Jennifer Grandis

Biography
My research efforts are focused on elucidating and targeting key signaling pathways and genomic alterations in head and neck cancer with the goals of enabling precision medicine studies based on strong studies in relevant models. I have leveraged my access to head and neck cancer (HNC) patients and their biospecimens to optimize translational research studies that include developing novel therapies in the laboratory for clinical application as well as generating and interrogating relevant preclinical models to determine the underlying mechanism of clinical findings. In my institutional roles at the University of Pittsburgh and now at UCSF, I facilitated collaborations between clinicians and investigators with an emphasis of developing a robust research infrastructure to support clinical and translational cancer studies.

Vikram Bajaj

Biography
Vik evaluates and pursues investments at the intersection of technology and life sciences, including in personalized and precision healthcare. Prior to joining Foresite Capital, Vik was the chief scientific officer of GRAIL, a life sciences company working to detect cancer early when it can be cured, and remains on its Scientific Advisory Board. He is also the co-founder and former chief scientific officer of Verily (formerly Google Life Sciences) and served as chair of its Scientific Advisory Board. A former academic principal investigator, Vik retains appointments as associate professor (consulting) at the Stanford School of Medicine, and as an affiliate scientist of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley, for which he serves on the advisory board of the College of Chemistry. He is an advisor to the Department of Defense through the Defense Science Board’s Task Force on Biology. Vik’s research interests lie at the interface of the physical sciences, engineering, and the life sciences. He and his collaborators have developed nanotechnology probes for the early detection and molecular imaging of disease, spectroscopic tools for imaging objects on the nanoscale, microfabricated and miniaturized analytical and imaging systems for point-of-care testing, methods and devices that dramatically enhance the sensitivity and specificity of MRI, and new tools for clinical bioinformatics and integrative systems biology. Aspects of this work have been commercialized through several startups. At GRAIL, Vik led laboratory and data science teams at the forefront of industrial cancer genomics and diagnostics development.

Eric Marton

Biography
Eric N. Marton has 25+ years of experience in healthcare and currently serves as Managing Director at Three-Sixty Advisory Group and Venture Partner at Wavemaker 360 Health. Prior to this, Eric was recruited by private equity firm BlueMountain Capital to serve as Chief Strategy Officer of Verity Health – with six hospital campuses and numerous ambulatory centers. Concurrently, Eric was CEO of the Verity Physician Network and CEO of Verity subsidiary, Surgical Partners of California. Eric’s other past positions include Executive Director at Cedars-Sinai Health System, CEO of the California Heart Center at UCLA, and Managing Partner at Catalyst Venture Group.

Marty Tenenbaum

Biography
Marty Tenenbaum is a renowned computer scientist, Internet entrepreneur and cancer warrior. He is the Founder and Chairman of Cancer Commons, a non-profit network of physicians, scientists, and patients that Newsweek dubbed the “LinkedIn of Cancer.” He began his career in AI, leading elite research groups at SRI International and Schlumberger Ltd. Later, as an Internet commerce pioneer, he founded or co-founded five successful startups. Dr. Tenenbaum is a fellow and former board member of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, a former Director of Commerce One, the Public Library of Science (PLoS) and Patients Like Me, and a former consulting professor of Computer Science at Stanford. He currently serves as a Director of CommerceNet and Efficient Finance. Dr. Tenenbaum holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from MIT, and a Ph.D. from Stanford, and has received numerous awards for his contributions to AI and his work as a patient advocate.

Richard Wender

Biography
Richard C. Wender, MD, chief cancer control officer of the American Cancer Society, helps lead the only comprehensive cancer control organization in the world. He drives the effort to transform the face of cancer here and around the globe by developing strategies for access to care, patient navigation, and health equity. Prior to joining the Society’s staff in 2013, he provided extensive volunteer leadership at the organization’s state and local levels. In 2006, he was elected national president of the Society, becoming the first primary care physician to serve in this capacity. Dr. Wender worked for more than three decades as a family physician in the department of family and community medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. From 2002 until 2013, he served as alumni professor and chair of the department. Dr. Wender has led numerous initiatives designed to improve preventive care and chronic disease management. He currently serves as chair of the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable.

