Division of Biology and Medicine
Legorreta Cancer Center

Leadership

Our Associate Directors, Program Leaders and Working Groups.

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Leadership

Our Associate Directors, Program Leaders and Working Groups.

Director

Leadership

Program Co-Leaders

External Advisory Board

The Legorreta Cancer Center is honored to receive guidance from the exceptional members of our External Advisory Board.

J. Alan Diehl, PhD
Leonard and Jean Skeggs Professor
Chair, Department of Biochemistry
Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center
Member, Molecular Oncology Program

Robert Gerlach, MPA
Associate Director for Administration and Scientific Affairs
Norris Cotton Cancer Center
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Roy Jensen, MD (EAB Chair)
Director, The University of Kansas Cancer Center
Kansas Masonic Cancer Research Institute
William R. Jewell, M.D. Distinguished Masonic Professor

Philip Kantoff, MD
Chairman of Medicine
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Professor of Medicine
Weill Cornell Medical School

Meg Von Mehren, MD
Associate Director for Clinical Research
Fox Chase Cancer Center

Victoria Seewaldt, MD
Ruth Ziegler Chair in Population Sciences
Chair, Department of Population Sciences
Associate Director, Comprehensive Cancer Center
City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center

Mariana C. Stern, PhD
Professor of Preventive Medicine & Urology
Ira Goodman Chair in Cancer Research
Associate Director of Population Sciences, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
Program Director, CaRE2 Health Equity Center
Keck School of Medicine of USC
University of Southern California

George Weiner, MD
CE Block Chair of Cancer Research
Professor of Internal Medicine - Hematology, Oncology and Blood and Marrow Transplantation
Professor of Pharmaceutical Science Experimental Therapeutics

Robert A. Winn, M.D.
Director and Lipman Chair in Oncology, VCU Massey Cancer Center
Senior associate dean for cancer innovation and professor of pulmonary disease and critical care medicine, VCU School of Medicine

Joann Sweasy, PhD
Director, Cancer Center
Nancy C. and Craig M. Berge Endowed Chair for the Director of the Cancer Center Cancer Biology Program

Leon Platanias, MD, PhD - Ad Hoc member
Director, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University
Jesse, Sara, Andrew, Abigail, Benjamin and Elizabeth Lurie Professor of Oncology 
Associate Vice President for Cancer Programs, Northwestern University
Northwestern Medicine

Steven Libbuti, MD - Ad Hoc Member
Director, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey
Vice Chancellor for Cancer Programs, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences ;Senior Vice President, Oncology Services, RWJBarnabas Health
Distinguished Professor of Surgery, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; Affiliated Distinguished Professor in Genetics,
Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences

Razell Kurzrock, MD - Ad Hoc member
Professor of Medicine and Associate Director for Clinical Research, Chair of Precision Oncology, Froedtert and Medical College of Wisconsin
Chief Medical Officer, Worldwide Innovative Network (WIN) for Personalized Cancer Therapy

Victor Santana, MD - Ad Hoc Member
Member, St. Jude Faculty
Charles B. Pratt Endowed Chair in Solid Tumor Research

Working Groups

Brain Tumor Working Group

Purpose: To review and catalog the tissue and biobanking needs of the cancer researchers at the LCC. This work will inform current state operations as well as contributing to a future state plan for a comprehensive biobanking strategy across the organizations.

  • Chair: Sean Lawler
  • Co-Chair: Eric Wong
  • Ivana Delalle
  • Robert Sobol
  • Suzanne De La Monte
  • Nikos Tapinos
  • Wafik El-Deiry
  • Steve Toms
  • Jack Elias
  • Roxanne Wood
  • Heinrich Elinzano
  • Attila Seyhan
  • Rishi Lulla
  • Doug Anthony
  • Murray Resnick
  • Howard Safran
  • Administration: Shiyoko Cothren & Laura Kalafarski

Behavioral Sciences Working Group

Purpose: To support research into the behavioral factors influencing cancer development, diagnosis and treatment in Rhode Island.

