Grant Review Committee

Tara Miller Professor of Melanoma Research and Patient Care
Co-Director, University of Pennsylvania/Wistar Institute SPORE in Skin Cancer
Associate Director, Translational Research, Abramson Cancer Center
University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Amaravadi is a physician scientist with expertise in therapeutic drug development, cancer therapy resistance, MAPK signaling, cancer cell metabolism, autophagy, immunobiology,  conducting early phase clinical trials, and clinically treating patients with advanced melanoma. He was one of the first to demonstrate that autophagy is a targetable mechanism of resistance in cancer therapy using animal models. He has translated this finding into numerous clinical trials in multiple cancers. These translational studies were the first attempt to modulate autophagy therapeutically in any disease.   Working with collaborators in Chemistry, his lab has designed, synthesized and characterized a novel autophagy inhibitor Lys05 and DC661. Dr. Amaravadi's laboratory is focused on melanoma as a model. He is also a recognized melanoma medical oncologist and phase I trialist who has served as the site PI or co-investigator on melanoma clinical trials involving BRAF inhibitors, and first in human phase I clinical trials of novel cancer agents. In 2013 he was appointed co- Leader of the Cancer Therapeutics Program of the Abramson Cancer Center. In 2015 he was inducted into the American Society of Clinical Investigation. In 2021 he became co-Director of the Wistar/UPenn Skin SPORE. In 2023 he became Associate Director of Translational Medicine at the Abramson Cancer Center. In 2023 he was inducted into the Association of American Physicians. In 2025 he became in the inaugural Tara Miller Professor of Melanoma Research and Patient Care. 

Associate Professor of Dermatology  
Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology 
Weill Cornell Medical College   

Niroshana Anandasabapathy, MD, PhD M.S. FAAD is Associate Professor of Dermatology in Microbiology and Immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine, Vice-Chair of Research in Dermatology, and is actively involved in Immuno-oncology at the Meyer Cancer Center and precision medicine in the Englander Institute for Precision Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine.   

As a physician scientist Dr. Anandasabapathy's practice centers on the detection and treatment of skin cancer. Here, she works closely with other institutional stakeholders in melanoma including dermatology, dermatopathology, medical, surgical and radiation oncology and Mohs Surgery.

As a scientist, Dr. Anandasabapathy has maintained an independent, continuously NIH funded laboratory since 2013. She is an appointed member of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI), and an elected member of the American Dermatology Association, and the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI). A practicing physician-scientist with a focus in melanoma and cutaneous oncology, her translational and basic science laboratory studies immune barrier homeostasis and the influence of tissue immune surveillance on tumor immune surveillance in both mice and humans. Their work spans infection, autoimmune, vaccine and tumor immunity.   

Associate Professor, Neurology , Harvard Medical School
Associate Scientist, Neurology, Brigham And Women's Hospital
Associate Member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Dr. Anderson is currently an Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, Associate Scientist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Associate Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and core faculty member of the Evergrande Center for Immunologic Diseases. Her laboratory identified the inhibitory molecule Tim-3 as a key regulator of T cell dysfunction in cancer. Prior to working in the field of cancer immunology, Dr. Anderson worked in the field of autoimmunity. Dr. Anderson has published over 49 original papers, 19 reviews, and 5 book chapters. Her work on checkpoint receptors has laid the foundation for the translation of blocking antibodies against several receptors into clinical trials for cancer.

She has had several papers selected as either ‘must-read’ or ‘recommended’ by the Faculty of 1000. Dr. Anderson is on the editorial board for OncoImmunology, Cellular Immunology, and The Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer. She served on the scientific advisory board for CoStim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which was acquired by Novartis for their immunotherapy programs. She currently serves on the scientific advisory boards for Tizona Therapeutics, Compass Therapeutics, Zumutor Biologics, and Astellas Pharma Global Development.

