Josh Bell, PhD
Director, Computational Biology, Tempus Labs
Josh Bell, PhD
Director, Computational Biology, Tempus Labs
Josh Bell serves as Director of Translational Science, where he leads scientific collaborations with biotech and pharma partners. Prior to Tempus, Josh completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago studying hematological cancers. He received his PhD in Genetics from Emory University researching epigenetic therapy in breast cancer, and his bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from the University of Georgia.
Rebecca Brandes, MS
Oncology Market Development, Companion Diagnostics, Agilent Technologies
Rebecca Brandes, MS
Oncology Market Development, Companion Diagnostics, Agilent Technologies
Rebecca Brandes background includes developing and submitting products for regulation, developing integrated workflows for routine testing and business development for companion diagnostics with an emphasis on Oncology. Currently she is a member of the Clinical Workflow Sales Team at Agilent. As a newly formed team, the market development managers are charged with the objective to help with the education and consultation on advanced genomic technologies in routine pathology. This includes expertise in genomic technologies, clinical laboratory workflows, current testing methodologies and paradigms and genetics. Rebecca joined Agilent in July of 2014 bringing more than 18 years of expertise gained from leading companies in life sciences, diagnostics and routine clinical testing as Director of Molecular Pathology and Cancer Genetics. She received Bachelor’s Degrees from High Point University in Biology, Biochemistry and Anthropology and a Master’s Degree in Molecular Genetics from Wake Forest University. Prior to joining QIAGEN, Asuragen, Affymetrix and Agilent to lead their marketing programs, Rebecca spent several years running a high-throughput, CLIA-CAP clinical molecular oncology laboratory for bone marrow tissue typing for transplant and registry build.
Howard A. “Skip” Burris III, MD, FASCO, FACP
Chief Medical Officer, Sarah Cannon Research Institute
Howard A. “Skip” Burris III, MD, FASCO, FACP
Chief Medical Officer, Sarah Cannon Research Institute
Howard A. “Skip” Burris III, MD, FASCO, FACP serves as president and chief medical officer of Sarah Cannon, as well as the executive director, drug development for Sarah Cannon Research Institute. He is an associate of Tennessee Oncology, PLLC, where he practices medical oncology.
Dr. Burris’ clinical research career has focused on the development of new cancer agents with an emphasis on first–in–human therapies, having led the trials of many novel antibodies, small molecules, and chemotherapies now FDA approved. In 1997, he established in Nashville the first community–based early phase drug development program, which grew into the Sarah Cannon Research Institute. He has authored over 400 publications and 700 abstracts.
Dr. Burris served as president of ASCO in 2019-2020 and is serving as Chair of the Board for the 2020-2021 term. He also currently serves on the Board of ASCO’s Conquer Cancer Foundation. Additionally in 2014, Dr. Burris was selected by his peers as a Giant of Cancer Care for his achievements in drug development.
Dr. Burris completed his undergraduate education at the United States Military Academy at West Point, his medical degree at the University of South Alabama, and his internal medicine residency and oncology fellowship at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. While in Texas, he also served as the Director of Clinical Research at The Institute for Drug Development of the Cancer Therapy and Research Center and The University of Texas Health Science Center. He attained the rank of lieutenant colonel in the US Army, and among his decorations, he was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster for his service in Operation Joint Endeavor.
Carlee Hemphill, MS
Lead Scientist, LabCorp Drug Development
Carlee Hemphill, MS
Lead Scientist, LabCorp Drug Development
Carlee is a Lead Scientist I at the Covance CDx laboratory in RTP, NC with a background in histology, anatomical pathology and bioinformatics. Her current role is the development of IHC or multiplex immuno florescence assays, or computational pathology algorithms, for clients interested in a complementary or companion diagnostic testing assay for their immuo-oncology pharmaceutical drug development pipeline.
Pavan Kumar, PhD
Vice President, Translation, Kronos Bio
Pavan Kumar, PhD
Vice President, Translation, Kronos Bio
Pavan Kumar serves as Vice President of Translational Development at Kronos Bio. Before joining Kronos Bio, Pavan led the Translational Sciences function at 28-7 Therapeutics focusing on RNA binding proteins and their role in Cancer. Before that, he built and led the Biomarkers and Companion Diagnostics (CDx) department at H3 Biomedicine, focusing on developing and executing a biomarker strategy for targeted therapies across multiple hematological and solid tumor indications. Other experiences include clinical assay development and biomarker discovery at Eisai Pharmaceuticals and Somagenics. Pavan received a Ph.D. from University of California, Davis with a designated emphasis in Biotechnology.
Razelle Kurzrock, MD
Chief Medical Advisor & Co-founder, CureMatch; Formerly Head of Personalized Cancer Therapy, Moores Cancer Center, UCSD
Razelle Kurzrock, MD
Co-Founder and Chief Medical Advisor, CureMatch; Clinical Trials Committee Chair, Worldwide Innovative Network (WIN) for Personalized Cancer Therapy; Formerly Head of Personalized Cancer Therapy, Moores Cancer Center, UCSD
Dr. Razelle Kurzrock is a board-certified medical oncologist, practicing physician, researcher, and a co-Founder of CureMatch. With her clinical expertise, Dr. Kurzrock has led the evolution of the CureMatch Decision Support System for Precision Medicine that supports the doctor with therapeutic options based on the molecular profile of the patient.
