Sanjeev Thohan, PhD
Scientific Advisor
Dr. Sanjeev Thohan is Senior Vice President of Nonclinical Research at Alterome Therapeutics. He holds MS and PhD degrees in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Arizona and the University of Maryland with concentrations in interspecies drug metabolism mechanisms, bioactivation, and systems toxicology. He has held positions in increasing responsibility covering disciplines of ADME, DMPK and TOX areas of preclinical translational research with small and large organizations for both small and large molecule modalities (Walter Reed Army Institute for Research, Covance, AstraZeneca, ViroPharma, Exelixis, Novartis and Xeris). Sanjeev has extensive experience in Oncology drug discovery, biomarker identification, companion diagnostic identification and drug development from his time at Novartis (NIBR) and Exelixis with many clinical successes. He continues to be a contributing member of several national/international scientific societies. He serves as a subject matter expert in the drug and device arenas as well as allied technology applications for medicine. Sanjeev is an active mentor with the Centers for advancing Innovation (NIH collaboration) as well as a Scientific Advisory Board member for Cogentis Therapeutics (ALZ), Phoenix Molecular Designs (ONC) and RanTran (ALS).
Alan Ashworth, PhD FRS
Scientific Advisor
Dr. Alan Ashworth is President of the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at University of California, San Francisco and Senior Vice President for clinical services, UCSF Health. He was a key member of the team that discovered the BRCA2 gene in 1995, which is linked to an increased risk of breast, ovarian and other cancers. In 2005, his lab identified a way to exploit genetic weaknesses (using synthetic lethality) in cancer cells with mutated BRCA1 or 2 genes, leading to a new approach to cancer treatment, PARP inhibition. Four different PARP inhibitors have now been approved by the FDA for the treatment of ovarian, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancer based on his work. He continues to develop new treatments for cancer using genetic principles. Alan has received a number of awards and prizes many of which recognize the innovative and translational nature of his work as well as its clinical impact.
He is an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, the American Association of Arts and Sciences, the American Association of Cancer Research and the Royal Society (equivalent to membership of the National Academy of Sciences). Prizes include the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Lifetime Achievement Award, the David T. Workman Memorial Award of the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation, the Meyenburg Foundation’s Cancer Research Award, the Genetics Society Medal, the inaugural winner of the Basser Global Prize, and the Susan G Komen Brinker award.
Mike Varney, PhD
Scientific Advisor
Dr. Mike Varney is a pioneer drug discoverer and biotech leader. As one of the original fifteen employees at Agouron, a biotech based in San Diego, he built a team that developed protein-structure based design, a novel approach to drug discovery that is utilized globally by drug discovery teams today. In 1997, the Agouron team launched Viracept, an HIV protease inhibitor that achieved the highest first year launch sales of any biotech product at the time. Mike’s leadership at Agouron resulted in the discovery of a number of currently marketed anti-cancer agents including Xalkori and Inlyta, a drug that won the American Chemical Society’s Heroes of Chemistry Award in 2018. In 2005, he was recruited to Genentech, the US based R&D organization in Roche, to expand the organization’s drug discovery capabilities to include small molecules. Focused on agility and pioneering science, Mike built a team-based organization that today produces more that 40% of Genentech’s development portfolio including the marketed anticancer agents Erivedge and Cotellic.
In 2015, Mike was appointed Executive Vice President and Head of Genentech’s Research and Early Development (gRED) and a member of the Roche Corporate Executive Committee in Basel. In this role, he was responsible for all aspects of gRED innovation, drug discovery and development. He also focused on building a team-based culture empowered to clear the path to patients. Under his leadership, gRED teams discovered and developed successful medicines that include Venclexta with Abvie, the first bcl-2 inhibitor and Polivy, an antibody drug conjugate for the treatment of DLBCL. Pioneering molecules in the clinic include Mosunetuzumab, a bispecific antibody targeting CD20, and GDC-9545, a next generation estrogen receptor degrader. Mike retired from Genentech in July 2020, leaving a diversity of drug platform types that includes personalized therapeutic vaccines and cellular therapies. He holds a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry from the California Institute of Technology, and was an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University.