The Kalback-Newton Professor in Cancer Research
Associate Director, Basic Research
Program Leader, Cancer Cell Biology & Signaling
NCI-designated Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center
Professor, Department of Cancer Biology
Thomas Jefferson University

Andrew E. Aplin is the Associate Director for Basic Science and the Program Leader for Cancer Cell Biology and Signaling in the NCI-designated, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center. His research elucidates mechanisms underlying aberrant growth and invasion in melanoma and the influence of the tumor microenvironment. In the past 18 years, his lab has identified downstream targets of mutant BRAF signaling and shown their contribution to malignant traits in melanoma. One focus is the role mutant BRAF regulated transcription factors. They have shown that BRAF-MEK-ERK1/2 signaling differentially regulates FOXD3 and TWIST1 and demonstrated the opposing roles of these transcription factors in melanoma invasion.

Another area of focus is the determinants of response and mechanisms of resistance to RAF inhibitors in BRAF V600E melanomas. To facilitate these efforts, his group has developed novel models to quantitatively measure ERK1/2 signaling in melanoma tumors in vivo. A third area is response and resistance to next generation RAF inhibitors, ERBB3 neutralizing antibodies and CDK4/6 inhibitors in different genetic subsets of melanoma. Through collaborations with clinicians on the Jefferson campus, he is extending his group’s studies into ocular melanoma.

Dr. Aplin is a regular member of the NIH study section, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics-1 (MCT1) and served as a Discussion Leader on NCI SPORE review panels. He is a past co-editor of Pigment Cell and Melanoma Research and serves on the editorial board of Cancer Research and Molecular Cancer Research.

Carol Bassok Lowenstein Endowed Chair
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Charlotte Ariyan is physician-scientist and co-leader of the melanoma disease management team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr Ariyan is the melanoma section editor for the Annals of Surgical Oncology, Chair of the melanoma/sarcoma committee for the complex surgical oncology certifying exam. She is an active member of the international neoadjuvant melanoma consortium and the Society for Immunotherapy in Cancer (SITC) melanoma guidelines committee. Dr Ariyan’s laboratory research has focused on strategies to augment the immune system to fight cancer, specifically by novel combinations of local therapies (chemotherapies and viruses) with checkpoint blockade engaging in cutting-edge laboratory research with the goal of rapid translation to clinical application. The laboratory has also focused on understanding rare melanoma subtypes of melanoma such as acral melanoma, as well as integration of surgery with new systemic agents.

Professor, Dermatology and Pathology
Gerson and Barbara Bass Bakar Distinguished Professor, Cancer Research
Leader, Cutaneous Oncology
University of California, San Francisco

Boris Bastian is a a dermatologist and dermatopathologistwith expertise in diagnosing and treating patients with cutaneous neoplasms. He has expertise in molecular cancer genetics and molecular pathology and leads a research laboratory at the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Since 1997 Dr. Bastian's research has focused on the molecular pathogenesis of melanoma and revealed the existence of distinct disease subtypes that differ in their underlying genetic alterations, epidemiology, anatomic distribution, clinical and microscopic appearance, evolution from precursor lesions, role of UV radiation, and cell of origin.

The Bastian Lab also has contributed to the discovery of oncogenic alterations such as mutations in KIT, GNAQ, GNA11, HRAS, and a whole panel of oncogenic fusion genes of various receptor tyrosine and threonine kinases in various melanocytic neoplasms. He has developed clinical tests to assist pathologists with the diagnosis of histologically ambiguous lesions, which have been adopted word-wide. He has proposed a two-dimensional taxonomy of melanocytic neoplasia that have been adopted as the framework for the revised WHO Classification of Skin Tumors. He founded and directs the Clinical Cancer Genomics Laboratory at UCSF, which performs genomic analyses of tumor samples of patients seen at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and has additional clinical responsibilities in the in the Dermatopathology Section of the Departments of Dermatology and Pathology.

Professor, Oncological SciencesProfessor, Dermatology
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Dr. Bernstein is an Associate Professor of Oncological Sciences and Dermatology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. She performed her thesis research in the laboratory of Dr. Gregory Hannon at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory with a PhD from Stony Brook University. Dr. Bernstein completed her postdoctoral studies with Dr. David Allis at The Rockefeller University.

She has made important scientific contributions to various areas of biology during her career, including understanding the mechanisms underlying RNA interference and chromatin regulation, and more recently, how the latter can impact on disease. Her laboratory studies epigenetic mechanisms underlying stem cell biology and reprogramming, and cancer initiation and progression with a focus on malignant melanoma.