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Talk
Achieving Equity In Cancer Care
Although cancer mortality rates have fallen by 27% since they peaked in 1991, progress has not been experienced equally. Substantial disparities can be seen based on many parameters: income, educational attainment, neighborhood, nationality, and race are major determinants of cancer outcomes. The ACS will present a framework for tacking these social determinants of health in the pursuit of health equity.

Craig H Lipset

Biography
Craig Lipset is a recognized leader at the forefront of innovation in clinical research and medicine development. He is an advisor to technology and biopharmaceutical companies, leading universities, and the venture community, bringing vision and driving action at the intersection of research, digital solutions, and patient engagement. Craig was the Head of Clinical Innovation and Venture Partner at Pfizer, on the founding Operations Committee for TransCelerate Biopharma, and on the founding management teams for two successful startup ventures. During that time, Craig designed and launched multiple industry firsts -- from the first fully-virtual clinical trial for a new medicine to the first returning of results and data to research participants. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research, the MedStar Health Research Institute, and the People-Centered Research Foundation (the central office for PCORnet), as well as the Editorial Board for Therapeutic Innovation & Regulatory Science.

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Talk
Patient Participation And Engagement In Clinical Trials
The role of the patient in clinical trials has seen tremendous change over the last decade, and that change is not complete. From serving as a critical voice during study design and planning to ensuring results and learnings reach the participant, research sponsors are seeking to engage patients throughout trial journey.

Clifford Hudis

Biography
Dr. Hudis also serves as the CEO of its Conquer Cancer Foundation and the Chairman of the Board of Governors of ASCO’s CancerLinQ. Dr. Hudis previously served in a variety of roles at ASCO, including as President during the Society’s 50th anniversary year (2013-14). Before transitioning full-time to ASCO, he was the Chief of the Breast Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City, where he was also Professor of Medicine at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. As CEO of ASCO, Dr. Hudis’ focus is on education, research and promotion of the highest quality of care by the Society’s nearly 45,000 members. Key initiatives include the acceleration of CancerLinQ, ASCO’s focused effort to increase insights and learning from the rapidly accumulating electronic records of routine care provided by clinicians.

Matt De Silva

Biography
Matt cofounder Notable Labs in 2014. Currently his responsibilities include leading the overall vision and strategy, partnerships, recruiting, and any other company-related matters. Previously he was as a portfolio manager and trader at Clarium Capital, a global macro hedge fund. Matt started his career on a foreign exchange and interest rate sales and trading desk at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Matt received his BA magna cum laude in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University where he captained the cross country team and ran the 1,500 and 5,000 meter distance for the Big Red track team.

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Talk
Designing Clinical Trials For Patients Not Drugs
Randomized controlled clinical trials have changed little since their inception. Bayesian statistical methods, technologies that stratify patients, and initial success in breast cancer should make adaptive trials more common. This talk will cover how adaptive trials benefit patients by making it more likely they receive an effective drug and benefit drug companies by reducing approval time and cost.

Gary Palmer

Biography
Dr. Gary Palmer is responsible for leading clinical activities for the company and supporting external collaborations and strategic partnerships at Tempus. Dr. Palmer most recently served as the Chief Medical Officer for NantHealth. Prior to his time there he served as Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs and Commercial Development at Foundation Medicine, where he helped launch the FoundationOne assay. Earlier in his career, Dr. Palmer served as the Chief of Medical Oncology at Mercy Health System, Sacramento and head of their Oncology Service Line. Prior to that he was as an Associate Professor of Medicine at University of California Davis Cancer Center. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, his medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine and his masters of public health from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.

Daniel Simon

Biography
Daniel is responsible for building Guardant’s partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies using the Digital Sequencing technology platform. Daniel brings more than a decade of experience in the life sciences industry across business development, strategy, and operations. Previously, Daniel served in roles at MyoKardia, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, McKinsey & Company, and Genentech. He holds an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and an MA Hons. in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge.

