Research Report: National Cancer 2011

Peter C. Adamson, M.D., a Professor of Pediatrics and Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, is Chief of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Director of the Office for Clinical and Translational Research at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute. He is Board Certified in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and in Clinical Pharmacology. Dr. Adamson is an internationally recognized leader in pediatric cancer drug development, having served until 2008 as Chair of the Children's Oncology Group (COG) Developmental Therapeutics Programs and Principal Investigator of the COG Phase 1 Consortium. He became Chair-elect of the Children’s Oncology Group on January 1, 2010. Prior to becoming the Director of the Office for Clinical and Translational Research at CHOP, he was the Program Director of the General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) and Principal Investigator of its NICHD funded Pediatric Pharmacology Research Unit (PPRU). His laboratory focuses on the clinical pharmacology of new drugs for childhood cancer using an integrated approach that incorporates preclinical studies in both in vitro and animal models, and clinical trials with clinical pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic-pharmacogenetic studies in pediatric patients. As Director of the Office for Clinical and Translational Research at CHOP, Dr. Adamson works with clinical and translational investigators in identifying scientific opportunities and in forging productive collaborations throughout CHOP and the University of Pennsylvania. He is co-Director of the University of Pennsylvania – CHOP Clinical Translational Science Award (CTSA). Dr. Adamson serves on key advisory committees of the FDA and NCI, including being a member of the NCI’s Investigational Drug Steering Committee and the NCI Director’s Clinical Trials Advisory Committee.

Dr. Bowen is Professor and Chair of the Department of Community Health Sciences. She is currently an investigator in the regional Cancer Prevention Network, focused on community-based research of cancer-prevention targets. She is a coinvestigator on the regional Native American Community Health Network, a group of investigators and community health experts working to conduct research and training in Native communities. Dr. Bowen is also the principal investigator of the BUSPH Prevention Research Center, focused on the health of public housing residents, and for a grant to identify the causes of the SES and obesity relationship in middle aged women. She recently completed a Melanoma study, which adapts a cancer-related behavior change intervention for delivery via the Internet. She has been the principal investigator of several NIH-funded grants involving breast cancer risk communications, including the Breast Cancer Risk Counseling Studies, the RISK study and the WIRES study. Dr. Bowen has been an investigator in the coordinating centers of three large multi-center prevention trials: the Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial (CARET), the Women's Health Trial: Feasibility Study in Minority Populations (WHT:FSMP) and the Women's Health Initiative (WHI). In addition, she has led or participated in numerous community-intervention studies that have successfully recruited and maintained advisory committees, including members of the community representing the target audience. She was a coinvestigator and member of the steering committee for a large R25T training grant for pre- and postdoctoral fellows at the University of Washington, focused on health communications and biobehavioral cancer prevention. She was the principal investigator for a church-based, dietary-intervention trial and in that role chaired an advisory committee of local church leaders representing a broad variety of denominations. She is currently engaged with Native American tribal settings to improve the health behaviors of tribal members.

Dr. Bradner received his MD from The University of Chicago in 1999. He completed his postgraduate training in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, followed by a fellowship in Medical Oncology and Hematology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital. In 2005, he joined Dana-Farber and is currently a member of the Hematologic Malignancies staff.