Associate Professor of Medicine
Co-Director, Pigmented Lesion & Melanoma Clinic
Director, Advanced Melanoma Program
Director, Solid Tumor Cell Therapy
Leader, Melanoma & Cutaneous Oncology Clinical Research Group
Mark and Mary Stevens Endowed Faculty Scholar
Medical Director (Cancer Center Program Physician Leader), Melanoma Oncology
Stanford University School of Medicine

Dr. Allison Betof is an Associate Professor of Medicine (Oncology), Director of the Melanoma Program, Director of Solid Tumor Cellular Therapy, and Mark & Mary Stevens Endowed Scholar in Melanoma at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Betof completed her MD and PhD at Duke University, Internal Medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital (Harvard University) and Medical Oncology Fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Betof’s laboratory focuses on understanding resistance to immune checkpoint blockade and cellular therapies for melanoma and other solid tumors. She is the Principal Investigator of clinical trials exploring novel treatments for immunotherapy-refractory melanoma and is internationally recognized for her expertise in brain/CNS metastasis and the use of novel cellular therapies. Dr. Betof has been a pioneer in the use of commercial tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy for the treatment of melanoma and other solid tumors. She has received funding and awards for her clinical and translational investigative work from multiple high-profile organizations, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Melanoma Research Alliance, and Melanoma Research Foundation.

Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine Section of Medical Oncology
Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science
Yale University

Kim Blenman, PhD, MS is an immunologist and clinical chemist who uses and develops novel software tools to understand the mechanisms responsible for disparities in disease pathogenesis and therapeutic response. She earned a doctorate in immunology, a master’s in clinical chemistry, and a bachelor’s in chemistry from the University of Florida. Dr. Blenman also has a certificate in Drug Development and Regulatory Sciences from the University of California, San Francisco. She had the privilege of learning and working on drug discovery and clinical development at Procter & Gamble’s Pharmaceutical division as a senior scientist and as a global research director for autoimmune diseases, inflammatory bowel disease, and irritable bowel syndrome. She was also a Postdoctoral Fellow at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, California. Dr. Blenman is currently an Assistant Professor in the Yale School of Medicine Department of Internal Medicine Section of Medical Oncology and the Yale Cancer Center as well as an Assistant Professor in the Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Associate Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School 
Vice Chair of Research, Department of Surgery
Director, Therapeutic Intralesional Program 
Surgical Director, Termeer Center for Targeted Therapies
Massachusetts General Hospital

Dr. Boland is an academic surgeon whose career has been shaped by a desire to impact patient outcomes and survival. Her group focuses on questions related to patient care and how it is impacted by underlying cancer genetics, biology and immunology. As an MD/PhD, she is well equipped to bridge the complementary, but disparate, clinical and research environments, translating interesting research findings into meaningful clinical interventions based on the newest available technology. Dr. Boland serves as a mentor for the next generation of academic surgeons and research scientists. Her laboratory aims to support the career development of a diverse and modern community of academic physicians and scientists.

Dr. Boland is an associate member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and her laboratory is involved in several large multi-institutional efforts, such as the NIH Human Tumor Atlas Network. Although much of the laboratory’s research is translational in nature, its members have been integral in describing disparities in the utilization of immunotherapy in stage IV melanoma and identification of clinical phenotypes of therapy response and resistance. Dr. Boland was chosen by the Mass General Executive Committee of Research to receive the Martin Prize in Clinical Research for her paper published in Nature Medicine entitled, “Evolution of Delayed Resistance to Immunotherapy in a Melanoma Responder”.

Professor of Dermatology, Pathology, and Immunobiology
Co-Leader, Genomics, Genetics and Eipgenetics Program
Co-Director, SPORE in Skin Cancer
Practicing Dermatopathologist, Yale Dermatopathology
Yale School of Medicine

Marcus Bosenberg M.D., Ph.D., is a physician scientist who directs a leading melanoma research laboratory and is a practicing dermatopathologist at Yale Dermatopathology in the Yale Medical Group. In his research, Dr. Bosenberg studies the genetics and cellular changes that result in melanoma, the leading cause of skin cancer deaths. His laboratory has developed several models in order to study how melanoma forms and progresses, to test new melanoma therapies, and how the immune system can be stimulated to fight melanoma. He attempts to translate basic scientific findings into improvements in melanoma diagnosis and therapy, including efforts to develop new drugs that inhibit epigenetic targets in melanoma.

