Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. Manish Shah is honored to serve as the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the DeGregorio Family Foundation for Gastric and Esophageal Cancers. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1991 with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering, and from Harvard Medical School/MIT Health Sciences and Technology program in 1996, graduating magna cum laude, with a MedicalDoctorate degree. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency training at Duke University Medical Center in 1999, and his Medical Oncology Fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in 2001, also serving as Chief Oncology Fellow. He is the recipient of several awards including the American Society of Clinical Oncology Young Investigator and Career Development Awards. He is currently the Director of Gastrointestinal Oncology within the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology and the Center for Advanced Digestive Care at Weill Cornell Medical College / New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

Dr. Shah is a national and international thought leader in drug development and the treatment of gastrointestinal malignancies. He is a distinguished peer-review funded investigator and has led several Phase I, II and III clinical trials in patients with advanced gastric cancer. Dr. Shah is also the Director of the Gastrointestinal Oncology Research Laboratory at Weill Cornell Medical College. His areas of translational research interests are in improving ourunderstanding of cancers of the upper GI tract as well as hereditary gastrointestinal malignancies. He is interested in power of genomic evaluations of malignancy and how the environment and personal risks can impact the genetic causes of malignancy. He is a peer-reviewer for NIH and NCI research funding, and a reviewer for several high impact journals including the Journal of the American Medical Association, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Annals of Surgery, Annals of Surgical Oncology, Clinical Cancer Research and Gastroenterology. Dr. Shah is also the Editor for The Management of Complex Cases in Gastrointestinal Oncology Case Series for the Journal Of Gastrointestinal Oncology and the Series Editor for the Dx/RX: Oncology Series published by Jones and Bartlett Publishers. He has authored several books including Dx/Rx: Upper Gastrointestinal Malignancies: Cancers of the Stomach and Esophagus, as well as 100 Questions and Answers about Stomach Cancer. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (serving as a Cancer Education Committee Member), American Association of Cancer Research, and the American Gastroenterology Association.

Dr. Parry Guilford

Assoc. Prof. Parry Guilford is a Principal Investigator in the Cancer Genetics Laboratory, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, and the Research Director of Pacific Edge Biotechnology Ltd. He completed his MSc at Otago in 1983, and his PhD at Cambridge University in 1989. His research interests include the genetics of inherited cancers, in particular stomach cancer, and the application of genetics to the diagnosis and management of cancer.

Dr. David Kelsen

Edward S. Gordon Chair in Medical Oncology Chief, Gastrointestinal Oncology Service Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Dr. Kelsen is incumbent of the Edward S Gordon Chair in Medical Oncology and Chief of The Gastrointestinal Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and Professor of Medicine at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York. Dr. Kelsen's research focuses on developmental therapeutics and multimodality therapy of gastrointestinal malignancies. He has served on several national committees, including the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration, and is past Chairman of Research Council at MSKCC. He has received peer reviewed grant support for his research from the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, and the American Cancer Society, and is currently the Principal Investigator of an NCI 01 for the Early Therapeutics with Phase 2 Emphasis.

Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD, FACP

Professor of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology Professor of Preventive Medicine, Division of Preventive Medicine Keck School of Medicine University of Southern California (USC) Co-Director, Colorectal Center Chair, GI Oncology Program Scientific Director, Cancer Geriatrics Unit Associate Director of Clinical Research USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center Los Angeles, California

Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD, FACP, is Professor of Medicine and Professor of Preventive Medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology at Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC). He is Co-Director of both the Colorectal Center and the GI Oncology Program as well as Scientific Director of the Cancer Geriatrics Unit at USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles, California. Associate Director of Clinical Research, USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Dr. Lenz received his medical degree from Johannes-Gutenberg Universität in Mainz, Germany, in 1985. He completed a residency in Hematology and Oncology at the University Hospital Tübingen in Germany, a clerkship in Oncology at George Washington University in Washington, DC, and a clerkship in Hematology at Beth Israel Hospital of Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. He served subsequent fellowships in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of California/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.

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 several professional societies, including the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Gastroenterology Association, and the National Society of Genetic Counselors. He also serves on the National Advisory Board of a number of professional organizations. Dr. Lenz is the author of numerous peer-reviewed publications and invited papers, reviews, and editorials. In addition to having an NCI-funded laboratory, he is a recipient of the ASCO Young Investigator Award, the ASCO Career Development Award, and the STOP Cancer Career Development Award. He has been listed in the Best Doctors’ database (www.bestdoctors.com) since 2003.

Dr. Henry Lynch

Henry T. Lynch, M.D., was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on January 4, 1928, and grew up in New York. Although underage, he enlisted in the United States Navy in March of 1944, and served in the European and South Pacific theaters.

