Andrei V. Gudkov, PhD, DSci, Professor and Garman Family Chair in Cell Stress Biology, Senior Vice President for Basic Research of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (RPCI), Buffalo, NY. His academic degrees in experimental oncology and molecular biology were received in former USSR from National Cancer Center and Moscow State University. He is co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. and Tartis, Inc. His area of general research interest includes drug discovery, gene discovery, molecular targets for cancer treatment.

Mikhail V. Blagosklonny, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY

Dr. Blagosklonny is author of over 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is Associate Editor of Cancer Res, Cell Death Differ, Cancer Biol Ther, Autophagy, Int J Cancer, Am J Pathology, PLOS ONE and Editor-in-Chief of Cell Cycle. His research interests range from molecular and cellular biology to clinical investigations and include signal transduction, cell cycle, cellular senescence, anticancer therapeutics with emphasis on translation of basic science into new anticancer strategies Recently, he extended the study of signal transduction pathways from cancer to aging, revealing potential targets for slowing down aging and age-related diseases.

Cory Abate-Shen, PhD, Professor, Director of Research, Department of Pathology, Associate Director, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University, NY

Frederick W. Alt, Ph.D., member of the National Academy of Sciences, Professor, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Alt is also Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Inst., Charles A. Janeway Professor of Pediatrics, HMS, Scientific Director, CBRI Institute for Biomedical Research.Fred Alt received a PhD from the Department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University. He is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Sciences. He is the recipient of He is the recipient of the 2003 Excellence in Mentoring Award from the American Association of Immunologists and the 2004 Clowes Memorial Award from the American Association of Cancer Research. Editorial Boards: Mol. and Cell. Biology; Advances in Immunology; International Immunology; J. Exp. Med.; Current Opinion in Immunology; Immunity (founding Co-editor; 1993-present); Molecular Medicine (Contributing editor; 1997-present); Faculty of 1000 (co-head, Immunology). Honors and Awards: Fox Award, Stanford Univ. (1973); Hirschl Award (1983); Searle Scholar; (1983) Mallinckrodt Scholar; (1984); NIH Merit Award (1991); National Academy of Sciences (1994); American Academy of Microbiology (1994); American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1994); Associate (Foreign) Member, European Molecular Biology Organization (1999); Excellence in Mentoring Award,Association of Immunologists (2003); American Association of Cancer Research B.H.A. Clowes Award (2004); Rabi Shai Shacknai Memorial Prize in Immunology & Cancer Research (2005); Leukemia & Lymphoma Society de Villiers International Achievement Award (2005), Pasarow Foundation Prize in Cancer Research (2005); Irvington Institute Scientific Leadership in Immunology Award (2005); Establishment of Frederick W. Alt Award for New Discoveries in Immunology by the Irvington Institute (2006); National Cancer Institute Alfred Knudson Award in Cancer Genetics(2007).

Dario Altieri, MD, Robert and Penny Fox Distinguished Professor, Director, The Wistar Institute Cancer Center, Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA.

Dafna Bar-Sagi, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Biochemistry New York University School of Medicine, 550 First Avenue New York, NY 10016

After earning her undergraduate and master's degree in Biochemistry from Bar-Ilan University in Israel, Dr. Bar-Sagi completed a PhD in Cell Biology at the State University of New York, Stony Brook (SUNY). She received postdoctoral training and eventually served as Senior Staff Investigator at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Long Island. In 1995, she joined the faculty of the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at SUNY and served as Department Chair from 2003-2006. She relocated to New York University Medical Center in 2006, where she is currently Professor and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry. Dr. Bar-Sagi has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles in leading scientific journals. In 2008, she was appointed Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

Jiri Bartek, MD., Ph.D., Professor, Head, Department of Cell Cycle and Cancer Danish Cancer Society, Deputy Director, Centre for Genotoxic Stress Research Cancer Institute of Cancer Biology, Copenhagen

He received his M.D. degree from Palacky University in Olomouc, and his Ph.D. degree in Cell Biology from the Institute of Molecular Genetics in Prague, Czech Republic. His main research interests include the molecular mechanisms of mammalian cell-cycle control and responses to DNA damage, and the cancer-predisposing aberrations of these regulatory pathways.