He is Co-Editor in Chief of Pigment & Melanoma Cell Research and is a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, an honor society for physician scientists. Dr. Bosenberg mentors undergraduate, graduate, medical, and MD-PhD students in his laboratory, teaches at Yale Medical School, and trains resident physicians, fellows, and postdoctoral fellows.

Professor, Pathology 
University of Virginia

Dr. Timothy Bullock is a Professor of Pathology. His work focuses on the use of costimulatory pathways, particularly the CD70-CD27 TNF-superfamily members, to promote immunotherapeutic T cell responses against melanoma and other malignancies, and as a platform for vaccine delivery.

Deputy Physician-in-Chief, Director of Medical Oncology,Northwell Health Cancer Institute
R.J. Zuckerberg Chair in Medical Oncology
Professor of Medicine, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell

Richard Carvajal, MD, is a leader in rare melanoma research and early phase drug development. As deputy physician-in-chief and director of medical oncology at the Northwell Health Cancer Institute, Dr. Carvajal leads all hematology and medical oncology programs across Northwell’s cancer network, the largest in New York State. Dr. Carvajal is also the R. J. Zuckerberg Chair in Medical Oncology and professor of medicine at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. Dr. Carvajal received his medical degree from NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Prior to joining Northwell, Dr. Carvajal led the Developmental Therapeutics Service at MSK Cancer Center. He then served as director of Experimental Therapeutics and director of the Melanoma Service at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, as well as co-lead of the Precision Oncology and Systems Biology Program at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Carvajal has authored or co-authored more than 250 peer-reviewed articles, books, and book chapters. He serves on the editorial boards of six cancer journals.

Professor, Translational Tumor Immunology
Head Immunotherapy Lab
Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam

Tanja de Gruijl heads the Immunotherapy and Immune monitoring Lab of the Department of Medical Oncology of Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit-Cancer Center Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She has over 25 years of experience in the field of tumour immunology and has co authored more than 200 research papers. Her research ranges from preclinical topics to immune monitoring of Phase I-III clinical trials. Her main line of research is the in vivo targeting and modulation of dendritic cells. Further topics of research include tumor-mediated immune suppression, control of myeloid differentiation, immunological arming of oncolytic adenoviruses, nanobody-mediated targeting of (NK)T-cell subsets, and the immune potentiation of tumor-draining lymph nodes and  the tumor microenvironment.

She is associate editor for Cancer Immunology Research and Clinical and Experimental Immunology. In addition to her involvement in MRA, she is a member of the scientific council of the Dutch Cancer Society, has chaired the Dutch Tumour Immunology Working Party, and is co-chair of the International Advisory Committee and has recently been elected as at-large director on the Board of Directors of the Society for the Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC). She received her Master's degree in Medical Biology from the University of Utrecht, and her PhD from the VU University in Amsterdam.

Principal Investigator, Cancer Immunology and Virology
Associate Professor of Immunology, Harvard Medical School
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Stephanie Dougan received her PhD in immunology from Harvard University in 2007 after studying NKT cells and CD1d antigen presentation with Dr. Richard Blumberg. She then performed postdoctoral work at the Whitehead Institute with Dr. Hidde Ploegh. While at Whitehead, she collaborated with Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch to learn somatic cell nuclear transfer and generate a panel of transnuclear mice. Stephanie Dougan joined the DFCI and Harvard faculty in 2014.

Edward Wigglesworth Professor & Chairman, Dept of Dermatology
Director, Melanoma Program MGH Cancer CenterDirector, Cutaneous Biology Research Center
Massachusetts General Hospital
Harvard Medical School

David E. Fisher, MD, PhD is an internationally known researcher, clinician and academic, who is Chief of the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts (USA). He also serves as Director of the MGH Cutaneous Biology Research Center and Director of the Melanoma Center at MGH. A Professor of Dermatology and of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Fisher came to the MGH from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where he previously Directed the Melanoma Program.