Naoto T. Ueno, MD PhD FACP
Medical Advisor
Dr. Naoto Ueno is a tenured Professor of Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. His research is in the area of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC)/triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) and the molecular mechanism of metastasis and cancer microenvironment in breast cancer. He is best known for his various preclinical development and biomarkers which led to novel investigator-initiated clinical trials related to breast cancer. Naoto is the Executive Director of the Morgan Welch Inflammatory Breast Cancer Program and Clinic and Section Chief of the Translational Breast Cancer Research at Department of Breast Medical Oncology. Here, his current research interests include elucidating the role and the underlying mechanism of several signaling pathways, including epidermal growth factor receptor, transforming growth factor beta (TBF- beta), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and Axl receptor tyrosine kinase, in promoting the progression of TNBC and IBC. His research also focuses on determining the impact of the tumor microenvironment on the efficacy of targeted therapy and establishing novel therapeutic approaches by modulating the tumor microenvironment. He has more than six ongoing investigator-initiated clinical trials for patients with IBC and TNBC.
He serves as a standing member of the Drug Discovery and Molecular Pharmacology Study Sections, NIH. He is also the chief-in-editor of Journal of Cancer and serves as the editor of Journal of National Cancer Institute. Naoto received the Nylene Eckles Distinguished Professorship of Breast Cancer Research in 2012, the University of Texas System Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award for his mentoring contributions in 2014 and MD Anderson Distinguished Clinical Faculty Mentor Award in 2019.
V.K. Gadi, MD, PhD
Medical Advisor
Dr. Gadi has 30 years of experience in cancer research and expertise in clinical care, clinical oncology, and translational breast cancer research. He is a pioneer in the use of patient-derived organoids for both drug target discovery and functional drug screening for patient care. His research interests include breast cancer, immunogenetics and immunotherapy for solid tumors, and the development of cell-based therapies for cancer.
VK is Director of Medical Oncology, and Associate Director of Translational Medicine at the University of Illinois Cancer Center at Chicago. Before joining U.I.C., he was an Associate Member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Clinical Research and Public Health Sciences Divisions and an Associate Professor at the University of Washington, Division of Oncology. He is a board-certified medical oncologist with a sub-specialty in breast cancer. He is a serial biotech innovator, has co-founded several companies, and sits on the scientific board of both nascent and mature biotech companies.
He received his M.D. and Ph.D. in Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Washington and his oncology fellowship at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Gadi also holds a B.S. in Biology/Biological Sciences from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Martin S. Olivo, MD, MSc
Medical Advisor
Dr. Olivo is the Chief Medical Officer at SystImmune, where he leads all oncology clinical efforts outside of China. Prior to joining SystImmune, he served as Chief Medical Officer for Protara Therapeutics, Inc. Before these roles, Dr. Olivo led clinical efforts in metastatic breast cancer therapeutics development as the Vice President of Clinical Development at Gilead Sciences, Inc., formerly Immunomedics, Inc. which was acquired in 2020 for $21B. Earlier, Dr. Olivo served as the Global Clinical Lead at Daiichi Sankyo Cancer Enterprise, where he established a comprehensive clinical development plan for an early-stage oncology product candidate with applications in lung and breast cancer. Prior to that, Dr. Olivo served in several roles with increasing responsibilities in the oncology group at Eisai Inc., where he was the International Program Team Leader for Halaven, a major drug now used to treat breast cancer.
Dr. Olivo received his M.D. from the University of Buenos Aires and his M.S. in Clinical and Pharmacological Research from Austral University in Buenos Aires. He completed advanced training as a Clinical Oncologist at the University of Salvador. Dr. Olivo then held various academic and clinical positions at the School of Medicine at the University of Buenos Aires, Hospital "Dr. Enrique Tornú" and the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group.
Tara Coleman
Patient Advocate
Ms. Tara Coleman is a triple negative breast cancer survivor diagnosed at age 34. Tara became involved with her local breast cancer community immediately after her diagnosis allowing her to meet a number of other women in similar life circumstances. With an innate desire to help others, a healthcare background and a love of research she soon found herself volunteering locally and nationally in many aspects of the breast cancer community including: RISE, Young Survival Coalition Patient Advocacy Council, National Breast Cancer Coalition Project LEAD, Alamo Breast Cancer Foundation San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium advocate, Institutional Review Board community representative for UCSD Medical Center and La Jolla VA , advocate for Athena Breast Health Network @ UCSD, Young Survival Coalition San Diego member, bulletin board contributor to Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered (FORCE) and an Ambassador Breast Cancer Network of Strength educator (formerly known as Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization).
Tara has a Master’s Degree in Occupational Therapy and undergraduate degree in Medical Sciences. She is also a lymphedema therapist, combining her breast cancer advocacy work and her career as an occupational therapist to continue to help people affected by breast cancer. She hopes to help increase awareness of breast cancer among young women and to advocate on behalf of all breast cancer survivors.