Life Fest 2010-GIST Hall of Fame Honorees
J. Aidan Carney, M.D., Ph.D., F.R.C.P.I., F.R.C.P.
Mayo Clinic
The second well-known type of GIST affecting young people is called Carney’s Triad. It is named after Dr. J. Aidan Carney who first described it in 1977.
Dr. Carney earned his Ph.D. in pathology at the University of Minnesota in 1969. Since 1954, Dr. Carney has published over 200 articles and has received numerous honors and awards throughout the world. Now a retired pathologist, Dr. Carney continues his research activities and is an emeritus member of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. During his career, he specialized in endocrine and gastrointestinal pathology with a particular interest in syndromes.
Christopher Corless, M.D., Ph.D.
Oregon Health and Science University
After undergraduate studies at the Univ. of California, Berkeley, Dr. Corless received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Washington University, St. Louis. He did his residency training in Anatomic Pathology at the Brigham & Women's Hospital, Boston, where he also completed fellowship training in GI Pathology and GU Pathology. In 1994, he joined the faculty of Oregon Health & Science University as an Assistant Professor.
He has served as the residency program director in Pathology and is currently medical director of surgical pathology for OHSU Hospital. He is also director of the Cancer Pathology Shared Resource for the Oregon Cancer Institute. In addition to practicing surgical pathology, Dr. Corless has expertise in the application of molecular diagnostics to the classification and prognostication of solid tumors. An author on over 175 publications, he was promoted to Professor of Pathology in 2004. Dr. Corless is a member of the LRG Research Team and lending his expertise as leader of Project C: Primary Resistance.
George D. Demetri, M.D.
Center for Sarcoma and Bone Oncology
Harvard Medical School
Dr. George D. Demetri is Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Center for Sarcoma and Bone Oncology in the Department of Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Demetri received his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from Harvard College and medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine in 1983, then went on to Internal Medicine residency and chief residency at the University of Washington Hospitals in Seattle. He then completed a fellowship in Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, where he has served as an Attending Physician since 1989. He is also an affiliate investigator with the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research.
Dr. Demetri's research and clinical interests have focused on the translation of scientific discoveries into targeted drugs for the management of sarcomas as a model for solid tumor research and development. This work has led to the development of the oral drug Gleevec as an effective treatment for the gastrointestinal sarcoma known as GIST, and is continuing with the research leading to the new multi-targeted agent SU11248 for GIST resistant to Gleevec.
A fellow of the American College of Physicians, Dr. Demetri is a member of many professional societies and editorial boards of scientific journals. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society, the chair of the Medical Advisory Board of the Sarcoma Alliance, and a member of the Medical Advisory Board of the Sarcoma Foundation of America. He has been instrumental in raising awareness of issues relating to sarcoma research and care by his activities on the Internet, and he founded a non-profit educational site for sarcoma patients and their families.
Brian J. Druker, M.D.
OHSU Knight Cancer Institute
Oregon Health & Science University
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Dr. Druker is director of the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, JELD-WEN Chair of Leukemia Research at Oregon Health & Science University, and investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Upon graduating from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and completing his internship and residency at Barnes Hospital, Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, he then trained in oncology at Harvard's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Druker began research studying the regulation of the growth of cancer cells and the practical application to cancer therapies. His laboratory, in collaboration with Novartis, he performed pre-clinical studies that were instrumental to the development of Gleevec (imatinib). His role in the development of imatinib and its application in the clinic have resulted in numerous prestigious awards for Dr. Druker.
Jonathan Fletcher, M.D.
Harvard Medical School
Dr. Fletcher is a medical and pediatric oncologist whose clinical activities are in cancer diagnostics, with a focus on molecular and cytogenetic methods. His laboratory program is studying tyrosine kinase (such as KIT and PDGFRA) mechanisms in sarcomas. He has developed novel methods for rapid profiling of tyrosine kinase activation in frozen human tumors, and these techniques have identified effective therapeutic targets in several types of sarcoma, including GIST. His primary research aims are to identify therapeutic strategies that can synergize with KIT inhibition to cure GIST. In addition to his experience in clinical oncology, he has developed diagnostic methods to detect DNA and chromosome aberrations in GISTs and other sarcomas. He has been a vital member of the LRG Research Team that is leading the way to overcome Gleevec-resistant GIST.
