Strategic Scientific Advisory Council (SSAC)

Anna Barker, PhD

Dr. Anna Barker was former Deputy Director for Strategic Scientific Initiatives at the National Cancer Institute. At the NCI, Barker developed a number of strategic programs focused on the development of knowledge networks that emphasized innovation, publicly available data, team science, and convergence of the biological and physical sciences. Some of the programs planned and developed under her leadership included: The Cancer Genome Atlas, co-developed with the National Human Genome Research Institute to identify all genomic and molecular changes in cancer; the Nanotechnology Alliance for Cancer, a network dedicated to developing and applying nanotechnologies; and the Physical Sciences Oncology Centers that connects physicists, mathematicians, engineers and cancer scientists dedicated to developing a fundamental understanding of cancer.

Dr. Barker completed her Ph.D. at the Ohio State University, where she trained in immunology and microbiology. Her research interests include experimental therapeutics, tumor immunology, and free-radical biochemistry in cancer etiology, prevention, and treatment.

Dr. Barker has a long history in the performance and management of biomedical research, technology transfer, development and product commercialization in the nonprofit and private sectors. Her research interests have been primarily in drug discovery, development, and immunotherapy development. Prior to entering the biotechnology sector, she was a senior executive at Battelle Memorial Institute.

In the private sector, she co-founded and served as the chief executive officer of a public biotechnology therapeutics development company, and subsequently founded and led a private company dedicated to the transfer and deployment of technologies to prevent and treat cancer. She has received a number of awards for her volunteer and philanthropic activities, including a fellowship in basic science from the American Association of Cancer Research.

Dr. Barker was a co-recipient of the 2009 National Brain Tumor Society Research Excellence Award for her work on the The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA).

Mitchel S. Berger MD, FACS, FAANS

Dr. Mitchel S. Berger, Chair of Neurological Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco, is a nationally recognized expert in treating brain and spinal cord tumors, as well as tumor-related epilepsy in adults and children. He is also a specialist in brain mapping techniques, used to identify areas of motor, sensory, and language function during surgery, and an expert in the use of the Gamma Knife for tumor treatment. He is co-Director of the Adult Brain Tumor Surgery Program, Director of the Brain Tumor Research Center, Director of the Center for Neurological Injury and Repair, and Director of the Adult Hydrocephalus and Shunt Program. Dr. Berger also practices in the Neuro-Oncology Program and the Radiosurgery Program.

Dr. Berger earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard in 1975 and a medical degree from the University of Miami School of Medicine in 1979. He completed an internship and residency at UCSF and was awarded a clinical fellowship in neuro-oncology by the American Cancer Society and a research fellowship with the Brain Tumor Research Center. He completed further fellowship training in neuro-oncology at UCSF and in pediatric neurosurgery at the Hospital for Sick Children of the University of Toronto, Canada. His professional activities include his election to the Board of Directors of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and his appointment to the American Board of Neurological Surgeons. Dr. Berger is board certified in neurosurgery.

His current research interests involve identifying molecular markers in gliomas as correlates of tumor progression and prognosis. This is done in conjunction with the Molecular Marker Core of the BTRC. Dr. Berger also works with Dr. Krys Bankiewicz to test small molecule inhibitors in brain tumors using the drug delivery technique convection enhanced delivery. In addition, he is a co-Investigator with Dr. John Park in UCSF’s Comprehensive Cancer Center to develop immunoliposome-directed targeted therapy for treating gliomas that express EGF receptors. Other collaborations include functional mapping localization of language pathways in the brain with Dr. Robert Knight and the Cognitive Neuroscience Graduate Program at UC Berkeley. Dr. Berger is currently the Principal Investigator of UCSF’s SPORE Brain Tumor Program, funded by the National Cancer Institute and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Lewis Cantley, PhD

Lewis Cantley, Ph.D., has made significant advances in cancer research stemming from his discovery of the signaling pathway phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) in 1984. The author of more than 400 original papers, 50 book chapters and review articles, Dr. Cantley is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Science, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, and the European life sciences academy EMBO. He graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in chemistry from West Virginia Wesleyan College (1971) and obtained a Ph.D. in biophysical chemistry from Cornell University (1975). He conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard University, where he was appointed assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in 1978. He became a professor of physiology at Tufts University in 1985, but returned to Harvard Medical School as professor of cell biology in 1992. He became chief of Harvard’s new Division of Signal Transduction, and a founding member of its Department of Systems Biology in 2002. In 2007, he was appointed director of the Beth Israel Deaconess Cancer Center. He joined Weill Cornell Medicine as the Meyer Director of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center in 2012. Among his accolades are the ASBMB Avanti Award for Lipid Research (1998); the Heinrich Wieland Preis for Lipid Research (2000); the Caledonian Prize from the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2002); the Pezcoller Foundation–AACR International Award for Cancer Research (2005); the Rolf Luft Award for Diabetes and Endocrinology Research from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm (2009); the Pasarow Prize for Cancer Research (2011); the Breakthrough in Life Sciences Prize (2013); the Jacobaeus Prize for Diabetes Research from the Karolinska Institute (2013); the AACR Princess Takamatsu Memorial Lectureship (2015); the Ross Prize in Molecular Medicine (2015); the Canada Gairdner International Award (2015); the AACI Distinguished Scientist Award (2015); the Hope Funds Award of Excellence in Basic Science (2016); the Wolf Prize (2016); and the NCI Outstanding Investigator Award (2016).

