Lymphoma Research Foundation Welcomes New Scientific Advisory Board Members
New York, NY (PRWEB) July 01, 2015 -- The Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF) – the nation’s largest non-profit organization devoted exclusively to funding innovative lymphoma research and serving the lymphoma community through a comprehensive series of education programs, outreach initiatives and patient services – today announced that they will welcome four new members to their industry leading Scientific Advisory Board. LRF’s volunteer Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), comprised of 45 world-renowned lymphoma experts, guides the Foundation’s research activities, seeking out the most innovative and promising lymphoma research projects for support. In addition to their charter of reviewing grant proposals and making recommendations regarding research priorities and funding to the Foundation Board of Directors, the SAB also evaluates the progress of on-going research projects and guides the strategic direction of the Foundation’s research programs and consortia.
New members of the SAB include: Arash Alizadeh, MD, PhD – Stanford University School of Medicine, Kara Kelly, MD – Columbia University Medical Center, Lindsay Morton, PhD – National Cancer Institute, and Barbara Pro, MD – Thomas Jefferson University. The new members will serve as volunteer advisors under the new leadership of Leo I. Gordon, MD, FACP, Abby and John Friend Professor of Cancer Research and Director, Lymphoma Program, Feinberg School of Medicine and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, who is set to begin his term as Chair on July 1, succeeding John P. Leonard, MD, Richard T. Silver Distinguished Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Weill Cornell Medical College.
“I am honored to serve as Chair of the Lymphoma Research Foundation’s prestigious Scientific Advisory Board, and I couldn’t think of a more exciting way to begin my term than to welcome these four brilliant minds to the SAB,” said Dr. Gordon. “I believe I speak for the new members and the entire SAB when I say that we are honored to continue the work of Dr. Leonard and his colleagues on the board, to eradicate lymphoma and serve those touched by the disease.”
In addition to the new Scientific Advisory Board members, LRF also welcomed the election of Thomas Habermann, MD (Mayo Clinic, Rochester) – as its next Chair Elect. Dr. Habermann is Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, where he is a member of the University of Iowa/Mayo Clinic Lymphoma SPORE grant and was long-time chair of the Mayo Clinic Lymphoma Group. His research interests include clinical trials, clinical epidemiology, SNP analyses, and whole exome studies. Dr. Habermann received his MD from Creighton University before completing his residency and fellowship at Mayo Clinic. Dr. Habermann is a member and past chair of the SAB Nominations Committee, and has participated in a number of LRF patient education programs, including chairing the Minnesota Lymphoma Workshop, and presenting at Ask the Doctor programs, LRF teleconferences and the North American Educational Forum on Lymphoma.
“We are honored to welcome these esteemed experts to the Lymphoma Research Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board,” said Meghan Gutierrez, LRF Chief Executive Officer. “Under Dr. Gordon’s leadership, the Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board will guide our research investments and scientific portfolio. I look forward to working with the entire Scientific Advisory Board to advance our mission to eradicate lymphoma and serve those touched by this disease.”
Additional information regarding the newly-elected Scientific Advisory Board members can be found below:
Arash Alizadeh, MD, PhD (Stanford University School of Medicine)
Dr. Alizadeh is Assistant Professor of Medicine at Stanford, where he is a member of the Stanford Cancer Institute, the Child Health Research Institute, and the Bio-X interdisciplinary initiative. His clinical focus is on various types of lymphoma including CLL, Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia, Burkitt lymphoma, FL, and Marginal Zone B-Cell; his research focus is the use of functional genomics, computational biology, molecular genetics, and mouse models to understand lymphoid tumor progression and improve treatment strategies. Dr. Alizadeh completed his MD and his PhD in biophysics from Stanford, where he also completed his residency and fellowship; he has also been a Faculty Fellow at UCSF and held a two year research scholarship at the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Alizadeh was a faculty member of the 2014 LRF Clinical Research Mentoring Program.
Kara Kelly, MD (Columbia University Medical Center)
Dr. Kelly is a Professor of Pediatrics and Director of both the Integrative Therapies Program for Children with Cancer and the Pediatric Leukemia/Lymphoma program at Columbia University Medical Center, and is also a member of the Hodgkin lymphoma steering committee for the Children’s Oncology Group. Her clinical and research interests include pediatric leukemia and lymphoma, histiocytic disorders, complementary therapies, and late effects of cancer treatment. Dr. Kelly received her MD from SUNY Buffalo before completing a residency and fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She is currently a member of LRF’s Adolescent/Young Adult Lymphoma Initiative Advisory Committee.
Lindsay Morton, PhD (National Cancer Institute)
Dr. Morton is an Investigator in the Radiation Epidemiology Branch of NCI’s Division of Cancer, Epidemiology, and Genetics. Her research interests include cancer epidemiology with a focus on rare outcomes, histologic subtypes, gene-environment interactions and second cancer risk factors, particularly in NHL. She is a member of the InterLymph Consortium, where she is leader of the InterLymph NHL Subtypes Project, an analysis of NHL etiology involving 20 studies and 11 NHL subtypes. Dr. Morton received her PhD in Epidemiology from Yale University before doing a postdoctoral fellowship at NCI’s Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch.
Barbara Pro, MD (Thomas Jefferson University)
Dr. Pro is Professor of Medical Oncology at Thomas Jefferson University. Her research focuses on Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, particularly targeted therapeutic agents, and defining the clinical features of hepatosplenic gamma-delta T cell lymphoma. Dr. Pro received her MD from the University of Rome, Italy before completing a residency at Mount Sinai Medical Center (NY) and a fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center. She is the current Chair of LRF’s Philadelphia Lymphoma Rounds professional education program.
The new members will serve a five year term beginning on July 1, 2015 before being eligible for re-election on June 30, 2020, while Dr. Gordon’s term as Chair will end June 30, 2017 in accordance with the SAB’s governing principles and standards. In addition, Myron S. Czuczman, MD – Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Past Chair Richard I. Fisher, MD –Fox Chase Cancer Center, Temple University School of Medicine, Craig Moskowitz, MD – Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and Past Chair Oliver Press, MD, PhD – Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, University of Washington Medical Center will be retiring from the board as of the new term.
About the Lymphoma Research Foundation
The Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF) is the nation’s largest non-profit organization devoted to funding innovative research and serving the lymphoma community through a comprehensive series of education programs, outreach initiatives and patient services. To date, LRF has awarded more than $56 million in lymphoma-specific research.
For additional information on LRF’s research, education and services, visit lymphoma.org.
Jake DiGregorio, Lymphoma Research Foundation, http://www.lymphoma.org, +1 5084148853, [email protected]
Share this article