After receiving his medical degree from Boston University in 1981, he went on to do his internship and residency at the University Hospital in Boston. Dr. Fletcher became a research fellow in pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 1988, where he remains today.
Gilles Frydman
ACOR (Association of Cancer Online Resources)
Mr. Frydman obtained a bachelor of science at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem & Rehovot (Israel), majoring in animal biology. He started using computers and communication technologies to optimize the care received by cancer patients worldwide. In 1995, he founded the Association of Cancer Online Resources, the largest online social network for cancer patients, composed of close to 200 separate online support groups for individuals with cancer. ACOR has served over 650,000 cancer patients and caregivers. He is a founding member of the Cook’s Branch Initiative, which promotes a model of participatory healthcare. He has received funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to study online patient resources and to disseminate this information. He has served on a number of expert groups at the National Cancer Institute. He is a founding editor of the Journal of Participatory Medicine and a founding member and current president of the Society for Participatory Medicine. His most recent projects are related to the ways in which online virtual environments can be used to facilitate & improve healthcare, particularly for people suffering from rare & deadly conditions and how they promote accelerated scientific discoveries.
Elisabeth Buchdunger, Ph.D.
Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), Oncology
Elisabeth Buchdunger received her Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Freiburg, Germany. Following post-doctoral positions at the Friedrich-Miescher Institute, Basel, and the University of Basel, she joined Oncology Research at Novartis (former Ciba) in 1990. Working in the signal transduction field and investigating protein kinases as targets for cancer therapy, she established various cellular models for the identification and characterization of protein kinase inhibitors, including imatinib (Gleevec or Glivec). Her research resulted in her receiving the Novartis Pharma Research Prize in 1992 and the Novartis Leading Scientist VIVA award in 1999. She served as research representative in the global development team for imatinib and helped shepherd imatinib through preclinical development, clinical trials and final worldwide approval for CML and GIST.
Renaud Capdeville, M.D.
Novartis Oncology
Renaud Capdeville is a French and Swiss national. He is currently working as Global Project Head, Vice-President of Oncology Global Development at Novartis Oncology (Basel, Switzerland). He is a pediatric hematologist graduated from the Lyon University Medical School (France), where he acted as head of the pediatric hematology outpatient clinic, with interest in bone marrow transplantation, acute leukemias and hemoglobinopathies. He moved in 1992 to the International Oncology Clinical Research department of Hoffmann-La Roche (Strasbourg, France) were he has managed the clinical development of biotechnology drugs including interferon-α (in chronic myeloid leukemia, lymphomas and melanoma), rituximab (lymphoma) and a pegylated G-CSF (mobilization of hematopoietic stem cells & prevention of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia). He joined the global oncology clinical research department of Novartis in 1997 where he first led the clinical development of several compounds in phase 1. Between 1998 and 2004, he has been leading the team which has successfully conducted the clinical development of the Bcr-Abl tyrosine kinase inhibitor Glivec/Gleevec (imatinib) in chronic myeloid leukemia and gastro-intestinal stromal tumors. More recently, his group managed the development and successful registration of Femara (letrozole) in the adjuvant treatment of breast cancer and of Exjade (deferasirox) as iron chelator in transfusion-related iron overload, and Tasigna (nilotinib) in the treatment of Glivec-resistant CML. He has been awarded the 2005 award for drug discovery from the Society for Medicines Research. He is a member of the French Society of Hematology, American Society of Hematology and American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Laurie Letvak, M.D.