Webster Cavenee, PhD

Dr. Webster Cavenee is a pioneer in our understanding of the role that hereditary predisposition plays into the development of cancer. In 1991 he became Director of Ludwig Cancer Research, San Diego and Distinguished Professor at the University of California, San Diego.

Dr. Cavenee received his PhD with honors in 1977 from the University of Kansas Medical School and then did postdoctoral work at the Jackson Laboratory, MIT, and the University of Utah. He held faculty positions at the University of Cincinnati and McGill University.

Dr. Cavenee is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a past-President of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, a Fellow for the National Foundation for Cancer Research, and a Fellow of the International Union Against Cancer. He is on the editorial boards of several journals and has served on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, as well as numerous advisory boards for philanthropic foundations (including the National Brain Tumor Society and the Brain Tumor Funders Collaborative) and biotechnology companies.

His work on the genetic basis of cancer predisposition and progression comprises more than 300 publications and has been recognized with more than 80 honors and awards, most notably the Rhoads Award of AACR, the Charles S. Mott Prize of the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, and the Albert Szent Gyorgyi Award. His work in GBM research, including with the Defeat GBM Research Collaborative earned him AACR’s 2014 Margaret Foti Award for Leadership and Extraordinary Achievements in cancer research.

William C. Hahn, MD, PhD

Dr. William C. Hahn is a medical oncologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), and a Senior Associate Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. He directs the Center for Cancer Genome Discovery at DFCI. He is known for his cancer biology expertise and for his leadership role in the Broad Institute RNAi activities, where he serves as co-PI of the RNAi Consortium (TRC), and has led the Center’s efforts in discovering essential kinase in cancer using RNAi.

Dr. Hahn received his MD and PhD from Harvard Medical School in 1994. He then completed clinical training in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and medical oncology at DFCI. He conducted his postdoctoral studies with Dr. Robert Weinberg at the Whitehead Institute and joined the faculty of DFCI and Harvard Medical School in 2001. He became Board Certified in internal medicine in 1997, followed by medical oncology in 2000. Dr. Hahn completed his Fellowship at Dana-Farber/Partners CancerCare and his Residency at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Hahn has been the recipient of many honors and awards including a Harvard National Scholarship, a Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Cancer Research Fund Fellowship, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Pre- and Postdoctoral Fellowships, a Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Clinical Scientist Development Award, the 2000 Wilson S. Stone Award from MD Anderson Cancer Center for outstanding research in cancer, a Kimmel Scholar Award, and the Howard Temin Award from the National Cancer Institute. In 2005, Dr. Hahn was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation.

W. K. Alfred Yung, MD

Professor W.K. Alfred Yung, MD, received his undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in 1971, graduating summa cum laude. For his medical training, he attended the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and received his MD degree in 1975. Internship and residency training followed at the University of California, San Diego from 1975-1978, and chief residency and fellowship at Cornell University School of Medicine and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center from 1978-1981. Dr. Yung currently holds the title of Professor of Neuro-Oncology and Cancer Biology, as well as the Margaret and Ben Love Chair of Clinical Cancer Care at MD Anderson Cancer Center. He has served as Chair of the Department of Neuro-Oncology since 1999 and leads MD Anderson’s Brain Tumor SPORE. He is also Professor of Neurology at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston Medical School and serves on the faculty of the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Houston. Dr. Yung is the former Editor-in-Chief of Neuro-Oncology, co-Chair of NCI’s Brain Malignancies Steering Committee, and has been named as one of the Best Doctors in America every year from 1992 to the present.

His research program at MD Anderson Cancer Center spans more than two decades and includes basic, translational, and clinical research. Along with three years of continuous funding by NCI, his work has also been funded by foundations and industry grants. His primary research interest focuses on development of molecular therapeutic strategies targeting the EGFR and PTEN/PI3 kinase pathways and the angiogenic regulatory mechanisms that are crucial to human glioma genesis and progression. The translational research effort has developed several adenoviral vectors that are capable of down-regulating TGF-α and VEGF production and angiogenesis in glioma cells. More recently, his laboratory has focused on investigating the biological activity of a series of new PTEN/PI3K pathway inhibitors in glioblastoma in vitro and in vivo models. Another research project investigates the subcellular localization of the tumor suppressor MMAC/PTEN gene and its nuclear signaling pathway.

Parallel with Dr. Yung’s laboratory research focus, is his work as principal investigator on the NCI-sponsored Brain Tumor Consortium phase I and II trials of several newly developed agents and novel combinations of targeted inhibitors designed to attack multiple involved pathways of cancer.