Dr. Fisher's research has focused on understanding the molecular and genetic events which underlie formation of melanoma as well as skin pigmentation. As a clinician, he has worked to translate these understandings into advances in diagnosis, treatment and prevention of human diseases related to the skin and associated disorders.

A graduate of Swarthmore College with a degree in Biology and Chemistry, Dr. Fisher is also an accomplished concert cellist and received a degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He received his PhD under Nobel Laureate Gunter Blobel at Rockefeller University and his Medical Degree at Cornell University Medical College under Dr. Henry Kunkel. Dr. Fisher's specialty training in Medicine, Pediatrics, and Oncology were carried out at Harvard Medical School. He recently served for three years as President of the Society for Melanoma Research, the largest international society dedicated to the study of melanoma.

Professor, Departments of Pathology and Medicine
University of Chicago

Dr. Gajewski is a Professor of Pathology and Hematology/Oncology at the University of Chicago Medical Center. He investigates and develops new treatments for patients with melanoma, with a special interest in immunotherapy. Dr. Gajewski also leads development of immune-based therapies for other cancers, using new laboratory data on how the immune system is regulated to develop novel clinical trials. His clinical expertise includes biology therapy immunotherapy, epidemiology, immune system disorders, and melanoma.

Dr. Gajewski serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Immunology and is on committees for the American Society for Clinical Oncology and the American Association for Cancer Research. He is a member of the American Society of Immunologists, the American Society of Hematology, and the International Society for the Biological Therapy of Cancer. Dr. Gajewski received his B.A. from the University of Chicago as well as his M.D./Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Pritzer School of Medicine.

Professor, University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Past Chair, MRA Grant Review Committee

Jeffrey E. Gershenwald, MD, FACS, is the Dr. John M. Skibber Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgical Oncology and a Professor in the Department of Cancer Biology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MD Anderson) in Houston, Texas. He is also the Medical Director of the MD Anderson Melanoma and Skin Center.

Dr. Gershenwald received his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College, and after completing his general surgery residency at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, he completed a fellowship in Surgical Oncology at MD Anderson before joining its faculty.

In addition to his active surgical oncology practice focused on the care of patients with melanoma, Dr. Gershenwald's research focuses on integrated clinical-, pathological-, and molecular-based prognostic and predictive modeling in melanoma. He currently co-leads the inaugural MD Anderson Melanoma Moon Shot research program, an ambitious initiative that spans the melanoma continuum from public policy and prevention research initiatives to reduce ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure in youth to leveraging our understanding of the molecular and immune underpinnings of melanoma to improve treatment options for patients with early-stage and advanced melanoma.

Dr. Gershenwald is a member of the Executive Committee of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) and its 8th edition Editorial Board, and Chair of its Melanoma Expert Panel.

He serves as a member of the Surgical Oncology Board of the American Board of Surgery. Recently, Dr. Gershenwald co-led the melanoma project of The NIH-funded Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program. He has published more than 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals, as well as more than 100 editorials, abstracts, invited articles, and other publications; for the past 13 years, Dr. Gershenwald has been listed in America’s Best Doctors.

Attending Physician, Medical Oncology, 
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute 
Assistant Professor 
Harvard Medical School

Dr. Haq is a graduate of the University of Toronto, where he completed his B.Sc. (Hon), and MD/PhD. His PhD was at the Ontario Cancer Institute/Princess Margaret Hospital in the laboratory of Dr Brent Zanke. He completed his clinical training in internal medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, followed by medical oncology training at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital. He joined the laboratory of Dr David E. Fisher, where he conducted translational work in the melanoma; and was an attending oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital.

He was recruited back to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in 2014. His research focuses on resistance to melanoma therapies, including targeted agents and immunotherapies. He has been a contributing author of numerous high profile publications, including those published in Cancer Cell, Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. At Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Dr. Haq devotes part of his time to developing the next generation of melanoma therapeutics and translating them to innovative investigator-initiated clinical trials. His clinical practice is dedicated to patients with melanoma.