Maurie Markman

Biography
For over 30 years Dr. Markman has been engaged in clinical research in the area of gynecologic malignancies. Dr. Markman has been the primary author or co-author on over 1,000 published peer-reviewed manuscripts, reviews, book chapters, editorials or abstracts, and has written, edited or co-edited 23 books on various topics in the management of malignant disease. In 2011, Dr. Markman received the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Statesman Award, which recognizes individual members who have shown extraordinary volunteer service, dedication and commitment to ASCO, their hospital community and the patients they serve for at least 20 years. In May, 2018, Dr. Markman was named by OncLive® to an elite group of the 2018 Giants of Cancer Care® recognition program which celebrates pioneers, innovators and leaders who have made remarkable achievements in oncology research and clinical practice. Dr. Markman was selected in recognition of his contributions in gynecologic cancers.

Conrad Vial

Biography
Dr. Vial is a practicing cardiac surgeon who also serves as the Chief Physician Executive of Operations for Sutter Health and sits on the system’s Operations Leadership Team (OLT), chaired by Sutter Health’s Chief Operating Officer. In his leadership role, Dr Vial acts as a principal author of clinical strategy deployment, responsible for unifying clinical program building, business development, and operational efficiency across the continuum of care. An important focus of his work is the extension of ongoing specialty service line integration efforts, informing not only operations but also analytics and innovation through interdisciplinary clinical leadership platforms. From the clinical practice perspective, Dr. Vial is particularly interested in structural heart disease, focusing on minimally invasive cardiothoracic surgery and catheter-based valve repair/replacement. He received his bachelor’s degree and medical doctorate from Stanford University. In addition, Dr. Vial earned a master’s of philosophy at Cambridge University in England, while also completing a postdoctoral fellowship in transplant immunology. He received his general surgical and cardiothoracic surgical training at Stanford University Medical Center.

Farid Vij

Biography
Farid Vij is Vice President of Corporate Development at Ciitizen where he drives the company’s go-to-market strategy and engagements with partners including patient advocacy organizations, providers and biotech/biopharma. Farid’s focus is on creating a scalable model that allows advocacy partners and patients to garner value through sharing their health data yet retaining control of it at all times. He believes there is a sustainable way to drive patient-driven research by ensuring patients always gain benefit through their participation. Prior to Ciitizen, Farid was Global Head of Sales & Business Development at ZL Technologies where he led the development and launch of ZL’s Big Data cloud business to support legal compliance with GDPR and built a global sales and marketing organization across four regions. Farid received a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

June Wasser

Biography
June Wasser currently serves as a consultant to organizations on health science policy and engagement. As former Executive Director of the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA she provided leadership for the Foundation’s development of initiatives intended to foster advances in regulatory science in support of the FDA’s mission. Ms. Wasser built strategic relationships throughout the public and private sectors with the goal of developing a portfolio of unique programs that complement and enhance the priorities and activities of the FDA such as: Innovations in Medical Evidence Development and Surveillance which serves to advance the science necessary to support post-market evidence generation on regulated products and an Expanded Access Navigator that aims to increase knowledge around the use of patient access to investigational drugs for patients facing life-threatening illnesses. She also created the Innovations in Regulatory Science Awards program to recognize leaders in the regulatory field.

Erika Vial Monteverdi

Biography
Erika joined Cancer Commons in 2016 as one of Silicon Valley’s only nonprofits focused on serving cancer patients globally through aligning incentives around the patient to produce better outcomes. In Erika’s role as Executive Director, she is responsible for overseeing the growth of Cancer Commons and operations. Today, Cancer Commons is one of the leading cancer knowledge networks. The network brings together the world’s top cancer experts, advisors, pharma, oncologists and super-patient groups all focused on delivering the best treatment option to each person with cancer, at scale globally. Before joining Cancer Commons, Erika took time to start a family here in the Bay Area after working abroad in Europe as a strategic management consultant in the Strategic Information Technology Practice in AT Kearney. She then moved into a leadership role with Wunderman, a global digital agency and CRM company, headquartered in New York with 200 offices in 70 markets. Erika earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of California San Diego where she double majored in Political Science and Economics and received her International MBA from SDA Bocconi in Milan, Italy, one of the most prestigious business schools in the world. Erika is fluent in three languages, a mother of three, and is committed to helping the lives of others while making an impact on the organizations she serves.