Jiri Bartek has a total of more than 320 publications in peer reviewed journals (about 30-40 in Nature, Science and Cell), with over 26.000 citations. He is currently member of the editorial boards of 10 high-medium impact biomedical journals and has won a number of awards including: (1991,1992) Czech Medical Association Award, (2000) Elected EMBO member, (2002) A. Benzon Prize, (2003) Novo Nordisk Prize, (2003) G.J. Mendel Medal, (2006) Danish Cancer Society Prize

Stephen B. Baylin, M.D., Professor, Deputy Director, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University, Virginia and DK Ludwig Professor of Oncology, Baltimore, MD, USA

Dr. Stephen B. Baylin is professor of oncology and medicine, director of the cancer biology program at the oncology center, and the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor of Cancer Research at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and the associate director for research at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins.

Dr. Baylin has been a member of committees of the American Cancer Society and the National Institutes of Health, and his multiple honors include a Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health. For the last 20 years, Dr. Baylin has studied the role of epigenetic gene silencing in the initiation and progression of human cancer.

Joseph R. Bertino, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology, The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

He has been an American Cancer Society professor since 1976. From 1973 to 1986, Dr. Bertino served as director of the Yale Comprehensive Cancer Center, including director of the center and associate director for clinical research. Dr. Bertino has been internationally recognized for his role in finding curative treatments for leukemia and lymphoma. Dr.Bertino has received several awards and honors, including the Rosenthal Award from the American Association of Clinical Research, the Karnofsky Award from the American Society for Clinical Oncology, and the American Cancer Society Medal of Honor. He was the founding editor of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Currently, he is the associate editor for Cancer Research and Clinical Cancer Research and also the editor of the Encyclopedia of Cancer. Dr. Bertino served as president for the American Society of Clinical Oncology in 1976, and president of the American Association for Cancer Research in 1995-96. Dr. Bertino is the author and co-author of more than 400 scientific publications.

Mina J. Bissell, PhD, member of the National Academy of Sciences, Distinguished Scientist, Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkley, CA

Mina Bissell has been recognized for her lifetime contributions to the fields of breast cancer research, the enhanced role of extracellular matrix (ECM) and the nucleus environment to gene expression in normal and malignant tissues. These works have ushered and have changed some central paradigms that have strengthened the importance of context in the development of cancer.

Bruce R. Blazar, M.D., Professor, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN

Bruce R. Blazar is a Regents Professor of Pediatrics, and Chief of the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program. Dr. Blazar is the Director of the University of Minnesota's Clinical and Translational Science Institute.

Kenneth Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, Director, Eppley Institute, Director, UNMC Eppley Cancer Center.

Dr. Cowan has authored more than 240 papers for scientific journals and has been appointed by President Bush to a six-year term on the National Cancer Advisory Board to help shape cancer policy.

Carlo M. Croce, MD, Professor, member of the National Academy of Sciences, Director of Comprehensive Cancer Center, Chair, Molecular Virology, Immunology & Medical Genetics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

Honors & Awards

Chi Van Dang, M.D., Ph.D. Professor, Vice Dean for Research, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

Dr. Dang has written more than 200 scientific papers. He is senior editor of Cancer Research and serves on the editorial boards of eight other scientific publications, including the Journal of Molecular Medicine, Current Cancer Therapy Reviews, Drug Discovery Today: Disease Mechanisms, Journal of Clinical Investigations, Neoplasia, Clinical and Translational Science and The Vietnamese Medical Journal. Elected to the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine in 2006, Dr. Dang has received the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute MERIT award and numerous other accolades.

DePinho, MD, Member of the National Academy of Sciences, Past President, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, and Professor, Department of Cancer Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.

His recent Awards includes Albert Szent-Gyrgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research, 2009; Helsinki Medal, 2007; Albert Einstein College of Medicine Distinguished Alumnus Award, 2004; American Cancer Society Edith A. Pistorino Research Professorship, 2004; Member, Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, 2004; AACR-G.H.A. Clowes Memorial Award, 2003

Brian J. Druker, MD, PhD, member of the National Academy of Sciences, Professor, Oregon Health & Science University, Director, OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health & Science University

Dr. Druker is the director of OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, JELD-WEN Chair of Leukemia Research, and professor of medicine. In 2009 he won the Lasker Clinical Award and the Meyenburg Cancer Research Prize for his influential work in the development of STI571, commonly known as Gleevec, for the treatment of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. Dr. Druker is an investigator of Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), and was elected to the Institute of Medicine of National Academies in 2003, the American Association of Physician in 2006, and the National Academy of Sciences in 2007.