Novartis
Laurie Letvak is the Global Program Head for Glivec and Tasigna within Oncology Global Development at Novartis. In her current role she is responsible for leading the global development efforts for both drugs, including registration programs for new indications. Laurie has been with Novartis for 15 years in a variety of positions, but has played a key role in the development of Glivec since joining the International Project Team in 2001, responsible for Global Medical Affairs. She led the development of the Medical Affairs program, which resulted in many key studies, some of which have provided the data for new indications for Glivec , including Ph+ ALL and Adjuvant GIST. Laurie has been involved with the Tasigna program over the last few years, supporting the initial registration for CML patients who have failed/or are intolerant to imatinib as well as the recent filings to Health Authorities for patients with newly diagnosed CML. Tasigna is currently being investigated in GIST.
Laurie is board certified in Internal Medicine, Hematology and Oncology. She received her undergraduate and medical degrees from Cornell University. She did her internal medicine training at Boston University and her Hematology-Oncology fellowship at New York University Medical Center.
Nick Lydon, Ph.D.
Anaptys Biosciences Inc.
Wilson Medical and Professional Center LLC
Dr. Nick Lydon previously worked for Ambit Biosciences and Amgen Inc., and was the Founder and CEO/President of Kinetix Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Medford, MA. At Ciba-Geigy (now Novartis) in Basel, Switzerland, Dr. Lydon was the pre-clinical team leader responsible for the discovery and preclinical development of Gleevec.
Dr. Lydon received a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Leeds in England. In 1982 he earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Medical Sciences Institute, University of Dundee, Scotland.
In 2009, Dr. Lydon received the Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award from the Lasker Foundation. In 2002 he was the recipient of the Charles F. Kettering Prize from the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation. He also received the Bruce F. Cain Memorial Award and the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize for his discovery and development of Gleevec.
Alex Matter, M.D.
Experimental Therapeutics Centre, A*STAR
Esperanza Medicines Foundation
Professor Alex Matter, M.D., is CEO of the Experimental Therapeutics Centre, A*STAR, Singapore, having spent five and a half years as Director of the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD), from October 2003 to February 2009. Prior to this role, Dr. Matter was Global Head of Oncology Research for Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Head of Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research in Basel and Global Head of Translational Research. Dr. Matter played an important role in the success of several anticancer drugs, including Gleevec/Glivec and more recently, Tasigna, building and leading the teams that discovered these and several other anticancer drugs as well as one HIV protease inhibitor (Reyataz) that is marketed by another company.
Dr. Matter received his medical degree from the University of Basel. He also had fellowships at the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Swiss Academy for Medical Sciences. He has published more than 100 scientific articles and several book chapters in the area of oncology and hematology. He is emeritus Professor of the Medical Faculty of the University Basel and an Honorary Adjunct Professor of the Department of Pharmacology, YLL School of Medicine, NUS in Singapore.
He is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the National Medical Research Council in Singapore, and the Board of Curiox, a Singapore-based start-up company. He is also a member of several Scientific Advisory Boards. He is an elected member of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences.
Dr. Matter is the recipient of the Life-time Achievement Award from IBC Life Sciences, the 13th Warren-Alpert prize and the AACR-Bruce F. Cain Memorial Award.
Jürg Zimmermann, Ph.D.
Novartis
Dr. Zimmermann has been the Global Head of Oncology & Exploratory Chemistry at Novartis in Switzerland since 2007. He received a Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1988 from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich.
Novartis researchers, led by Drs. Zimmermann and Buchdunger, created and tested 400 molecules to find one that would target a specific enzyme without disrupting any of the hundreds of other similar enzymes in a healthy cell. After two years of testing, they developed the molecule that would become Gleevec.
Margaret von Mehren, M.D.
Fox Chase Cancer Center
Margaret von Mehren, M.D., is the Director of Sarcoma Oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA. She received her degree in Medicine from Albany Medical College in New York, and then completed Internal Medicine Residency at New York University Medical Center. She then came to Philadelphia where she completed her training in Medical Oncology at the Fox Chase-Temple University Fellowship Program. She joined the faculty in 1996. She currently is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center and the Department of Hematology and Oncology at Temple University School of Medicine.
