Scientific Advisory Board Archives - Fanconi Cancer Foundation

Deanna Teoh

Sherri Van Ravenhorst — Mon, 06 May 2024 15:52:34 +0000

Dr. Teoh is a gynecologic oncologist at University of Minnesota dedicated to preventing cervical cancer and other HPV-associated malignancies. Her work aims to increase effective preventive practices, while minimizing harm from over-screening and over-treatment of lesions unlikely to progress to cancer. She has been actively involved in cervical cancer screening guidelines development and efforts to increase HPV vaccination through work with ASCCP, Society of Gynecologic Oncology, and American Cancer Society. Dr. Teoh has a particular interest in risk-management for high-risk patients and provides gynecologic care for patients with Fanconi Anemia as part of the University of Minnesota Fanconi Anemia survivorship care team.

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Alexander Pearson

Sherri Van Ravenhorst — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 16:14:34 +0000

Dr. Pearson is Director of Data Sciences and Director of Head/Neck Cancer for Hematology/Oncology at the University of Chicago. Dr. Pearson trained as a PhD statistician and physician, and completed both subspecialty training in Hematology/Oncology and postdoctoral research in mathematical systems biology.

Dr. Pearson is now a prominent voice guiding applications of quantitative methods to cancer research, and his research lab runs projects using machine learning, mathematical modeling, artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, and systems biology. Dr. Pearson is a member of multiple international research consortia for AI and mathematical oncology, and his research work is funded by US Departments of Health, Defense, and Energy, as well as the EU and multiple foundations.

He serves on the NIH National Advisory Dental and Craniofacial Research Council (NADCRC) for NIDCR data science strategy, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) AI in Oncology Task Force, and the American Medical Association AI Specialty Society Collaborative.

Dr. Pearson’s research group works at the interface of cutting edge computational science and oncology, and he is an advocate for physician leadership in computational medicine research. As a clinician, Dr. Pearson is an expert in head and neck cancer treatment, and he runs multiple clinical trials to improve cancer treatment in this field.

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Barbara Burtness

admin — Wed, 02 Oct 2019 13:42:00 +0000

Dr. Barbara Burtness is Professor of Medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine, Interim Associate Cancer Center Director, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Disease Aligned Research Team Leader, Head and Neck Cancers Program; Co-Leader, Developmental Therapeutics, Yale Cancer Center; and Director of the Yale Head and Neck SPORE. She chairs the ECOG-ACRIN Head and Neck Cancer Therapeutics Committee, which conducts multicenter trials of novel treatment paradigms to improve the survival and functional outcomes of patients with all stages of head and neck cancers. She has conducted numerous phase I–III investigator-initiated trials. Dr. Burtness’ research focuses on translational studies in head and neck cancer, including biomarkers of resistance to EGFR inhibition and synthetic lethal approaches for Fanconi Anemia-related head and neck cancer.

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Alan D’Andrea

admin — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 15:34:00 +0000

The D’Andrea Laboratory examines the molecular signaling pathways which regulate the DNA damage response in mammalian cells. Disruption of these pathways, by germline or somatic mutation, leads to genomic instability, cellular sensitivity to ionizing radiation, and defective cell cycle checkpoints and DNA repair. These pathways are often disrupted in cancer cells, accounting for the chromosome instability and increased mutation frequency in human tumors.

The D’Andrea Lab’s primary focus is the molecular pathogenesis of the human chromosome instability syndromes— Fanconi Anemia (FA), Ataxia Telangiectasia (AT), and Bloom’s sydrome (BS). FA is an autosomal recessive cancer susceptibility disorder characterized by developmental defects and increased cellular sensitivity to DNA crosslinking agents. Thirteen FA genes have been cloned, and the encoded FA proteins interact in a novel signaling pathway. Eight FA proteins form a nuclear protein complex required for the monoubiquitination of the D2 protein. Activated D2 is targeted to chromatin where it interacts with the BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast cancer susceptibility gene products. This research program addresses several aspects of this novel signaling pathway including (1) the assembly, transport, and structure of the FA protein complex (2) the enzymatic monoubiquitination and deubiquitination of the D2 protein (3) the function of the chromatin-associated FA complex in cell cycle checkpoints and homologous recombination DNA repair (4) the identification of novel interacting proteins in these complexes.

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Jennifer Grandis

admin — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 12:51:00 +0000

Jennifer R. Grandis, MD, is a Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery (OHNS), and she is the Associate Vice Chancellor—Clinical and Translational Research (AVC-CTR) at the University of California, San Francisco. She received her medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pennsylvania, and she completed her internship from the same institution. Dr. Grandis completed both a residency and an Infectious Disease fellowship from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pennsylvania. Prior to joining UCSF, Dr. Grandis was the UPMC Endowed Chair in Head and Neck Cancer Surgical Research and Distinguished Professor of Otolaryngology and Pharmacology and Chemical Biology at the University of Pittsburgh. She led the Head and Neck Cancer Program and was the Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Otolaryngology.