Mika Newton

Biography
Mika has more than 20 years of commercial strategy and leadership experience in life sciences, with a focus on novel technologies. Over the last 10 years Mika has concentrated on evidence-based medicine and tools to transform healthcare and clinical development. Before joining xCures he was the Chief Commercial Officer of Doctor Evidence, LLC. Prior to Doctor Evidence he was the General Manager of Clinical Development Services at diaDexus, SVP of Client and Market Development at Evidera, VP of Sales and Marketing at Archimedes, and held sales management and sales operations roles at Quintiles, Invitrogen and Tripos.

Conan Kinsey

Biography
Dr. Kinsey’s primary clinical responsibilities are in Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology. He initially set out on the path to become a physician-scientist by conducting undergraduate research at Bucknell University studying Osteosarcoma. During his Medical Scientist Training Program training at the University of Rochester he was mentored by Hartmut K. Land PhD investigating the role of PLAC8 in autophagy and gastrointestinal malignancies. The major emphasis of his recent research has been to discover new therapeutic opportunities for pancreatic cancer with the combination of MAP Kinase signaling inhibition and autophagy inhibition. This has resulted in two clinical trials targeting MEK/ERK and autophagy in RAS mutated gastrointestinal malignancies of which Dr. Kinsey is the Primary Investigator.

Carla Grandori

Biography
Dr. Carla Grandori is an internationally recognized physician-scientist who pioneered new technologies to develop the next generation of cancer therapeutics tailored to each individual’s tumor. Dr. Grandori’s entrepreneurial experience and network drove the growth of SEngine Precision Medicine. She has recruited a world-class team including a Nobel Prize Laureate and a Pulitzer Prize-winning oncologist. Dr. Grandori raised seed and Series A funding for SEngine Precision Medicine to enable CLIA certification for SEngine’s high-throughput test, the PARIS® assay, guiding cancer treatment options. This funding enables the development of therapies targeting previously undruggable oncogenes including MYC, KRAS and TP53. The oncology startup is accelerating drug discovery and functional precision medicine to transform cancer care. Dr. Grandori received her MD from the University of Rome and Ph.D. from the Rockefeller University in New York. The majority of her scientific career was at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

James M Snyder

Biography
Dr. Snyder is a Neuro-Oncologist at the Hermelin Brain Tumor Center of Henry Ford Health System dedicated to improving access to innovative clinical trials and comprehensive multidisciplinary care. Dr. Snyder specializes in the care of people with cancer or tumors involving the nervous system. He is a leader in the brain, spine, and molecular tumor boards for the health system. Dr. Snyder is active in all phases of clinical trials as well as translational research, including: epigenomics, radiomics, and clinical data curation to drive real-world-evidence and precision medicine initiatives. Dr. Snyder has been recognized for his work addressing access to care barriers for the neuro-oncology community through virtual connectivity and a disease navigation virtual tumor board platform. First and foremost, Dr. Snyder is a committed advocate for his patients, their families, and the neuro-oncology community, driving patient-centric innovation and progress.

Harvey Cohen

Biography
Harvey J. Cohen is the Deborah E. Addicott – John A. Kriewall and Betsy A. Haehl Family Professor in Pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine, and the Katie and Paul Dougherty Medical Director of Palliative Care Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. Dr. Cohen was previously Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Stanford University, where he was the Arline and Pete Harman Professor, and the Adalyn Jay Chief of Staff at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. Dr. Cohen obtained both his MD and Ph.D. from Duke University and was a pediatric intern at the Children’s Hospital in Boston. He completed a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Children’s Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and was named assistant then associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

Margaret McCusker

Biography
Margaret McCusker is a board-certified preventive medicine physician who serves as a senior medical director at Flatiron Health. Margaret leverages her training and experience to explore how real-world evidence can be used to complement traditional evidence generation strategies both within the life sciences industry and in public health. Prior to joining Flatiron Health, Margaret worked for Roche, within both the pharmaceutical and diagnostics divisions. Before Roche, she was a medical officer with the California Department of Public Health, where she focused on cancer prevention and control programs, including the California Cancer Registry. Margaret received her undergraduate degree in biology from Boston University and MD from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She completed a preventive medicine residency at the University of Maryland, where she also earned an MS in epidemiology and preventive medicine. After residency, Margaret served as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and was stationed at the Texas Department of Health.