He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma, a master’s degree in clinical psychology from Denver University, and was nearing completion of a Ph.D. in human genetics when he entered medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, from which he received his M.D. degree in 1960. He completed several post-degree medical training programs and was on the faculty of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston before coming to Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1967. Since that time, he has been chairman of Preventative Medicine and Public Health at Creighton, advancing to full professor in 1972.

During the 1960’s, when cancer was considered an almost solely environmentally-caused disease, Dr. Lynch demonstrated Mendelian inheritance patterns for a previously unrecognized form of colon cancer(hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer, now known as Lynch syndrome), and for the hereditary breast-ovarian cancer syndrome, which he subsequently helped link to the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. In addition, he provided some of the first findings of the hereditary malignant melanoma and of familial aspects of prostate and pancreatic cancer. The purpose of this work has been to enable physicians to more quickly and accurately identify high-risk patients, leading to earlier and more effective surveillance, management, and treatment.

Dr. Lynch’s contributions to cancer research have been recognized by many awards from such groups as the American Cancer Society, Bristol-Myers Squibb, the American Association for Cancer Research, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Dr. Timothy C. Wang

Dr. Timothy C. Wang is the Silberberg Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Division of Gastroenterology. He received his MD from Columbia University, followed by clinical training at Washington University and Harvard/MGH. His main interest is in murine models of gastric cancer, and the role of stem cells in inflammation-associated cancer. Dr. Wang’s laboratory reported that gastric cancer in murine models can originate from bone marrow-derived stem cells. A separate project has identified markers for human gastric cancer stem cells.

As the leader of the Columbia University Tumor Microenvironment Network, he has investigated the importance of the stem cell niche in governing stem cell differentiation, and how this niche is altered in chronic inflammatory states that predispose to cancer. He is currently investigating the role of both fibroblasts and myeloid cells in carcinogenesis. Dr. Wang is a recipient of the AGA Funderberg Gastric Cancer Award and is the Editor of the first textbook on gastric cancer, “The Biology of Gastric Cancer” (Springer 2008). He is the Chair of the GCMB NIH study section, Chair of the AGA Future Trends Committee, Associate Editor for Gastroenterology, Editor in Chief of Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology. He is the author of more than 160 peer-reviewed publications.

Lee M. Ellis, M.D.

MD Anderson, Houston TX
Professor of Surgical Oncology and Cancer Biology
The William C. Liedtke, Jr., Chair in Cancer Research

Lee M. Ellis, MD, graduated from the University of Virginia School of Medicine in 1983, and completed his residency in surgery at the University of Florida in 1990. Dr. Ellis went on to complete a surgical oncology fellowship at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), where he has been on the faculty since 1993. He has a dual appointment as a Professor in the departments of Surgical Oncology and Cancer Biology. Dr. Ellis has a clinical practice in Surgical Oncology, focused on patients with colorectal cancer and liver metastases. Academically, Dr. Ellis has established a reputation for expertise in the area of angiogenesis and growth factor receptors in gastrointestinal malignancies and is funded by several grants for research in this area. He has served on numerous NIH study sections and is a consultant to the National Cancer Institute, where he currently serves on the NCI GI Cancers Steering Committee. In 2000, Dr. Ellis was awarded the Faculty Scholar Award from the MDACC, and he was also the inaugural recipient of a grant from the George and Barbara Bush Endowment for Innovative Cancer Research. In 2007, he was awarded the William C. Liedtke, Jr., Chair in Cancer Research. Dr. Ellis serves on 8 editorial boards, including the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer Research and Clinical Cancer Research (Senior Editor). Dr. Ellis has also authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications, 90 invited reviews and editorials, three books, and 30 book chapters. In addition, he has published important editorials in journals such as the NEJM, Nature, Cell, Cancer Cell, Nature Medicine, JNCI, JCO, and The Lancet. Dr. Ellis has been a plenary discussant at ASCO twice in the last 5 yrs. He is co-chair of the largest clinical angiogenesis meeting in the world held annually in February. Dr. Ellis serves in a leadership role in the major cancer societies such as the American Society for Clinical Oncology, American Association for Cancer Research, Keystone Scientific Symposia, and the Society for Surgical Oncology, where he has served on numerous committees. Dr. Ellis currently serves on the ECOG DMB. He was chair of the 2007 GI Cancers Symposium and was co-chair of the 2009 AACR annual meeting and is currently co-chair of the 2011 AACR Annual Meeting Program and Education Committees. He is on the Education Committee for the 2011 ASCO Meeting where he heads the Tumor Biology track. Dr. Ellis chaired a Keystone Symposium on Angiogenesis in January 2009. In June 2008, he was appointed Chair, Ad Interim, Department of Cancer Biology at MDACC.