular therapeutics. He was also director of the USCF Medical Scientist Training Program.

Medical Advisory Board New York

Sanford Simon, PHD

Rockefeller University; New York, NY – Professor, Laboratory of Cellular Biophysics

Dr. Simon received his PhD from NYU Medical Center in New York City followed by his fellowship at Rockefeller University where he’s currently a professor. His background is in basic cellular events with a particular emphasis on biophysical analysis. Over the past 20 years, however, he has focused primarily on cancer biology. He’s currently studying liver cancer and is collaborating with a researcher at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. His results from this work have formed the foundation of new clinical trials and a blood test he’s developing. This work was highlighted by President Obama at the launch of the Precision Medicine Initiative.

Medical Advisory Board Chicago

Simone Sredni, MD, PHD

Northwestern University; Chicago, IL – Research Associate Professor of Neurosurgery

Dr. Sredni is currently involved in the study of childhood tumors of the kidney and of the central nervous system with special interest in the epigenetic mechanisms of regulation of the aggressive behavior of malignant rhabdoid tumors. Her purpose is to better understand the biology of these rare tumors and to uncover novel targets for future therapy development.

Medical Advisory Board Philadelphia

Sarah Tasian, MD

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Philadelphia, PA – Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Dr. Tasian is a pediatric oncologist and physician-scientist interested in development of molecularly-targeted therapeutics for children with high-risk leukemias. Her laboratory research program focuses upon testing of signal transduction inhibitors and chimeric antigen receptor-modified T cell therapies in genetic subsets of ALL and AML. Dr. Tasian has leadership roles in the Children’s Oncology Group ALL and Myeloid Diseases committees and is involved in several early phase clinical trials testing new agents in children with leukemia.

Medical Advisory Board Memphis

Mireya Paulina Velasquez, MD

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN – Assistant Member, Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy

Dr. Velasquez received her MD from the Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala followed by her training at Baylor College of Medicine. She is interested in adoptive immunotherapy of hematological malignancies. Her current work is focused on using genetically modified T cells to target hematological malignancies, their functional characterization in vitro and working with leukemia and lymphoma xenograft models.

Medical Advisory Board Atlanta

Daniel Wechsler, MD, PHD

Emory University; Atlanta, GA – Professor, Department of Pediatrics

Dr. Wechsler received his MD and his PhD in Physiology from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He completed his residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Wechsler is the director of pediatric oncology at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. The primary focus of Dr. Wechsler’s laboratory is an investigation of the pathogenesis of CALM-AF10 leukemias. They were the first to describe a translocation between MLL and CALM genes in an infant with acute myeloid leukemia, and from this stemmed their interest in understanding the more common CALM-AF10 leukemias.

Medical Advisory Board Atlanta

Daniel Wechsler, MD, PHD

Emory University; Atlanta, GA – Professor, Department of Pediatrics

Medical Advisory Board Toronto

James Whitlock, MD

The Hospital for Sick Children; Toronto, Canada – Division Head of Hematology / Oncology

Dr. Whitlock is the Division Head of Hematology/Oncology and the Women’s Auxiliary Millennium Chair in Hematology/Oncology at The Hospital for Sick Children and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Toronto. He is presently a member of the COG Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia Executive Committee and Vice-Chair for New Agents and Relapse and served that organization as Chair and Vice-Chair of national clinical trials and strategic committees.. He has also served on a number of committees for other national and international organizations including the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, the Histiocytosis Association of America and the Histiocyte Society.

Medical Advisory Board San Francisco

Lena Winestone, MD

University of California, San Francisco; San Francisco, CA – Assistant Adjunct Professor

Dr. Winestone is a pediatric stem cell transplanter at University of California in San Francisco. Her research is focused on health disparities within pediatric oncology with a specific emphasis on access to care for patients with leukemia. Dr. Winestone currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Diversity and Health Disparities Committee within the Children's Oncology Group. She completed her fellowship and Master's in Health Policy Research at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania.

Medical Advisory Board Houston

Jason T. Yustein, MD, PHD

Baylor College of Medicine; Houston, TX – Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics

Dr. Jason Yustein’s research interests include furthering the biological, molecular and genetic understanding of pediatric sarcomas, including osteosarcoma and Ewing’s sarcoma, through the formation of novel model systems that will lead to the discovery of new therapeutic targets and subsequent development of new treatment interventions. For example, Dr. Yustein is utilizing osteoblast-specific expression of an oncogenic p53 mutant to form a novel, applicable transgenic mouse model of metastatic osteosarcoma, a condition that has a particularly poor prognosis. Such models will allow for further understanding of critical genes and microRNAs involved in sarcoma development, progression and metastasis and utilized as preclinical models for therapeutic testing and efficacy. Dr. Yustein is Director of the Faris D. Virani Ewing Sarcoma Center and a member of the Bone Tumor Program.

Medical Advisory Board Houston

Wafik Zaky, MD

MD Anderson Cancer Center; Houston, TX – Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Patient Care

Dr. Zaky received his MD from Cairo University in Egypt followed by his residency at SUNY Upstate Medical University and his fellowships at NYU Medical Center and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. His main career goal is to improve the lives affected by brain tumors, especially those with recurrent or progressive disease. Currently, he is the PI of a novel study of targeted therapy in relapsed brain tumors including high grade gliomas using drugs that target most common deregulated pathways in these tumors He is also Co-PI in series of locoregional therapy trials and was on the planning committee for the first pediatric neurooncology symposium at the MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Medical Advisory Board Chicago

Jiwang Zhang, MD, PHD

Loyola University; Chicago, IL – Associate Professor of Pathology

Dr. Zhang received his MD and MS from Lanzhou Medical College in China, followed by his PhD at Shanghai Second Medical University. He is not the Associate Professor of Pathology and Director of the Stem Cell Biology program at Loyola University in Chicago. His interests involve hematopoietic disorders including leukemia, MPD, MDS, and bone marrow failure.