Professor and the David Bruton, Jr. Chair in Ophthalmology, UT Southwestern Medical Center
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

J. William Harbour, M.D., a pioneering ocular oncologist and cancer researcher whose genetic discoveries are transforming the diagnosis and treatment of uveal melanoma and other eye cancers. He attended Johns Hopkins for medical school, Wills Eye Hospital for residency, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute for retina fellowship, University of California San Francisco for ocular oncology fellowship, and Washington University in St. Louis for post-doctoral cancer research training.

He was on the faculty of Washington University for 16 years, rising to the rank of Distinguished Professor before being recruited to the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute and Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center of the University of Miami in 2012.

He is now the Dr. Mark J. Daily Endowed Professor, Vice Chairman for Translational Research at Bascom Palmer and Associate Director for Basic Research at Sylvester. His research laboratory has been continuously funded for the past 20 years and uses methods in biochemistry, cell biology, genetics, epigenetics and genomics to understand the pathogenesis, identify biomarkers, and discover treatments for eye cancers. His discovery of mutations in BAP1 has triggered to an intense international interest in this tumor suppressor, and his group was the first to show that BAP1 mutations can be transmitted in the germline as part of the newly discovered BAP1 familial cancer syndrome.    

Professor, Department of Pathology
New York University Langone Health

Dr. Hernando-Monge obtained her PhD in Sciences (Molecular Biology) at the Universidad Autónoma (Madrid, Spain) in 1999. She conducted her post-doctoral studies at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and Cold Spring Harbor laboratories, co-supervised by Carlos Cordon-Cardo, MD PhD, and Scott W. Lowe, PhD. She joined the Department of Pathology at NYU School of Medicine in 2006 where she is currently a tenured professor and assistant dean for research integration.

She has served as vicechair for the Department of Pathology and associate director for basic science for the Perlmutter Cancer Center, an NCI-designated Cancer Center. She has published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles, including reports at Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Cell Biology and Cancer Cell. She is a permanent member of the Cancer Molecular Pathobiology [CAMP] NIH Study Section. In her free time, she enjoys traveling and visiting NYC parks and museums with her husband and two children.

Professor, University of Lausanne

Dr. Ping-Chih Ho is a cancer immunologist, and his research focuses on immunometabolism in T cells and macrophages. His laboratory explores how the metabolic crosstalk between cancer cells and tumor-infiltrating immune cells shapes the immunosuppressive microenvironment that helps tumors evade immune clearance. The lab's ultimate goal is to exploit this knowledge to develop interventions to reprogram the tumor microenvironment, reverse immunosuppression and broaden and boost the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy.

Dr. Ho's interests in cancer biology and signaling cascades began during his undergraduate and postgraduate training toward a master’s degree at National Taiwan University and grew over the course of his graduate studies toward a PhD at the University of Minnesota. During his postdoctoral training with Susan Kaech at Yale University, Dr. Ho focused on how T cells utilize aerobic glycolysis to support productive T cell immune responses and demonstrated how cancer cells evade T cell immunosurveillance.

Dr. Ho was recruited as an adjunct Ludwig scientist and tenure-track assistant professor in the Department of Oncology at the University of Lausanne in 2015 and became a full member of the Ludwig Institute in 2023, when he was promoted to full professor at the University of Lausanne.

His work is establishing a fundamental understanding of how tumor cells evade immunosurveillance through their metabolism, and how we can preprogram the metabolic machinery of immune cells to improve immunotherapy. His work is also delineating links between metabolic processes, signaling cascades and epigenetic programming in the activation and differentiation of T cells and macrophages.

Dr. Ho has receive several awards, including the Swiss Bridge Award, Anna Fuller Award, Cancer Research Institute-CLIP investigator award, Melanoma Research Alliance-SITC Young investigator Award and a European Research Council Starting Grant. He was recently named a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization’s Young Investigator Programme, and is also a member of the editorial board of the journal Immunometabolism.

