Scientific Advisory Board

J. Silvio Gutkind, PhD

J. Silvio Gutkind has pioneered work on the potent oncogenic activity of G proteins and GPCR, which has led to novel strategies for treating and preventing several types of cancer. He has published more than 400 original studies in prestigious journals, and has organized and co-organized multiple national and international meetings and symposia on signal transduction and oral cancer research. Dr. Gutkind received his PhD in pharmacy and biochemistry from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and trained as a post-doctoral fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Cancer Institute. His research team studies the molecular basis of cancer, with emphasis on basic mechanisms of signal transduction and cell growth control and their dysregulation in cancer, with emphasis on oral squamous cell carcinogenesis, AIDS-malignancies, and uveal and cutaneous melanoma. Dr. Gutkind has recently led a multi-institutional effort aimed at exploring the biochemical consequences and clinical benefits of treating newly diagnosed head and neck cancer patients with mTOR inhibitors. As part of a multidisciplinary team at Moores Cancer Center, he is now investigating the effectiveness and mechanism of action of PI3K/mTOR inhibitors for oral cancer prevention and treatment, both as single agents and as part of novel co-targeting strategies, and he is co-leading a new precision prevention medicine trial in oral premalignancy. Read full profile.

Keith Flaherty, M.D.

Keith Flaherty is the Director of Developmental Therapeutics at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. He is internationally known for expertise in clinical and translational research directed against signal transduction pathways in melanoma. Dr. Flaherty earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Yale University and his MD degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He trained in internal medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and completed a fellowship in medical oncology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Flaherty joined the faculty of the School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania as an Assistant Professor of Medicine and member of the Developmental Therapeutics Program in the Abramson Cancer Center in 2002. In 2009, Dr. Flaherty moved to Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School to serve as the Director of Developmental Therapeutics for the MGH Cancer Center. In addition to being principal investigator of numerous first-in-human clinical trials with novel targeted therapies, he is the principal investigator of two national, cooperative group trials. He served as principal investigator for the first-in-human clinical trials of the first prospectively developed selective BRAF inhibitors, RAF-265 and PLX4032. PLX4032, later commercialized as Zelboraf, emerged as the most active single-agent therapy in metastatic melanoma patients, and was approved by the FDA after being tested in a phase III trial of which Dr. Flaherty served as co-principal investigator. Read full profile.

Wafik El-Deiry, M.D., Ph.D., FACP

Wafik El-Deiry is the scientific founder of Oncoceutics. It was in his research laboratory at Pennsylvania State University that the novel discovery was made that ONC201, the company’s lead molecule, shows unexpected activity against human cancer and has a unique mechanism of action that explains broad anti-tumor activity. Dr. El-Deiry became the Deputy Cancer Center Director for Translational Research and Co-Program Leader in Molecular Therapeutics at Fox Chase Cancer Center as of October 2014. He is one of 40 active American Cancer Society Research Professors and is also a Professor of Medical Oncology at Fox Chase. He earned his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Miami School of Medicine, completed an internal medicine residency at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and oncology fellowship training at the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center in Baltimore. Dr. El-Deiry served as Professor of Medicine, Genetics, and Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine from 1994 to 2010, and was co-Leader of the Radiation Biology and Imaging Program at the Abramson Cancer Center from 2004-2010. He served as the Rose Dunlap Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Hematology/Oncology Division at Penn State College of Medicine and the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, where he was Associate Director for Translational Research and Program Leader of Experimental Therapeutics from 2010-2014. He served as Interim Cancer Center Director at Penn State in 2013-2014. Dr. El-Deiry is a member of several national physician honor societies including the Interurban Clinical Club started by Sir William Osler in 1905 (President 2013-2014), the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. He is a practicing physician-scientist who specializes in colorectal cancer treatment and leads several clinical trials for this patient population. In 2014, Dr. El-Deiry was elected as a member of the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars. Read full profile.

Michael Andreeff, M.D., Ph.D.

Michael Andreeff is Professor of Medicine, Chief, Section of Molecular Hematology and Therapy, and holds the Paul and Mary Haas Chair in Genetics at MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is an international leader in the area of malignant hematology and experimental therapeutics. Dr. Andreeff received his medical degree and doctorate from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and additional training and faculty appointments at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York in the Departments of Pathology and Leukemia. Dr. Andreeff has been a pioneer in flow cytometry since 1971, when he established the first flow cytometry laboratory at the University of Heidelberg and organized the first European conference on flow cytometry. In 1977 he joined Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, became head of the Leukemia Cell Biology and Hematopathology flow cytometry laboratory, organized the first Clinical Cytometry Conference in 1986 and the first Molecular Cytogenetics Conference in 1990. He has received uninterrupted NCI funding for over 30 years including as PI of SPORE, P01, R01 and R21 grants in the area of leukemia and lymphoma. He has published over 450 peer-reviewed papers, 5 books and 75 book chapters. Dr. Andreeff’s group has worked extensively on drug resistance in hematopoietic malignancies and breast cancer and developed or co-developed several new therapeutic agents including the novel triterpenoids CDDO and CDDO-Me and Bcl-2, XIAP, survivin, MEK and HDM2 inhibitors. Over the last decade, his group has made major contributions to the understanding of micro-environment-mediated drug resistance and developed strategies to exploit the underlying mechanisms for the treatment of hematopoietic and epithelial malignancies. Read full profile.

Joseph Bertino, M.D.

Joseph R. Bertino is University Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and is the Chief Scientific Officer/Medical Oncologist at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. He has been an American Cancer Society professor since 1976. Dr. Bertino joined the Cancer Institute of New Jersey in 2002 as associate director and was appointed Chief Scientific Officer in 2004. Prior to joining the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Dr. Bertino served as chair of the Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics Program, and member and co-head of the Program in Developmental Therapy and Clinical Investigation at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research. 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. During his academic career, Dr. Bertino has received several awards and honors for his research accomplishments, including the Rosenthal Award from the AACR, the Karnofsky Award from the ASCO, and the ACS Society Medal of Honor. He was founding editor of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Currently, he is associate editor for Cancer Research and Clinical Cancer Research and also the editor of the Encyclopedia of Cancer. Dr. Bertino served as president of ASCO in 1976, and president of the AACR in 1995-96. Dr. Bertino is the author and co-author of more than 400 scientific publications. His research elucidated the mechanisms of methotrexate resistance in experimental models, and in cancer patients, has helped shape optimal methotrexate administration schedules. This has provided a foundation for rational design and development of anticancer agents. His laboratory is studying the relationship between tumor suppressor gene abnormalities and drug resistance, and the use of drug resistant genes to protect bone marrow from chemotherapy toxicity. In addition to this gene therapy research, Dr. Bertino’s lab also is focusing on umbilical cord blood expansion in stem cell research. Read full profile.