She is also known for developing one of the largest and best-known Phase I clinical trial programs in the United States while at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas. Currently, Dr. Kurzrock is the Clinical Trials Committee Chair for the Worldwide Innovative Network (WIN) for Personalized Cancer Therapy, and most recently led UCSD’s Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy at the Moores Cancer Center. She also served as a Distinguished Professor of Medicine/Associate Director of Clinical Science at the UCSD School of Medicine. A renowned oncologist and expert speaker, Dr. Kurzrock and has been published in over 850 scientific papers in the peer reviewed literature.
Charles Lin, PhD
Senior Vice President, Biology, Kronos Bio
Charles Lin, PhD
Senior Vice President, Biology, Kronos Bio
Charles Lin serves as Senior Vice President of Biology at Kronos Bio. Before joining Kronos Bio, Charles was a Pew-Stewart Scholar for Cancer Research, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, and the Co-Director of the Therapeutic Innovation Center at Baylor College of Medicine. His prior research studied cancer through the lens of gene control — the way in which genes in the genome are selectively and programmatically turned on and off. He is a leader in the study of the “MYC” transcription factor, the most commonly amplified human oncogene, and helped uncover its role as a general regulator of gene expression. Through his work he has also helped describe super enhancers, control regions of the genome that activate oncogenes. He has helped advance small molecule inhibitors of transcription towards the clinic in multiple cancers as a therapeutic approach to target cancers with altered gene control. Charles received his Ph.D. in Computational and Systems Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he trained with Dr. Richard Young and Dr. Christopher Burge. He completed his academic training with Dr. James Bradner at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in the chemical biology program.
Mike Montalto, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer, PathAI
Mike Montalto, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer, PathAI
Mike Montalto of PathAI has experience developing digital pathology diagnostic products and driving cutting-edge translational research in a large biopharmaceutical setting. Mike joined PathAI in November 2019 to use AI-powered pathology to support the development of new therapies and diagnostics for patients.
Prior to joining PathAI, Mike led the majority of clinical biomarker central laboratories in Translational Medicine at Bristol-Myers Squibb including translational and digital pathology, immunohistochemistry, clinical genomics, clinical flow cytometry, pre-clinical and clinical non-invasive imaging, biorepository and clinical biomarker sample operations in support of all therapeutic areas for global clinical trials, precision medicine, and companion diagnostics development. Prior to BMS, Montalto was a co-founder and executive of Omnyx, LLC, a joint venture of GE Healthcare and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center that commercialized diagnostic pathology imaging and software products. Prior to this, Montalto was the Molecular Imaging and Diagnostics Advanced Technology Leader at General Electric, where he was a lead inventor of MultiOmyx™, a proprietary pathology-based multiplexing technology for biomarker discovery.
Throughout his career, Mike had a passion for advancing imaging technologies toward unmet scientific and medical needs in a commercial setting to be able to impact patients.
Mike has served as a member of NIH study sections for in vivo molecular imaging centers, designed and led global clinical trials for the registration of digital pathology devices and served as a board member and president of the Digital Pathology Association (DPA). Under his leadership, the DPA successfully collaborated with the FDA to establish industry wide regulatory guidance and clinical trial designs for the clinical use of digital pathology devices. He currently serves on the DPA executive committee as immediate past-president, and on the DPA Foundation’s board of directors. Dr. Montalto earned his PhD in tumor biology from Albany Medical College and received his post-doctoral training in anti-inflammatory drug discovery and whole animal physiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School.
Omar Perez, PhD, RAC
Head, Medical Diagnostic Strategy, AstraZeneca
Omar Perez, PhD, RAC
Head, Medical Diagnostic Strategy, US Medical Affairs, AstraZeneca
Omar Perez is the Head of Medical Diagnostics, US Medical Affairs Oncology at Astrazeneca. Dr. Perez has over 17 years designing, deploying, and leading high-visibility oncology initiatives supporting global companion diagnostic developments, strategic partnerships and commercialization opportunities.
Before joining Astrazeneca, he oversaw the global CDx developments for the GSK oncology portfolio, leading to diagnostic products for niraparib and dostarlimab. During his time at Pfizer, he led global CDx activities supporting the drug approvals of crizotinib, lorlatinib, dacomitinib talazoparib and inotuzomab. Notably, he led the first FDA approved NGS product for multiple targeted agents and helped establish the Center for Precision Medicine in LATAM to support Pfizer oncology products.
Dr. Perez’s background includes roles in biotech and diagnostic companies, including co-founding Nodality, a diagnostic company focused on hematological malignancies. He is an inventor of the multiparametric phospho-proteomic flow technologies and an author of 37 publications and 35 patents.
Dr. Perez received his doctorate in Molecular Pharmacology from Stanford University. He holds a B.A in both Molecular Biology and Philosophy and Chemistry degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. He received an executive education certificate in management and leadership at the MIT Sloan School of Management and has a Regulatory Affairs Certification.
Bryce Portier, MD, PhD
Medical Director, Head of Medical Affairs, Agilent Technologies
Bryce Portier, MD, PhD
Medical Director, Head of Medical Affairs, Agilent Technologies
Dr. Portier is a pathologist with experience in both academic practice and the diagnostic industry.
Dr. Portier is currently the Enterprise Medical Director and Head of Medical Affairs for Agilent. Previously, he served as Sr. Director of Medical Affairs for Companion Diagnostics (CDx) at Roche/Ventana based out of Tucson, Arizona. Prior to that, Dr. Portier was a practicing pathologist at one of the largest hospital systems in Houston, Texas. He held a dual academic appointment as both Director of molecular diagnostics laboratory and as a principal investigator investigating utility of aptamers as diagnostics in breast cancer.
Dr. Portier is a professional licensed physician with expertise in molecular and genetic pathology as well as an expert in strategic medical launch partnerships between diagnostic / pharma.