Chair, Department of Dermatology, VA Maryland Health Care System
Associate Professor, Dermatology & Associate Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology UM
Associate Chief of Staff, Research & Development, VA Maryland Health Care System
University of Maryland School of Medicine

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Dr. Hornyak is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Dermatology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, and Associate Chief of Staff for Research & Development, VA Maryland Health Care System. His research activities are focused upon melanocyte developmental and stem cell biology and melanoma epigenetics, and he maintains a clinical interest and practice in pigmented lesions and melanoma. He is also currently the President of the Pan-American Society for Pigment Cell Research. He obtained his A.B. in Music from Princeton and his M.D. degree and Ph.D. degree in Biological Chemistry from The University of Michigan Medical School. He completed an internship in medicine at The New York Hospital - Cornell University Medical Center and a residency in dermatology at New York University Medical Center.

Associate Professor of Medicine
Director of Solid Tumor Immunotherapy
Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah

Dr. Siwen Hu-Lieskovan is an Associate Professor of Medicine, and Director of Solid Tumor Immunotherapy at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah. She received her Hematology/Oncology Fellowship training at UCLA and held a faculty position there after fellowship. She is a board-certified oncologist with clinical focus on melanoma/skin cancers and early phase testing of cancer immunotherapies in solid tumors. She is experienced with protocol development and conduct of immunotherapy-based clinical trials, and has been a principal investigator of industry-, investigator- and cooperative group-initiated clinical trials testing immune checkpoint inhibitors, oncolytic viruses, cancer vaccines and other immune-modulatory agents, as well as cell therapy with genetically modified T cells and hematopoietic stem cells.

Dr. Hu-Lieskovan chairs the SWOG Immunotherapeutics Committee. She is a study chair and translational lead of several cross-NCTN protocols initiated by SWOG, including the immunoMATCH trial. She has been a scientific advisor on cancer immunotherapy drug development strategies for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry.

Dr. Hu-Lieskovan is a physician scientist with research focus on characterization of tumor immune microenvironment, development of biomarkers to predict response and resistance to immunotherapies, and combination strategies to overcome immune resistance, by studying patient-derived clinical samples and immune-competent (syngeneic) animal models. In the past, she and her research teams made contributions in understanding the role of driver mutations in oncogenesis and immune evasion, mechanisms of response and resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors, and developing novel drug delivery systems.

She led the first studies showing efficacy of nanoparticle delivered siRNA targeting oncogenes in treating metastatic cancers, and synergistic effect of combining BRAF and MEK inhibitors with immunotherapy in BRAF mutant melanoma.

Vivian and Seymour Milstein Family Associate Professor of Medicine 
Director, Human Immune Monitoring Core 
Columbia University Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center

Benjamin Izar, MD, PhD is an assistant professor of medicine at the Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in the division of Hematology/Oncology and a member of the Tumor Biology and Microenvironment Program at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Izar’s clinical practice focuses on melanoma and cancer immunotherapy. In his lab, Dr. Izar studies interactions between cancer cells and cells of the tumor-microenvironment, and how these define metastatic niches, response and resistance to cancer immunotherapies.  His lab develops and uses cutting-edge single-cell genomics and genome-editing tools to study patient tumors and models at unprecedented resolution

Dr. Izar received his MD/PhD at Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Germany, where he was graduated  summa cum laude . He completed his internal medicine residency training at Massachusetts General Hospital and medical oncology training at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, followed by his first faculty position at Danna-Farber Cancer Institute. He completed post-doctoral research training in cancer immunology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
In addition to several awards he received during his training, Dr. Izar is the recipient of multiple national awards, including a NIH/NCI K08 Award (2017) and the prestigious Burroughs Welcome Fund Career Award for Medical Scientists (2018), and he was selected as a NextGen Star of the American Association for Cancer Research (2019). In 2020, he was selected as a Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Scholar and a Velocity Fellow by Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Izar is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, and the Society for Melanoma Research.

Professor, Vice Chair for Clinical and Translational Research, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Miami
University of Michigan

Dr. Lombard performed his doctoral studies with Dr. Lenny Guarente (MIT), a pioneer in sirtuin biology. After Pathology residency, Dr. Lombard pursued postdoctoral work in Dr. Fred Alt’s laboratory (HHMI), where he studied the sirtuins SIRT3 and SIRT6, supported by an NIA/NIH K08 award.

Dr. Lombard was the first to describe a central role for SIRT3 in regulating mitochondrial protein acetylation (cited >900 times per Google Scholar). Subsequent studies have revealed that SIRT3 is a major player in regulating metabolism, cancer, and cardiac health. He set up his independent lab at the U-M in 2008.