Wafik S. El-Deiry, MD, PhD, FACP
American Cancer Society Research Professor
Professor of Medical Oncology
Deputy Cancer Center Director for Translational Research
William Wikoff Smith Endowed Chair in Cancer Research
co-Leader, Molecular Therapeutics Program
Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA

Michael A. Dyer, PhD, Professor/Member, St. Jude Faculty Co-Leader, Developmental Therapeutics for Solid Malignancies Program

Andrew Feinberg, MD, MPH, King Fahd Professor of Molecular Medicine Department of Medicine, Department of Oncology and Department of Molecular Biology & Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Dean W. Felsher, MD, PhD, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA

Antonio Giordano, MD, Ph.D, Professor and Director, Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

He has published over 350 papers on his work in the fields of cell cycle, gene therapy and the genetics of cancer. Giordano has been named a Knight of the Republic of Italy for outstanding achievements in cancer research. In September of 2009, Giordano received the Philip Mazzei "The Bridge" Award from The American University of Rome for his scientific and economic contributions to the United States and Italy. In the past three years, Dr. Giordano's work has been profiled in Philadelphia Magazine, Philadelphia Business Journal, and Science.

President & CEO of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Wallace Family Chair in Translational Research, and Professor of Oncology.

Michael Karin, Ph.D, member of the National Academy of Sciences, Professor of Pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD; La Jolla, CA)

Dr. Karin has received numerous awards including the Oppenheimer Award for Excellence in Research from the Endocrine Society, The Herman Beerman Lectureship from the Society of Investigative Dermatology, C.E.R.I.E.S. Research Award for Physiology or Biology of the Skin, The Grossman Lectureship form the American Gastroenterology Association and an American Cancer Society Research Professorship in 1999. Dr. Karin was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2005. Dr. Karin also serves on several advisory boards and was cofounder of Signal Pharmaceuticals (currently Celgene).

Scott E. Kern, M.D., Professor of Oncology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, co-director of the Kimmel Cancer Center Gastrointestinal Cancer Program, Everett and Marjorie Kovler Professor of Pancreas Cancer Research.

Dr. Kern is a molecular geneticist interested in the clonal mutations of cancer, especially pancreatic cancer. His laboratory identified the first human Smad gene, SMAD4, as well as the first cancer mutations in Smad4, BRCA2, and other genes. Current interests include pharmacogenomics, mitotic instability, and the clinical significance of cancer biomarkers.

Guido Kroemer, Professor, Faculty of Medicine of the University of Paris Descartes, Director of the research team "Apoptosis, Cancer and Immunity" of the French Medical Research Council (INSERM).

John S. Lazo, PhD, Harrison Distinguished Professor, Departments of Pharmacology & Chemistry, Associate Director for Basic Science, UVA Cancer Center; Adjunct Professor Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute

Arnold J. Levine, Ph.D. Member of the National Academy, Professor, The Simons Center for Systems Biology in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ.

Levine was on the faculty of the Biochemistry Department of Princeton University from 1968 to 1979, when he became chair and professor in the Department of Microbiology at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, School of Medicine. Returning to Princeton University in 1984, he was named Harry C. Wiess Professor in the Life Sciences in the Department of Molecular Biology, a position he held until 1998. He chaired the Department between 1984 and 1996. He was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Rockefeller University in New York City from 1998 to 2002, as well as Heilbrunn Professor of Cancer Biology and laboratory head until joining the Institute in 2002. The recipient of many honors including: the Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Biomedical Research from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (2000); the Keio Medical Science Prize of the Keio University Medical Science Fund, Japan (2000); the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research (2001); and the Award for Basic Research from the Surgical Society of Oncologists (2003). Levine is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and of the Academy's Institute of Medicine; he is also the author or coauthor of over 300 scientific papers, as well as a book, Viruses (1993). He has served as board member or adviser to numerous scientific organizations and educational institutions, among them the N.J. Biotechnology Institute, the American Cyanamid Corporation, the SUNY Health Sciences Center in Brooklyn, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the Weizmann Institute,the Huntsman Cancer Center of the University of Utah, and the Institute for Cancer Research in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Professor Lisanti, M.D., Ph.D. serves as the Director of the Manchester Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Unit and holds the Muriel Edith Rickman Chair of Breast Oncology within the Institute of Cancer Sciences. He is also Professor of Cancer Biology and the new founding Director of the Manchester Centre for Cellular Metabolism (MCCM).

Dr. Melino is Full Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” in Italy. He also currently works as Programme Leader for the Medical Research Council Toxicology Unit, in Leicester, UK.

Harold L. Moses, PhD, Professor, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, TN

Dr. Nakamura received his MD and PhD from Osaka University, and became Head of the Biochemistry Department, at the Cancer Institute, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research in 1989. He was appointed as a professor at the Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo in 1994 and the Department of Medicine at the University of Chicago in 2012. From January to December 2011, Dr. Nakamura was Special Advisor to the Cabinet Secretary General, Office of Medical Innovation, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of Japan. Dr. Nakamura received the Keio Medical Science Prize and the Tomizo Yoshida Award of the Japanese Cancer Association. He is a member of the Association of American Physicians.

