Edward D. Ball, M.D.

Dr. Edward Ball has served as our medical advisor since 2003. He is the Chief of the Division of Blood and Bone Marrow Transplantation and Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He is also the Program Leader for Tumor Immunology and Transplantation at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center. Dr. Ball received his B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Maryland and his M.D. from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). He completed hematology/oncology training at CWRU and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and is Board-certified in Hematology and Oncology. Dr. Ball previously served on the faculties of Dartmouth Medical School (1982-1991) and the University of Pittsburgh (1991-1998) where he was Division Chief of Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation. Dr. Ball has published extensively on his research in the development of novel treatments for leukemia and in the field of clinical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation including 155 original scientific articles, 62 book chapters, and edited three books. He is senior editor of the textbook Hematopoietic Stem Cell Therapy. Dr. Ball's research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1982. Dr. Ball was a Scholar of the Leukemia Society, received their Stohlman Award, and is a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation. He has served as President of the Association of Hematology/Oncology Program Directors, Councilor to the Association of Subspecialty Professors, has served on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, and is currently a Counsilor to the International Society of Experimental Hematology.

Robert Carl Nevin Murray, M.D., F.R.C.P.C.

Dr. Murray has served as our medical advisor since May 2003. He is a Medical Oncologist at the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver, Canada and serves as a clinical professor at University of British Columbia. He received his medical degree from the University of Saskatchewan in 1973, and his fellowship in Oncology from the Manitoba Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation in 1978. He is American Board certified in Medical Oncology since 1979. Dr. Murray is a member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Canadian Oncology Society, American Society of Clinical Oncology, as well as the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. In addition to the numerous lectures Dr. Murray has delivered internationally on lung cancer, he has also published in excess of 75 peer reviewed manuscripts, and abstracts in scientific and medical journals as well as contributing to eleven book chapters. In August, 2003, Dr. Murray was chairman of the X World Conference of Lung Cancer held in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Daniel Douglas Von Hoff, M.D., F.A.C.P.

Dr. Von Hoff has served as our medical advisor since May 2003. Dr. Von Hoff is currently Professor of Medicine, Pathology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Director of the Arizona Health Sciences Center's Cancer Therapeutics Program, and Head of the Translational Genomics Research Institute's Translational Drug Development Division. Dr. Von Hoff's major interest is in the development of new anticancer agents, both in the clinic and in the laboratory. His laboratory interests and contributions have been in the area of in vitro drug sensitivity testing to individualize treatment for the patient, mechanisms of gene amplification, particularly of extrachromosomal DNA, and understanding of and targeting telomere maintenance mechanisms. Dr. Von Hoff and his laboratory team are currently concentrating on discovery of new targets in pancreatic cancer.

In the area of clinical drug development, Dr. Von Hoff and his colleagues were involved in the early development of many of the agents now use routinely, including: Mitoxantrone, Findarabine, Paclitaxel, Docetaxel, Gemcitabine, CPT-11, Iressa, Tarceva and others. At present, he and his colleagues are concentrating on the development of molecularly targeted therapies.

Dr. Von Hoff is an internationally recognized expert in the field of oncology, providing guidance to industry and academic institutions. He is American Board-certified in Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology, as well as being certified more recently for Basic Life Support. He served on the Board of Directors for the Association of American Cancer Institutes, and the Baylor Research Institute.

Dr. Von Hoff has served in the past as the President of the American Association for Cancer Research from 1999 to 2000, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and a member and past board member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He is a founder and board member of ILEXä Oncology, Inc. (ILXO, NASDAQ). He is founder and the Editor Emeritus of Investigational New Drugs – The Journal of New Anticancer Agents; and, Editor-in-Chief of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. During his career he has published over 503 papers, as well as 844 abstracts. In addition he has also contributed to 126 book chapters. Dr. Von Hoff is also the holder of three patents.

William I. Bensinger, M.D.