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Markus Grompe

admin — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 15:38:00 +0000

Dr. Markus Grompe is the Ray Hickey Professor and Director of the Papé Family Pediatric Research Institute at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland, Oregon. A longtime leader in the Fanconi anemia research community, Dr. Grompe’s work has advanced understanding of genetic disease mechanisms and opened new possibilities for gene and cell-based therapies.

After earning his medical degree from the University of Ulm in Germany, Dr. Grompe trained in pediatrics at OHSU and completed a fellowship in molecular genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, where he began pioneering studies in gene therapy for inherited metabolic liver disorders. He joined the OHSU faculty in 1991 and has since led innovative research on liver stem cells, gene editing, and disease modeling using humanized mice.

Dr. Grompe was the founding director of the Oregon Stem Cell Center and has received numerous honors, including the E. Mead Johnson Award for pediatric research and the Fanconi Cancer Foundation Merit Award. His research has produced more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and numerous patents, with far-reaching impact on the development of novel therapies for FA and related conditions.

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Melissa Haendel

admin — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 13:08:00 +0000

Dr. Haendel’s vision is to fundamentally alter the fabric of biomedical science, utilizing her art as a data translator to weave together healthcare systems, basic science research, and patients; through development of data integration technologies, innovative communication strategies, and collaborative education and outreach.

Her demonstrated success in leadership of cross- disciplinary international teams, development of applications used for rare disease diagnostics, implementation of platforms and tools for translational research, and open and reproducible science will serve the community at large to effect real change.

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Premal Patel

admin — Mon, 19 Mar 2018 11:38:00 +0000

Premal Patel is a physician-scientist with 15 years of experience in medical oncology drug development, thoughtfully combining clinical strategy with adept biomarker approaches. Premal was the SVP, Head of Early Clinical Drug Development at Juno therapeutics where he led CART efforts in multiple myeloma and all solid tumor CART & TCR efforts. Prior to this, he was VP, Head Early Clinical Development and Translational Research at Pfizer, where he led the allogenic CART effort, along with ~15 immuno-oncology assets.

He spent over 7 years at Genentech, Research and Early Development leading clinical development for several agents, including: aPD-L1+Avastin in renal cell carcinoma and AKT inhibitor (ipatasertib) across indications from inception to successful proof-of-concept at end of Phase 2.

Premal received BS Pharmacy from Rutgers University; MD and PhD degrees at University of Washington. He completed internal medicine at University of Washington and adult medical oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he researched targeted therapies for renal cell carcinoma.

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Paula Rio

admin — Thu, 27 May 2021 10:27:00 +0000

Dr. Rio’s work is focused on gene therapy and gene editing strategies to correct hematopoietic stem cells in patients with Fanconi anemia. Her team has designed a therapeutic lentiviral vector carrying the FANCA gene that has received orphan drug designation both by the EMA and FDA.

Under the direction of Dr. Juan Bueren and in collaboration with Dr. Julian Sevilla and other members of the FA network in Spain, Dr. Rio is conducting a phase I/II gene therapy trial to correct hematopoietic progenitors from FA-A patients using lentiviral vectors. Following the preliminary results obtained in this gene therapy trial, a global phase II trial is now ongoing under the sponsorship of Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Her team is also deeply involved in the optimization of different gene editing strategies to correct hematopoietic stem cells from Fanconi anemia patients both in vitro and in vivo. They have shown that Non-Homologous End Joining (NHEJ)-mediated gene editing can be applied to correct specific mutations in hematopoietic cells from FA patients. Currently, they are implementing new gene editing tools applicable for other mutations. Additionally, they have started to test different in vivo delivery tools with the final aim of correcting hematopoietic stem cells from FA patients in vivo.

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Agata Smogorzewska

admin — Mon, 19 Mar 2018 11:18:00 +0000

Using Fanconi anemia and other genetic disease as a backdrop, Dr. Smogorzewska’s research aims to elucidate pathways that prevent stem cell dysfunction, and cancer development, with a focus on those that repair DNA. Throughout its lifetime, a cell’s DNA is under constant metabolic and environmental assault that can lead to damage. If left unchecked, the resulting genome instability can initiate cancer and a variety of other human disorders. Using Fanconi anemia and other genetic diseases as a backdrop, Smogorzewska’s research aims to elucidate the pathways that protect organ function and prevent cancer, with a focus on those that replicate and repair DNA.

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