Dr. von Mehren served as one of the four principal investigators for the US-Finish B2222 trial of STI-571, now known as Gleevec. She continues as a clinical researcher in Sarcoma, especially in GIST. She has participated in studies testing Sutent, nilotinib, dasatanib, and others for the management of advanced GIST. Following the identification of IGF-1R as a potential therapeutic target by investigators in the laboratory of Dr. Andrew Godwin, her collaborator at Fox Chase, Dr. von Mehren has been spearheading efforts to test agents targeting the IGF-1R pathway.
Charles D. Blanke, M.D., F.A.C.P., F.R.C.P.C.
Systemic Therapy Provincial Program Leader, BCCA
Head, Division of Medical Oncology, UBC
Dr. Charles Blanke is currently Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology and Director of the GI Malignancies Program of the OHSU Cancer Institute. Dr. Blanke received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Northwestern University. He completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the Gundersen Medical Foundation in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He then went on and completed a fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at Indiana University. Dr. Blanke is board certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology.
Dr. Blanke has published over 50 medical articles and abstracts in such journals as The New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Blanke has won numerous honors, including the Outstanding Faculty Apple Teaching Award, the American Cancer Society Fellowship, and the American College of Physicians Fellowship. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Gastroenterological Association, the American College of Physicians, and the American Medical Association.
Dr. Blanke also sits on the editorial board of the journal Colon & Rectal Cancer: Index and Reviews and is a media consultant for ABC News, the Today Show, and WebMD.
Heikki Joensuu, M.D., Ph.D.
University of Helsinki
The research interests of Professor Heikki Joensuu of the University of Helsinki lie in the field of clinical cancer research and particularly in adjuvant cancer therapies. His work contributes to the development of safe and effective adjuvant treatments for breast cancer and gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) patients, to understanding the mechanisms of these cancer diseases and to identifying patients who are at greater risk of recurrence.
Professor Joensuu and his team have developed a new adjuvant therapy for the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer. This FinHer regimen might even become the new standard treatment for HER2 positive breast cancer in the world. Another area of research focus is GIST, the most common sarcoma of the gastrointestinal tract. Professor Joensuu has plans to study the use of imatinib as an adjuvant therapy for GIST in a randomized trial among high recurrence risk GIST patients in the Nordic countries and Germany. These studies are clinically extremely important: breast cancer in particular represents a significant public health problem.
Michael Heinrich, M.D.
Oregon Health & Science University
Portland VA Medical Center
Dr. Michael Heinrich is currently a Professor of Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University and Head of Hematology/Medical Oncology at the Portland VA Medical Center. He earned his medical degree in 1984 from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore and completed both his residency training and Hematology and Medical Oncology fellowship at OHSU. Over the past twelve years, his research focus has been on the development of novel kinase inhibitors for treatment of human cancers. This work has included several key components: 1) identification of novel druggable targets in human cancers using various genomic technology platforms; 2) validation of novel somatic mutations as bona fide gain-of-function mutations; 3) pre-clinical profiling of targeted agents against a panel of mutations to define mechanisms of drug sensitivity and primary/secondary drug resistance; 4) identification of genomic markers that are predictive of tumor response to targeted agents; and 5) phase 1-2 testing of novel agents. This work has culminated in the design, conduct and analysis of clinical trials of imatinib and sunitinib for treatment of GIST and the identification of tumor kinase genotype as a predictive marker of response to these agents. These studies have also lead to the creation of clinically relevant molecular classifications of GIST. His primary research interest is in the development of novel tyrosine kinase inhibitors for treatment of human cancers. Dr. Heinrich’s research includes both pre-clinical identification of novel molecular targets and testing of new agents in the laboratory and the clinic, especially for treatment of drug-resistant GIST.
Seichi Hirota, M.D., Ph.D.
Hyogo College of Medicine
In 1988, Dr. Seiichi Hirota and his scientific team in Japan discovered that GISTs express the KIT protein (c-Kit or CD117). In addition, they found that in most GISTs the KIT protein has been mutated so that it provides an inappropriately high level of growth stimulation to the tumor cells.
