Nelson Alexander, PhD
Research Leader, Roche Sequencing Solutions
Nelson Alexander, PhD
Research Leader, Roche Sequencing Solutions
Nelson Alexander received his Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from the University of Arizona, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at Vanderbilt University. Looking to have a more direct impact on patient care, he joined Roche Diagnostics in 2007 where he has held multiple roles in R&D, as well as Research & Early Development. Nelson became very interested in the interface between tumor heterogeneity and sampling bias. He currently leads a research team within Roche Diagnostics that is pioneering a new sampling process that enables the evaluation and quantification of tumor diversity at the genomic, transcriptomic, and cellular levels from entire solid tumors.
Steve Anderson, PhD
Chief Science Officer, Covance; Senior Vice President, LabCorp Drug Development
Steve Anderson, PhD
Chief Science Officer, Covance; Senior Vice President, LabCorp Drug Development
Dr Anderson is a senior vice president at Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp), and the Chief Scientific Officer for the Covance Drug Development business of LabCorp. He has been with the LabCorp organization for 26 years and has held a variety of positions including director of operations for ViroMed Laboratories, director of operations for Monogram Biosciences, director of operations for the Center for Molecular Biology and Pathology, director of operations for Integrated Oncology and Genetics, national director of Research and Development, and global head of LabCorp Clinical Trials. Dr Anderson is a member of a variety of professional societies including the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the Association for Molecular Pathology.
Dr Anderson’s research interests are in the development and applications for molecular diagnostics, including several examples of companion diagnostics and pharmacogenomics assays. He has authored more than 175 articles and abstracts published in such journals as Genetics, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Clinical Chemistry, the Journal of Infectious Disease, Human Pathology, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Oncogene, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Clinical Cancer Research, Breast Cancer Research, BMC Cancer, the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Investigation and Expert Reviews in Molecular Diagnostics.
He has a PhD in genetics from Iowa State University, and was an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow at the Waksman Institute of Rutgers University.
R. Michael Barlow
Senior Advisor, ADVI
R. Michael Barlow
Senior Advisor, ADVI
Michael Barlow is the Former Palmetto MolDx Vice President. He advises ADVI clients on diagnostics and personalized medicine issues leveraging his experience in both the provider and payer environments.
Suzanne Belinson, PhD, MPH
Vice President, Commercial Markets, Tempus
Suzanne Belinson, PhD, MPH
Vice President, Commercial Markets, Tempus
In her current role, Suzanne focuses on commercial strategy and growth for Tempus developing and executing partnerships with organizations to improve healthcare value and outcomes by leveraging molecular and clinical data. Value creation for commercial payers, benefit managers and group purchasing organizations is where she focuses. Dr. Belinson is especially interested in applications of data to power solutions for the transition to and management of value based care. Prior to Tempus, Dr. Belinson served as Executive Director, Clinical Markets, at the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association where she led the sales and market development as well as day to day operations of Evidence Street. Dr. Belinson received her bachelor’s degree from Cleveland State University, a Masters in Public Health from the University of Pittsburgh, and a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Adrian Bot, MD, PhD
Vice President, Translational Medicine, Kite, a Gilead Company
Adrian Bot, MD, PhD
Vice President, Translational Medicine, Kite, a Gilead Company
Adrian Bot, M.D., Ph.D. is the Vice President of Translational Medicine at Kite, a Gilead Company, developing genetically engineered cell products for oncology indications. Dr. Bot has more than two decades of experience in biopharmaceutical industry with focus on discovery and development of immunotherapies. He obtained his M.D. in Romania in 1993 and his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York in 1998. Subsequently, he was a Guest Scientist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. Prior to his appointment as Chief Scientific Officer at Kite Pharma in 2011 and then Vice President of Translational Medicine where he contributed to the development of first-in-class cell therapies for cancer, Dr. Bot served in various senior R&D leadership positions at MannKind Corp and Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp, La Jolla, California. His present or prior activities and appointments include scientific advisory boards (Elicio Therapeutics), editorial boards (Journal of Immunology, Journal of Translational Medicine, International Reviews of Immunology) and leadership appointments in global professional societies (Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer).
Lisa H. Butterfield, PhD
Vice President, PICI Research and Development, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Adjunct Professor, Microbiology and Immunology, University California San Francisco
Lisa H. Butterfield, PhD
Vice President, PICI Research and Development, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Adjunct Professor, Microbiology and Immunology, University California San Francisco
Lisa H. Butterfield, Ph.D. is the Vice President, PICI Research and Development at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, and an Adjunct Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, University California San Francisco. She is focused on cancer vaccines and cellular therapies for melanoma, hepatocellular cancer and other tumor types. Dr. Butterfield was most recently Professor of Medicine, Surgery, Immunology and Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Pittsburgh (2003-2018) and Director of the Hillman Cancer Center Immunologic Monitoring and Cellular Products Laboratory. She has a PhD in Biology from UCLA, followed by postdoctoral fellowships in Cellular Immunology and Cancer Gene Therapy also at UCLA. She was the President of the Society of Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC, 2017-2018) and a member of the SITC Executive Committee (2015-2020). She led the Immunology Reference Lab for the ECOG-ACRIN NCI cooperative group (2006-2018) and collaborates on biomarker studies in many clinical trials. She investigates immunotherapy for hepatocellular cancer and melanoma, involving peptides, dendritic cells and adenoviruses, and effector responses to tumor antigens. She has published over 170 peer-reviewed manuscripts, reviews and book chapters, and mentored over 20 students and postdocs.