Dr. Bensinger has served as our medical advisor since October 2004. Dr. William Bensinger is Director of the Autologous Stem Cell Transplant Program at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Wa. He is a Full Member at the Center and Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle, Wa. The FHCRC has a world-wide reputation in the field of cancer therapy and specifically in the field of stem cell transplantation where it’s former director, Dr. E. Donnall Thomas was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work in hematopoetic cell transplantation.

Dr Bensinger received his undergraduate and medical education at Northwestern University, Chicago, Ill. (1969-73) and interned at Washington University, St. Louis (1973-74). He worked for 2 years at the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md. In the field of cancer virology (1974-76) before moving to the University of Washington for completion of internal medicine residency (1976-77) and completion of subspecialty training in medical oncology (1977-1980).

In the field of both autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplantation, Dr. Bensinger has published numerous original manuscripts, reviews and book chapters. He has published more than 200 articles in refereed journals, books and monographs in the field of stem cell transplantation on the subjects of mobilization, collection and transplantation of autologous and allogeneic stem cells, especially as it relates to the treatment of multiple myeloma. Other publications include the use of CD34 selected stem cells and innovative transplant regimens. He holds several patents including one a co-inventor of the avidin-biotin bead selection system.

Michael George Boag Smylie, M.D., F.R.C.P.C.

Dr. Smylie has served as our medical advisor since March 2005. Dr. Smylie is a Medical Oncologist at the Cross Cancer Clinic in Edmonton, Alberta. He graduated from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom in 1987. He did his Internal Medicine training at the University of Saskatchewan with specialty training in Medical Oncology at the University of Ottawa. He has been at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, Alberta since 1994. He is currently chair of the Cross Cancer Institute Clinical Trials Committee, and a member of the Provincial Research Advisory Committee. He is also the Site Leader for the NCIC Melanoma Group, and represented the NCIC at the State of the Science Meeting in Melanoma in Bethesda, Maryland. He is also the Site Co-coordinator for NCIC at the Cross Cancer Institute.

He is very active in clinical trail research. He has been a principal investigator of multiple studies in metastatic melanoma, breast cancer, and lung cancer. He is currently chairing a phase II study of an investigational taxane in lung cancer for the NCJ Canada. He was also one of the co-chairs and organizers of the first Canadian Melanoma Research Meeting held in Banff, Alberta in 2004. He is the Tumor Group Leader for the Alberta Cutaneous Provincial Group. He is a member of the Anti-Tumor Immuno-Gene Therapy Committee at the University of Alberta.

Gerald Batist, M.D.

Dr. Gerald Batist is Chairman of the Department of Oncology, McGill University. He is also Director of the McGill Centre for Translational Research in Cancer, based at the Jewish General Hospital which was established to stimulate rapid translation of new discoveries in the research laboratory into clinical benefits for patients, with a major emphasis on breast cancer.

A major award from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation led to the expansion of the Translational Research Centre to the Montreal Centre for Experimental Therapeutics in Cancer, which is a major component of the Segal Cancer Centre at the Jewish General Hospital. The Centre provides research and clinical research infrastructure required for the development and testing of novel cancer therapeutics and preventive agents. It also is a point of contact and virtual link-up of scientists throughout Montreal, as well as in Sherbrooke and Quebec City, who focus on laboratory-clinic interface research.

Dr. Gerald Batist is a Professor in the McGill University Departments of Medicine and Oncology and the McGill Cancer Centre as well as an Associate Member of the Division of Experimental Medicine the Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics and the McGill Nutrition and Food Sciences Centre. He is an associate member of the Department of Pharmacology at the Université de Montréal.

In his capacity as Chairman of Oncology he has nurtured to development of a number of multidisciplinary programs that have been highly innovative and amongst the first of their kind in Canada.

Dr. Batist is a member of scholarly associations, serves on editorial boards and on advisory committees. He has a highly successful laboratory and clinical research program, with over 145 scientific publications and a number of book chapters relating to his research interests. He has trained a large number of scientists and clinical oncologists, and also practices medical oncology.