Dr. Hirota earned his M.D. in 1984 at Hyogo College of Medicine in Japan. In 1988, he received his Ph.D. at Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine. Since 2004, Dr. Hirota has been a professor at the Dept. of Surgical Pathology at Hyogo College of Medicine.
Dr. Hirota specializes in the pathology of interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs) and gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). He has published 144 articles and co-authored six books.
Jeffrey B. Kindler
Pfizer, Inc.
Jeff Kindler is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pfizer, the world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical company. Prior to his appointment as CEO and election to the Board of Directors in 2006, he was Vice Chairman and General Counsel, where he led Pfizer’s worldwide legal, compliance, communications, government relations, corporate citizenship, policy development and global security groups.
He joined Pfizer in 2002 as Executive Vice President and General Counsel, with responsibility for Pfizer’s Legal Division. He was named Vice Chairman in 2005, joining the company’s four-person Executive Committee and assuming responsibility for Pfizer’s Corporate Affairs Division.
Jeff Kindler earned his BA in 1977 from Tufts University summa cum laude, and his JD in 1980 from Harvard magna cum laude, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He began his legal career as an attorney at the Federal Communications Commission. He then served as law clerk to Judge David L. Bazelon of the U.S. Court of Appeals of the D.C. Circuit and later served as law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr.
Zuleima Aguilar, Ph.D.
Dr. Zuleima Aguilar, a Biopharmaceutical Development Executive, has lead multinational / multidisciplinary teams running multi-million drug portfolios of global multicenter Phase 1-4 clinical trials to achieve multiple INDs / NDAs / MAAs filings, product launches and management of drug life cycles. In addition to leading the team that filed and launched SUTENT across SUGEN/Pharmacia and Pfizer, Dr. Aguilar recently lead Pfizer’s portfolio of 28 global oncology assets in exploratory development. The approval of SUTENT was a major milestone in oncology drug development, representing the first new NDA for Pfizer Oncology and the first ever FDA and EMEA approval for two new oncology indications simultaneously. The ground-breaking approval of SUTENT for the treatment of GIST patients following imatinib failure afforded a much needed new therapy were no other drug previously worked for relapsing/resistant GIST patients.
Dr. Aguilar earned her Ph.D. in Anatomy and Cell Biology from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine. Her doctoral and post-doctoral work focused on the HER-2/neu system in breast cancer in support of the development of Herceptin. Prior to moving to the US, Dr. Aguilar was an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at the Universidad Central de Venezuela where her laboratory research focused on growth factor signalling in gastric cancer. Dr. Aguilar received the Venezuelan National Science Award for her ground-breaking work studying the biochemistry of T. Cruzi, the parasite that causes Chagas disease.
Liz Barrett
Pfizer, Inc.
Liz Barrett is the U.S. President for Pfizer’s Oncology Business Unit where she leads sales, marketing, access and field operations for Pfizer’s cancer portfolio, including SUTENT (sunitinib malate).
Ms. Barrett is honored to be recognized in the Life Raft Group’s “GIST Hall of Fame,” along with her colleagues and Sutent development team members - Darrel Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Director of Clinical Development; James Christensen, Ph.D., Director of Oncology Translational Research; and Carlo Bello, M.S., Director of Clinical Pharmacology. On behalf of Pfizer, Ms. Barrett expresses gratitude to the Life Raft Group and other “Hall of Fame” honorees for their tremendous contributions to GIST research and development. All of the Pfizer honorees are proud to represent Pfizer at “GIST 2010” to celebrate a decade of milestones in GIST and pay tribute to those living with the disease.
Carlo Bello
Pfizer, Inc.
Carlo is a Director of Clinical Pharmacology at Pfizer, Inc., in New York. Carlo received his B.S. from the University of San Francisco. Upon finishing post-graduate work at UCSF School of Pharmacy focusing on drug transporters, Carlo joined Sugen Inc., where he worked on the anti-angiogenic compounds SU5416 and SU6668.