Garrett M. Brodeur, MD, is associate chair for Research in Pediatrics, as well as professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania and adjunct professor at The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia. Dr. Brodeur is a graduate of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, where he completed his pediatric residency. He continued his specialty training with a fellowship in pediatric hematology-oncology at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. He returned to Washington University for a post-doctoral fellowship in molecular genetics in 1981, and he joined the faculty at CHOP in 1993. Dr. Brodeur maintains a special interest in the biology, genetics and treatment of neuroblastoma, the most common solid tumor in childhood, and is internationally recognized for his work in this area. He is currently studying certain genes, proteins and pathways that play important roles in the development and progression of neuroblastomas. For example, he is looking for a tumor suppressor gene on the short arm of chromosome 1 that is frequently deleted or inactivated in aggressive neuroblastomas. He is also examining the role that TRK (pronounced “track”) receptors play in these tumors. TRK-A is expressed on the surface of favorable neuroblastomas that are prone to regress, differentiate or respond well to modest treatment. TRK-B is expressed on the more aggressive neuroblastomas, particularly those that also amplify the MYCN proto-oncogene (a very high risk feature). Finally, he is evaluating a novel drug that can block the function of either TRK-A or TRK-B, and this causes cells expressing these receptors to die by a cellular “suicide”. Recently, he has been invited to give lectures on his work at the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland; at Kyushu University in Japan, at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. He is the author of more than 160 papers and has contributed numerous textbook chapters on topics related to the biological and clinical significance of genetic changes in neuroblastomas. Dr. Brodeur is also the principal investigator or co- investigator of six NIH/NCI grants studying the genetic basis of neuroblastomas.

Dr. Cassileth is currently the Chief of the Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, as well as an Attending there. She is also a Consulting Professor in Community and Family Medicine at Duke University Medical Center, an Adjunct Professor of Medicine (Oncology) at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Visiting Lecturer in Medicine at Harvard University. Over the years, Dr. Cassileth has held key positions with numerous national organizations, including the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, and the American Cancer Society. She is on the Board of Directors of the American Cancer Society and a member of the Public Issues Committee and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Cassileth has authored hundreds of original papers and articles on the psychosocial aspects of cancer for leading general and specialty journals, including such topics as: the role of patient participation in therapeutic decision making, quality of life issues for cancer patients, and patient care during the terminal phase of illness. She has also written extensively for both the scientific and lay press on the topic of alternative and complementary therapies. She is a member of the Editorial and Advisory Boards for several prominent journals, including Cancer, FACT (Focus on Alternative Cancer Therapies), The Hospice Journal, Oncology, Oncology News International, and Journal of Psychosocial Oncology. She also reviews articles for numerous primary care and specialty journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Because of her expertise, Dr. Cassileth has been invited to lecture at medical schools and conferences throughout the United States and the world. She is recognized as an expert in alternative and complementary medicine and the psychosocial aspects of cancer. Dr. Cassileth's educational background includes a B.A. from Bennington College in Vermont and a M.S. in Psychology from Albert Einstein in New York, followed a doctorate in Medical Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.

As Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Chernoff coordinates and charts the future course of research at Fox Chase. Jonathan Chernoff, MD, PhD, brings a wealth of institutional experience, a broad range of scientific expertise, and strong leadership skills to support all aspects of operational and strategic decision making. In recognition of his national reputation in molecular oncology and biochemistry, Dr. Chernoff also holds the Stanley P. Reimann Chair in Oncology. Chernoff joined the staff in 1991 as an associate member and was promoted to member with tenure in 1996. In 2002 he was promoted to be a senior member in Fox Chase Cancer Center's Basic Science division, the equivalent of a full professor in a university. A molecular oncologist as well as a board-certified medical oncologist, Chernoff has a special interest in factors that control cell growth and movement, including oncogenes and anticancer or tumor-suppressor genes, and has made fundamental contributions in this research. Chernoff earned his MD and his PhD in biochemistry in 1984 at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the University Health Center of Pittsburgh, a clinical fellowship in medical oncology at Johns Hopkins Oncology Center and a clinical fellowship in hematology at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. He then held a postdoctoral fellowship in cellular and developmental biology at Harvard University before coming to Fox Chase.