Dr. Yusuke Nakamura discovered the APC (Familial Adenomatous Polyposis) tumor suppressor. Dr. Nakamura plays the leading role in the field of personalized medicine. He authored 1200 scientific articles.

Joseph Nevins, PhD, Professor, Duke University, Durham, NC

Pier Paolo Pandolfi, PhD, Professor, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
George C. Reisman Professor of Medicine and Professor of Pathology, Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Chief, Division of Genetics, Dept of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Director, Cancer Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Director, Cancer Research Institute, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Nickolas Papadopoulos, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Oncology, Director of Translational Genetics, Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetics & Therapeutics, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Johns Hopkins Institutions, CRB1, Room 585, 1650 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD 21231

Jeffrey Pollard, PhD, Professor, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY

Carol Prives, Ph.D, member of the National Academy of Sciences, Professor, Columbia University, New York, NY

Edward V. Prochownik, MD, PhD, Professor of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Director of Oncology Research, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, PA

Dr. John C. Reed, M.D., Ph.D. has been the Head of Roche Pharma Research & Early Development (Pred) at Roche Holding AG since April 2, 2013. He is an Adjunct professor at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) Department of Molecular Pathology, University of Florida, University of Central Florida, and in San Diego State University's Biology department.

Neal Rosen, M.D., Ph.D. is a Member in the Department of Medicine and in the Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry Program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where he serves as Head of Developmental Therapeutics. He is also a Professor of Pharmacology, Cell Biology and Medicine at Cornell University Medical School.

Andrew V. Schally won the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology in 1977, for his research into peptide hormone production in the brain. He is currently Distinguished Medical Research Scientist of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Head of the Endocrine, Polypeptide and Cancer Institute Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Research Service Miami, FL and South Florida VA Foundation for Research and Education, Distinguished Leonard Miller Professor of Pathology, Professor Division of Hematology/Oncology and Division of Endocrinology Department of Medicine, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, FL.

Dr. Schally was one of a pair of scientists to first isolate several of the communicating chemical links between the brain and the pituitary gland and also determined their structure and succeeded in synthesizing them. Schally’s discoveries have led to many practical clinical applications that are in wide use. He has written over 2,200 publications, more than 1,200 of them since receiving the Nobel Prize. 27 European & South American Universities: M.D.H.C., D.H.C., D.Sc.H.C., D.Nat. Sc. H.C.

Lasker Award 1975

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1977

Gregg L. Semenza, M.D., Ph.D, member of the National Academy of Sciences, Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

Donald L. (Skip) Trump, MD, FACP, is CEO and executive director of Inova Schar Cancer Institute. Prior to joining Inova, Dr. Trump was president and CEO of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, NY.

Alexander Varshavsky, Ph.D, member of the National Academy of Sciences, Professor, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA

Alexander Varshavsky is a recipient of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, the Wolf Prize in Medicine and the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University in 2001 for his research on ubiquitination. In 2006 he won the March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology and he won the 2007 $1 million Gotham Prize for an original approach to killing cancer cells.

Bert Vogelstein, M.D., member of the National Academy of Sciences, Professor, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

Bert Vogelstein is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. He has received the Gairdner Foundation International Award, Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University, Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research, and other awards for his research.

Peter K. Vogt, Ph.D, member of the National Academy of Science, Professor, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA

Dr. Vogt is a Professor in the Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. He has received many awards and honors, including the Gregor Johann Mendel Medal, Charles S. Mott Prize, Ernst Jung Prize for Medicine, Bristol Meyers Award, and ICN International Prize in Virology. Dr. Vogt has been invited as a distinguished lecturer by more than twenty leading research institutions in the US, Europe, and Asia, among them the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg for the Meyenburg Foundation Lecture, the Princess Takamatsu Foundation, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research of Singapore. He was also elected an Honorary Member of the Japanese Cancer Association and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Würzburg. Dr. Vogt is an elected member of many prestigious academies, including the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, and the American Academy of Microbiology. He is the recipient of the 5th Annual Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research.

Paul Workman, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK

Dr. Zeng Yixin, Professor and Director, Cancer Center and the State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China. 

He was elected as a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2005. Besides, Professor Zeng also has many other academic positions including the Vice President of the China Anti-Cancer Association, President of the Board of the International Society on Epstein-Barr Virus & Related Diseases (2006-2008), a member of the Third World Academy of Sciences, and a member of the Europe-Asian Academy of Sciences