As the lead Clinical Pharmacologist on Sutent through the acquisitions of Sugen, by Pharmacia, and then Pfizer, Carlo oversaw the clinical development of Sutent from the first in human studies to marketing approval in GIST and Renal Cell Carcimona. His work has also lead to the development of PK-PD models investigating the relationships between Sutent exposures and efficacy and the identification of potential biomarkers for clinical activity.
Over the past couple of years, he has worked on tremelimumab and CP-751871, Pfizer’s anti-CTLA-4 and anti-IGF1R mABs. Carlo is currently working on PF-00299804, a panHer inhibitor which is in late stage development for the treatment of NSCLC.
James G. Christensen, Ph.D.
Pfizer, Inc.
Dr. Christensen is presently the Director of Oncology Translational Research in the Oncology Research Unit at Pfizer. This group is focused on developing strategies toward patient identification, novel combination approaches, and development of biomarker approaches. Dr. Christensen joined Pfizer La Jolla Laboratories Oncology effort in 2003 and was initially responsible for leading research efforts for oncology programs including sunitinib malate research development activities in gastrointestinal stromal tumors and metastatic renal carcinoma. Dr. Christensen has also been responsible for other research and development programs including crizotinib (PF2341066). Dr. Christensen participated as a member of the Cancer Research or Oncology Research Unit leadership team from 2005-2010. Prior to 2003, Dr. Christensen was at SUGEN/Pharmacia as a Group Leader on the Preclinical Research and Exploratory Development team where he was responsible for leadership of c-Met and erbB family preclinical development programs and aspects of research and development for sunitinib. Dr. Christensen initiated his industry experience at Warner Lambert/Parke-Davis with research focus in receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) biology and RTK pathway biomarker development in the Oncology therapeutic area. Dr. Christensen received his Ph.D. degree focusing in Molecular Pharmacology from North Carolina State University with dissertation research directed toward characterization of mechanisms of apoptosis dysregulation during the process of carcinogenesis.
Darrel P. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D.
Pfizer Oncology
Dr. Cohen is a hematologist/oncologist, and for the past 4 years, Senior Director and Global Clinical Leader of sunitinib malate (SU011248, SUTENT(r)) clinical development at Pfizer Oncology in La Jolla, California. Dr. Cohen received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Boston University and completed hematology/oncology fellowship training at Duke University Medical Center. Over the past 12 years, he has been involved with early oncology drug development in academia and for a number of pharmaceutical companies, with a primary focus on novel anti-angiogenic agents. While at Pharmacia, he collaborated with SUGEN in the clinical investigations of their early-generation receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Dr. Cohen also coordinated and executed the initial SU011248 clinical development plan that ultimately supported its clinical trial design, dose schedule selection, proof of concept, and registrational strategy in GIST among other indications.
Stephen Evans-Freke
Celtic Therapeutics
Stephen Evans-Freke is Co-Founder and Managing General Partner of Celtic Therapeutics, a global private equity firm focused on the pharmaceutical industry and of its predecessor firm, Celtic Pharma, which he established in 2004.
During the 1980s, Mr. Evans-Freke was lead investment banker to Genentech, AMGEN, Centocor and a number of other leading biotech companies.Mr. Evans-Freke was President of PaineWebber Development Corporation and later a member of PaineWebber Inc.'s Board of Directors.
In 1990 Mr. Evans-Freke left Wall St. and founded Selectide Corporation, one of the first combinatorial chemistry companies, for which he served as Chairman until its sale to Hoechst in 1994. In 1991, Mr. Evans-Freke co-founded SUGEN together with Drs. Joseph Schlesinger and Axel Ullrich as the scientific founders, with the vision to build a drug discovery company focused on small molecule kinase and phosphatase inhibitors. He served as SUGEN Chairman and Chief Executive Officer through its IPO with Morgan Stanley in 1995 and until its sale to Pharmacia for $720 million in 1999. Over this period Mr. Evans-Freke was also a co-founder of Fibrogen, Inc. and Royalty Pharma AG, in the latter case serving as a Managing General Partner and then Board and Executive Committee member until 2004.