Douglas Faigel's interests are primarily in therapeutic endoscopy and endoscopic ultrasound. The endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) program was established in 1996. In the last 11 years it has seen remarkable growth. They now have two endosonographers performing more than 800 EUS procedures per year. This makes theirs one of the largest programs in the United States. EUS is primarily used for the evaluation of cancers of the esophagus, stomach, rectum, pancreas and bile ducts. EUS is also used to look for pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) and assess the integrity of the anal sphincter muscles in patients with incontinence. His research interests are in EUS, pancreatic cancer, capsule endoscopy, GI stromal tumors, NOTES (Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery), and issues surrounding quality assurance. He is active in our national endoscopy society, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. I was previously the chair of the Standards of Practice Committee. He recently co-directed the ASGE postgraduate course in San Francisco: 'Endoscopic Oncology: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy and Cancer Management. He is currently the chair of the Quality Assurance Taskforce and serve as a Councilor on the Governing Board. He enjoys music, sailing, skiing and playing with his three daughters.

Dr. Jones is the founding co-chair of the Intercultural Cancer Council, the nation's largest multicultural health policy group focused on minorities, the medically underserved and cancer. He has edited "Minorities & Cancer," one of the few comprehensive textbooks on this subject. He is the founding chair of "Minorities, the Medically Underserved and Cancer," the nation’s largest multicultural conference which provides a forum for exchanging the latest scientific and treatment information. This biennial conference brings together people from all ethnic communities and social strata to share strategies for reducing the incidence of cancer among these populations. Dr. Jones also has spearheaded regional hearings on cancer and the poor for the American Cancer Society. In 2002, Dr. Jones, along with Dr. Armin Weinberg, the other cofounder of the Intercultural Cancer Council, received the Humanitarian Award from the American Cancer Society. From 1989 to 1995, Dr. Jones was co-principal investigator of the National Black Leadership Initiative on Cancer, the first major minority outreach project sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. He has served on the board of directors of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, the National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Prostate Health Council of the American Foundation for Urologic Diseases. Dr. Jones also served on the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable for Environmental Health Sciences, Research and Medicine and on the Environmental Protection Agency's Scientific Advisory Panel. He currently serves on the Advisory Council for The Benjamin Banneker Institute for Science and Technology and the Partnership for Prevention as well as a number of other national advisory committees. In 1991, Dr. Jones chaired the Training Session of the Strategic Fact-Finding Meetings on Minority Health and Training in Biomedical Sciences for the Office of the Associate Director for Research on Minority Health (now the National Center on Minority Health & Health Disparities (NCMHD) at the NIH. He also participated in a 1994 review of the activities of the Office of Research on Minority Health at NIH. A co-author of the congressional resolution that designated the third week in April as "National Minority Cancer Awareness Week," Dr. Jones was honored in May 2000 on the floor of the U. S. House of Representatives for his work addressing health disparities among the underserved. He has served on the Breast Cancer Integration Panel for the Department of Defense and has published over 100 scientific articles on subjects ranging from hormonal carcinogenesis to health policy. His work with estrogen has led to major findings, including the discovery that compounds labeled as weak environmental estrogens may cause adverse effects when exposure occurs during a critical time of development. Because of these results, researchers have begun to rethink when they define environmental estrogens as weak. In founding the Health Disparities, Education, Awareness, Research & Training (HDEART) Consortium, the efforts are now extending globally. As part of this web page, you will find more information on the effort of HDEART and its attempt to address health disparities utilizing the "Biopsychosocial Model".

As senior vice president of research, Dr. Winneker provides leadership for LLS's various research programs with the goal of improving the standard of care and accelerating cures for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. He's responsible for the management of the research staff and for the strategic planning of future innovations in LLS research programs. Dr. Winneker has more than 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical research and development, most recently as assistant vice president at Wyeth Research, where he led the Endocrinology & Reproductive Disorders Division. Dr. Winneker began his pharmaceutical career at the Sterling Winthrop Pharmaceuticals Research Group in Rensselaer, NY, where he was a principal research scientist in the Oncopharmacology Division and group leader in the Endocrinology Division. Before joining LLS, Dr. Winneker worked as an independent consultant for the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry and as a scientific review officer for SRA International.