Leadership
Jordan Berlin, MD
Vanderbilt–Ingram Cancer Center
Alberto Gutierrez, PhD
NDA Partners LLC
Scott Kopetz, MD, PhD, FACP
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Adam Schayowitz, PhD
Pfizer, Inc.
Our Scientific Advisory Board will be announced soon.
Our Scientific Advisory Board is comprised of a distinguished group of academic and industry experts who bring depth and breadth of expertise in oncology drug development, clinical trial design, translational science, and clinical research.
Nicholas Choong, MD
Pfizer
Nicholas (Nick) Choong is Vice President of Clinical Development and Therapeutic Area Head for GI cancers, Gynecologic cancers and Melanoma at Pfizer. He is based in the South San Francisco site.
Prior to joining Pfizer, Nick was at Seagen from 2018 to 2023, where he led the development of several antibody-drug conjugates. Prior to Seagen, Nick was at Genentech (Roche), where he held various positions of increasing responsibilities in Clinical Development and Medical Affairs. Before joining the biopharma industry, Nick served as an attending physician and Assistant Professor of Hematology and Oncology at the Medical College of Wisconsin and at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Milwaukee, WI.
Nick is board certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology by the American Board of Internal Medicine, having completed his Internal Medicine Residency at Mayo Clinic and, Hematology and Oncology Fellowship at the University of Chicago. Nick received his MD from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. In his spare time, he enjoys working out, watching soccer and undertaking home improvement projects
Scott Kopetz, MD, PhD, FACP
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Scott Kopetz, MD, PhD, FACP, joined MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2006 and is professor and deputy chair in the department of gastrointestinal medical oncology. Dr. Kopetz is board-certified in internal medicine and in medical oncology. He has authored over 350 peer-reviewed articles in respected scientific journals such as New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lancet, Lancet Oncology, JAMA, Cancer Discovery and Nature Medicine. He was the principal investigator of several practice changing clinical trials, including trials for patients with BRAF mutated colorectal cancer that led to new standards of care. Dr. Kopetz leads the MD Anderson Gastrointestinal Cancer Center Program and is chair of the NCI Colon Cancer Task Force.
Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD, FACP
USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD, FACP, is the associate director for clinical research and co-leader of the GI cancers program at the University of Southern California (USC) Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is professor of medicine and preventive medicine, section head of gastrointestinal oncology in the division of medical oncology and co-director of the Colorectal Center at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. An active researcher, Dr. Lenz focuses on topics including the regulation of gene expression involved in drug resistance, patients at high risk of developing colorectal cancer and determination of carcinogenesis, methods of early detection and better surveillance of these cancers. He is a member of professional societies such as the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the American Gastroenterology Association and the National Society of Genetic Counselors. He also serves as co-chair of the GI Committee and Correlative Science Committee for SWOG. He is a member of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Task Force for Gastroesophageal Cancer, the NCI Steering Committee and the NCI Translational Science Committee..
Christoph Reinhard, PhD
Life Science Consultant
Christoph Reinhard, PhD, is a life science consultant, leader in oncology translational research and former senior director of translational sciences oncology at Eli Lilly and Company. His work is focused on oncology drug development at biotech and pharmaceutical companies with a special emphasis on target qualification and discovery of strategies enabling individualized treatment. Dr Reinhard’s special interests evolved out of large scale genomic studies of gastrointestinal patient tumors that demonstrated the need for mechanism based target selection and biomarker guided drug development. Dr Reinhard is currently engaged as chief scientific officer of CELLphenomics GmbH, which aims to enable individualized treatment of patients based on organoid cultures of their tumors. He also previously served as an associate director of oncology at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research.
Josep Tabernero, MD, PhD
Vall d’Hebron University Hospital
Josep Tabernero, MD, PhD is head of the medical oncology department at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, director of the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology and professor of medicine at Universitat de Vic – Universitat Central de Catalunya (University of Vic). He has been principal investigator of several Phase 1 pharmacodynamic studies and translational projects with tumor-directed targeted therapies and immune-based therapies. His research aims at potentiating molecular therapies targeting specific oncoproteins and accelerating more effective personalized cancer medicines for patients displaying genetic lesions or pathway dysregulation. Dr. Tabernero serves on the Editorial Boards of various top tier journals including Annals of Oncology, ESMO Open, Cancer Discovery, Clinical Cancer Research, Cancer Treatment Reviews and Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology. He has authored approximately 500 peer-reviewed papers with an H-Index of 95. Dr. Tabernero was the president of ESMO and is also a member of AACR and ASCO. He has also been a member of the Educational and Scientific Committees of ESMO, ASCO, AACR, AACR/NCI/EORTC, ASCO GI, ESMO Targeted Anticancer Therapies (TAT) and ESMO-GI/World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer meetings.
Eric Van-Cutsem, MD, PhD
University of Leuven
Eric Van Cutsem, MD, PhD, is full professor and division head of digestive oncology at University of Leuven (KUL) and University Hospitals Gasthuisberg, in Leuven, Belgium. He is a member of the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine and president of the Belgian Foundation Against Cancer. Dr. Van Cutsem’s research focuses on the development of new treatment strategies for gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, including drug development and identification of molecular markers and diagnostic tools. He co-founded ESMO GI/World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer and serves/served on the board or key committees of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), European Neuroendocrine Tumor society (ENET), the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), European Society o Digestive Oncology (ESDO) and of the patient advocacy groups EuropaColon and Digestive Cancers Europe.
Michael Yaffe, MD, PhD
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Michael Yaffe, MD, PhD, is the David H. Koch Professor of Science and a professor of biology and biological engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is also an attending surgeon and intensivist at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, specializing in injury and surgical oncology. He has been the director of the MIT Center for Precision Cancer Medicine since its inception. He is the scientific editor-in-chief of Science Signaling and a member of the Editorial Boards of Molecular & Cellular Proteomics and Cell Cycle. In 2021, Dr. Yaffe was elected to the Association of American Physicians and was named a MacVicar faculty fellow. He is a decorated veteran of the war in Afghanistan and retired as a colonel from the U.S. Army Reserve Medical Corps in 2021. Dr. Yaffe is a co-founder of Consensus Pharmaceuticals, the DNA Repair Company, On-Q-ity and Merrimack Pharmaceuticals. He is also a co-founder and a member of the SAB of Applied Biomath and Thrombo-Therapeutics.