Joseph Schlessinger, Ph.D.
Yale School of Medicine
Joseph Schlessinger has been the William H. Prusoff Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at Yale University School of Medicine since 2001. He was the Director of the Skirball Instsitute for Biomolecular Medicine at New York University (NYU) Medical Center from 1998-2001 and the Milton and Helen Kimmelman Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at NYU Medical School from 1990-2001. He was a member of the Weizmann Institute from 1978-1991 and the Ruth and Leonard Simon Professor of Cancer Research in the Department of Immunology from 1985-1991. Joseph Schlessinger was a Research Director for Rorer Biotechnology from 1985-1990. He founded Sugen, Inc. in 1991, Plexxikon in 2001, and Kolltan in 2008.
Joseph Schlessinger received a B.Sc. degree in Chemistry and Physics in 1968 (magna cum laude), and a M.Sc. degree in chemistry (magna cum laude) in 1970 from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He obtained a Ph.D. degree in biophysics from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1974. From 1974-1976, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Departments of Chemistry and Applied Physics at Cornell University, and from 1977-1978, he was a visiting fellow in the immunology branch of the National Cancer Institute of NIH.
Axel Ullrich, Ph.D.
Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry
Singapore Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR)
Axel Ullrich is Director of the Department of Molecular Biology at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany, and Research Director of the Singapore OncoGenome (SOG) project for the Institute of Medical Biology at the Singapore Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR).
Axel Ullrich trained as a biochemist at the Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen, Germany, and was awarded his PhD in molecular genetics by the Heidelberg University in Heidelberg, Germany, in 1975. After a postdoctoral tenure at the University of California in San Francisco, CA, USA, he joined Genentech, where his work led to the development of insulin isophane (currently marketed as Humulin® by Lilly Diabetes) – the first gene technology-based therapeutic – and trastuzumbab (Herceptin®) – the first target-directed oncogene-based cancer treatment. In 1988 he became Director of the Department of Molecular Biology at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, where the identification of VEGFR2 as a critical receptor for tumor angiogenesis led to the development of Sunitinib (Sutent by Pfizer Oncology), a multi-targeted kinase inhibitor used in the treatment of kidney cancer and gastrointestinal stromal tumors.
Professor Ullrich is a leader in molecular medicine worldwide, translating basic science discoveries into clinical applications, and is the recipient of numerous honors and awards.
Daniel Vasella, M.D.
Novartis
Daniel Vasella, M.D., is Chairman of the Board and former CEO of Novartis AG. He was appointed Chairman in April 1999, having served as CEO and Head of the Group Executive Committee since the merger that created Novartis in 1996.
As the first CEO of Novartis, Dr. Vasella had a leading role in the merger of Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy. Under Dr. Vasella, Novartis has strategically focused its business on health care with Pharmaceuticals as its core. During his tenure as Chairman and CEO, Dr. Vasella has enhanced the company’s corporate governance policies in line with best practices and listed Novartis on the New York Stock Exchange. He has also strengthened the research capacity of Novartis in leading technologies by creating the Novartis Institute for BioMedical Research and moving the company’s research headquarters to Cambridge, Mass., to be closer to top scientific talent as well as patient and hospital networks. He also established The Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, which is focused on developing therapeutics from the data generated from the mapping of the human genome.
Dr. Vasella has implemented strong pioneering initiatives to ensure access to medicines, which include the founding of the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases for research on neglected diseases of the developing world, the International Patient Assistance Program for the breakthrough GIST drug Gleevec/Glivec, an agreement to supply the novel malaria treatment Coartem® at cost to the World Health Organization and a pledge to donate the drug therapy needed to eradicate leprosy worldwide. Furthermore, under Dr. Vasella’s leadership, Novartis subscribed to the UN Global Compact initiative.