Alessandra Cesano, MD, PhD
Chief Medical Officer, ESSA
Alessandra Cesano, MD, PhD
Chief Medical Officer, ESSA
Alessandra Cesano, MD, PhD is Chief Medical Officer at ESSA. Prior to joining ESSA, Dr. Cesano was the Chief Medical Officer of NanoString Inc from July 2015 until June 2019 where she focused in the development of translational and diagnostic multi-plexed assays for the characterization and measurement of mechanisms of immune response/resistance.
Prior to joining NanoString, Dr. Cesano was Chief Medical Officer at Cleave Biosciences, Inc. and before then she served as Chief Medical Officer and Chief Operations Officer at Nodality, Inc., where she built and led the R and D group, while providing the overall clinical vision for the organization. Between 1998 and 2008, Dr. Cesano held various management positions at Amgen, Biogen Idec and SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, where she helped to advance various oncology drugs through late stage development and FDA approvals.
Early in her professional career Dr. Cesano spent 12 years conducting research in tumor immunology, including nine years at the Wistar Institute, an NCI Basic Cancer Center connected with the University of Pennsylvania.
Jim Christian, MD
Pathologist, Companion Diagnostics, Agilent Technologies
Jim Christian, MD
Pathologist, Companion Diagnostics, Agilent Technologies
Jim Christian, MD is a Staff Pathologist within the Companion Diagnostics Division of Agilent Technologies, involved in multiple projects focusing on the development of biomarker assays for specific oncologic indications and their corresponding therapeutic products. Dr. Christian graduated from Wake Forest University and obtained an MS in Anatomy and medical degree from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. Jim completed Pathology residency training at Wake Forest University Medical Center and is board certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology. Dr. Christian also completed a Urologic Pathology Fellowship at Bostwick Laboratories in Richmond, Virginia and a Surgical Pathology Fellowship at the University of California, San Diego. Prior to joining Agilent Technologies, Dr. Christian practiced pathology in multiple hospital and laboratory settings, including performing oncologic diagnosis and diagnostic histopathology as well as medical directorship responsibilities for multiple divisions of the laboratory (microbiology, hematology, clinical chemistry, and transfusion medicine). Jim is also a member of the College of American Pathologists (CAP) and American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP).
Radu Dobrin, PhD
Executive Director, Head of Bioinformatics Immunology and Immuno-Oncology, Thematic Research Center, Bristol Myers Squibb; Adjunct Associate Professor, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Radu Dobrin, PhD
Executive Director, Head of Bioinformatics Immunology and Immuno-Oncology, Thematic Research Center, Bristol Myers Squibb; Adjunct Associate Professor, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Dr. Radu Dobrin serves as Head of Bioinformatics Immunology & Immuno-Oncology, for the Thematic Research Centers at Bristol-Myers Squibb and holds an Adjunct Professor position at Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai. His team is responsible for advancing Bristol-Myers Squibb’s pipeline through the application of cutting-edge bioinformatics approaches. The group is engaged with all bioinformatic aspects of immunology and immuno-oncology at BMS including early discovery, translational research, and clinical development. His goal is to leverage machine learning algorithms and predictive models for understanding disease and drug interventions. Dr. Dobrin has a dual Ph.D. in Physics and M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Michigan State University. research funding from CRUK, Rosetrees Trust, the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, and the RMH/ICR Biomedical Research Centre, among others.
Joel Dudley, PhD, MS
Chief Scientific Officer, Tempus
Joel Dudley, PhD, MS
Chief Scientific Officer, Tempus
Dr. Joel Dudley serves as the Chief Scientific Officer at Tempus. Dr. Dudley was Associate Professor of Genetics and Genomic Sciences and founding Director of the Institute for Next Generation Healthcare at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He also served as Executive Vice President for Precision Health for the Mount Sinai Health System. Prior to Mount Sinai, he held positions as co-founder of NuMedii, Inc. developing machine learning technologies for drug discovery and Consulting Professor of Systems Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine. His more than 200 peer-reviewed research publications established novel precision medicine paradigms at the nexus of -omics, digital health, artificial intelligence (AI), scientific wellness, and healthcare delivery. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, MIT Technology Review, CNBC, and other popular media outlets. He was named in 2014 as one of the 100 most creative people in business by Fast Company magazine. He is co-author of the book Exploring Personal Genomics from Oxford University Press. Dr. Dudley received a BS in Microbiology from Arizona State University and an MS and PhD in Biomedical Informatics from Stanford University School of Medicine.