  • Co-Chair: Bess Marcus 
  • Co-Chair: Laura Stroud
  • Co-Chair: Lisa Uebelacker
  • Suzanne Colby
  • Don Dizon
  • Rani Elwy
  • Mary Anne Fenton
  • Dana Guyer
  • Howard Safran
  • Jennifer Tidey
  • Wafik El-Deiry
  • Administration: Shiyoko Cothren & Henri Blouin

Bioengineering Working Group

Purpose: To connect researchers and clinicians in cancer with those in engineering utilizing approaches such as biomaterials, drug delivery, mechanobiology, imaging, and microfluidics. Further, it will foster interdisciplinary collaboration within and beyond LCC, and demonstrate impact on policy at the State and National levels in a rapidly evolving area that has an impact on the cancer burden in Rhode Island.

  • Michele Dawson
  • Tejal Desai 
  • Megan Kizer
  • Sean Lawler
  • Theresa Raimondo
  • Nikos Tapinos
  • Lanlan Zhou
  • Jonathan Reichner
  • Kimani Toussaint
  • Aubhav Tripathi
  • Ian Wong
  • Rob Sobol
  • Wafik El-Deiry
  • Administration: Shiyoko Cothren & Laura Kalafarski

Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination (CRTEC) Working Group

Purpose: To review and catalog the cancer training and education activities as well as the educational outreach programs that might be promising for a future cancer component. This work will inform and contribute to a plan for a CCSG CRTEC component.

  • Chair: Wafik El-Deiry
  • Co-Chair: Patti Dubielecka
  • Co-Chair: Robert Sobol
  • Co-Chair: Sendurai Mani
  • Jas Ahluwalia
  • Sharon Rounds
  • Tom Bartnikas
  • Howard Safran
  • Kate Smith
  • Beth Harrington
  • Amanda Jamieson
  • Anatoly Zhitkovich
  • Sean Lawler
  • Tony Mega
  • Anatoly Zhitkovich
  • Tom Olillia
  • Jeremy Warner
  • Ad Hoc: Star Hampton
  • Ad Hoc: Jake Kurtis
  • Administration: Shiyoko Cothren

Cancer Center Technology Commercialization Working Group

Purpose: To review the commercialization needs of the LCC. The work group may devise a strategy for incorporating current programs into LCC Programs and suggest areas of growth.

  • Co-Chair: Sendurai Mani
  • Co-Chair: Rob Sobol
  • Lindsey Carlsen
  • Shuai Zhao
  • Wafik El-Deiry
  • Kelsey Huntington
  • Sean Lawler
  • Attila Seyhan
  • Andrew Bond
  • Neil Veloso
  • Karen Bulock
  • Administration: Shiyoko Cothren & Henri Blouin

Data Science Working Group

Purpose: The aim of the data science working group is to connect laboratory, clinical and population health faculty and investigators with potential data science collaborators, as well as to identify new avenues of research in data science related to cancer and oncology.

  • Co-Chair: Joe Hogan
  • Co-Chair: Alper Uzun
  • Co-Chair: Jeremy Warner
  • Ece Uzun
  • Peter Barth
  • Andrew Schumacher
  • Lorin Crawford
  • Suresh Venkatasubramanian
  • Stephanie Graff
  • Mike Henderson
  • Constantine Gatsonis
  • Sohini Ramachndran
  • Zhijin Wu
  • Neil Sarkar
  • Administration: Shiyoko Cothren & Sasha Laziuk

Environmental Carcinogenesis Working Group

Purpose: To identify and examine cancer-related environmental exposure trends and issues in the state of RI, as well as to encourage and support collaborative projects in this scientific area.

  • Co-Chair: Karl Kelsey
  • Co-Chair: Anatoly Zhitkovich
  • Dan Spade
  • Nikos Tapinos
  • Jeff Morgan
  • Jess Plavicki
  • Howard Safran
  • Rob Sobol
  • Administration: Shiyoko Cothren & Sasha Laziuk