A 2004 readership survey of the Financial Times selected Dr. Vasella as the most influential European businessman of the past quarter century. In 2003, Dr. Vasella was awarded The CancerCare Human Services Award and also the Harvard Business School’s Alumni Achievement Award. Dr. Vasella was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Basel in 2002, and he was given the Appeal of Conscience Award in February 2000. In 1998, he received the AJ Congress Humanitarian Award. He has been honored with the Ordem Nacional do Cruzeiro do Sul (Brazil) and holds the rank of Chevalier in the Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur (France).
Before the Novartis merger, Dr. Vasella was CEO of Sandoz Pharma Ltd. and a member of the Sandoz Group Executive Committee. From 1988 to 1992, he was with Sandoz Pharmaceuticals Corporation in the US, prior to which he held a number of medical positions in Switzerland. Dr. Vasella is a member of the Board of Directors of PepsiCo, Inc., United States. In addition, he is a member of the
Chairman’s Council of DaimlerChrysler AG, Germany, and a member of the Board of Dean’s Advisors at the Harvard Business School. He is also President of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations, a member of the International Board of Governors of the Peres Center for Peace in Israel and a member of the International Business Leaders Advisory Council for the Mayor of Shanghai.
Dr. Vasella is a two-time PharmaVOICE 100 winner, which is a life sciences magazine that annually profiles the men and women in the life-sciences industry who are truly making a difference. He is married and has three children. Dr. Vasella was honored by the Life Raft Group as the “Humanitarian of the Year” at Life Fest 2002 in Cambridge, Mass.
James Watson, Ph.D.
James Watson received a B.S. in 1947 from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in 1950 from Indiana University, both in zoology. Following a National Research Fellowship in Copenhagen, he underwent research on a National Foundation of Infantile Paralysis Fellowship at the University of Cambridge, England, where he discovered the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) with Francis Crick. Watson and Crick proposed that the DNA molecule takes the shape of a double helix. This research emphasized a concept central to the emerging field of molecular biology: understanding the structure of a molecule can give clues about how it functions. Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins at King's College in London, who confirmed the DNA structure using X-ray crystallography, shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for their discovery.
Watson joined the Harvard faculty in 1955, becoming Professor in 1961. In 1976 he resigned from Harvard to become full-time director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Under his direction, the renowned but financially endangered institution was revitalized. From 1994-2003 he was President of CSHL, and Chancellor from 2003-2007. He retired in 2007 and now serves as Chancellor Emeritus of CSHL.
In 1988 Watson was appointed Associate Director for Human Genome Research of the National Institutes of Health and, in 1989, Director of the National Center for Human Genome Research at the NIH. In 1992, Watson resigned his position at NCHGR after successfully launching a worldwide effort to map and sequence the human genome.
In addition to receiving many prestigious honors, Dr. Watson was the recipient of the Life Raft Group Humanitarian Award in 2004.
Lee J. Helman, M.D.
National Institutes of Health Clinic
Dr. Helman received his M.D. from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1980 magna cum laude, and was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha. He completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Barnes Hospital Washington University, serving as the Chief Resident, Washington University VA Medical Service in 1983. He began his Fellowship training at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in 1983, where he has remained. He became the head of the Molecular Oncology Section of the Pediatric Oncology Branch, NCI, in 1993, and Chief of the Pediatric Oncology Branch, NCI, in 1997. He was also named a Deputy Director of the Center for Cancer, National Cancer Institute, in 2001. He was named Acting Scientific Director for Clinical Research, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, in 2005, and named as the permanent Scientific Director in 2007.
Su Young Kim, M.D., Ph.D.
National Institutes of Health Clinic
Dr. Kim received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Chicago under the supervision of Dr. Carol Westbrook in the Department of Molecular Genetics. His thesis centered on physical mapping and functional analysis of the 8p22 tumor suppressor gene interval. Concurrently, he received his M.D. from the University of Chicago. This was followed by pediatric residency training at the University of Texas at Houston and a pediatric hematology-oncology fellowship in the joint NIH - Johns Hopkins program. Dr. Kim was selected to the Center for Cancer Research Clinical Investigator Development Program. He continues at the NIH in the Pediatric Oncology Branch as an assistant clinical investigator.