Among Dr. Lombard’s most significant more recent contributions have been describing SIRT6’s tumor suppressor function via metabolic regulation (Cell); and novel aspects of mitochondrial regulation by SIRT5 (Molecular Cell). He is a member of the Aging Cell and JBC editorial boards. He was named a New Scholar in Aging of the Ellison Medical Foundation, a member of The American Society for Clinical Investigation, the contact PI on a Melanoma Research Alliance Team Science project, a Scholar-Innovator of the Harrington Discovery Institute, a recipient of an AACR Innovation and Discovery award, and a regular member of the NIH study section CMAD.

He serves as Director of the Cancer Biology doctoral program at the U-M, supported by T32CA009676. He also serves as Deputy Site Director for the NIA-funded Interventions Testing Program, which identifies small molecules that extend mouse health span and longevity.

Head, Center for Melanoma and Cancer Immunotherapy
Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center

Michal Lotem, MD. Graduate of Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University; Board certified in Dermatology (1993) and Clinical and Radiation Oncology (1997). Post-doctoral research fellowship at the Surgery Branch, NCI, Bethesda, Md, USA. Prof. Michal Lotem combines intensive clinical work with scientific translational research. She is conducting anti-cancer vaccination protocols, adoptive cell therapy using tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and adoption of TCR-transduced cell therapy to the clinic. The Lotem's Lab is studying SLAM (signaling lymphocyte associated molecules) family of receptors, as targets for cancer immunotherapy.

Associate Professor, Division of Surgical Oncology 
Emory University School of Medicine
Disease Team Lead and Chair, Melanoma Working Group
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
Associate Chief Scientific Officer, Clinical Research
Woodruff Health Sciences Center and Emory Healthcare

Michael C. Lowe, MD, MA, is associate professor in the Division of Surgical Oncology of the Department of Surgery at Emory University School of Medicine and serves as disease team lead and chair of the Melanoma Working Group at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. A board-certified surgical oncologist, Dr. Lowe's primary focus is in cutaneous oncology and specializes in the treatment of cutaneous malignancies including melanoma, basal cell carcinoma and Merkel cell carcinoma.

Dr. Lowe received his MD and graduated cum laude from Georgetown University School of Medicine. He served as administrative chief resident during the final year of his general surgery residency at the Emory Department of Surgery. He joined the Emory faculty after completing a fellowship in complex general surgical oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Lowe received several awards during his training years, including the Young Investigator Award of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons in 2011 and 2012.

Deputy Director, Meyer Cancer Center 
Professor of Pharmacology and Professor of Immunology Research in Medicine
Margaret and Herman Sokol Professor of Oncology Research  
Weill Cornell Medicine

Dr. Taha Merghoub is the Deputy Director of the Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM), New York. He is also Professor of Pharmacology, Professor of Immunology Research in Medicine and Margaret and Herman Sokol Professor of Oncology Research at Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM), New York. He is the director of the Ludwig collaborative and swim across America laboratory at WCM. He received his BA degree from the University of Algiers, Algeria, and MS and PhD degrees with highest distinction from University of Paris, France. His thesis work focused on the study of genetic polymorphism in fetal hemoglobin gene in patients with sickle cell anemia and thalassemia. His findings provided insight to the correlation of genotypes and phenotypes in sickle cell anemia and thalassemia. After graduation, he pursued his postdoctoral research with Dr. Pier Paolo Pandolfi at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). He characterized the transcriptional properties of the Pokemon (Zbtb7) gene and its role during development. He also played an active role in the generation of laboratory models for acute promyelocytic leukemia and furthered his knowledge and experience in genetics. He subsequently joined Alan Houghton laboratory as a Senior Research Scientist where he started studying tumor immunity. He developed mouse models of melanoma that mimic different stages of human disease clinically, pathologically and genetically, later evaluating new immunotherapies at different stages of tumor progression. He then became an assistant attending biologist in the melanoma and sarcoma service and assumed the direction of a research laboratory in partnership with Dr. Wolchok. He successively became associate attending in the melanoma and immunotherapeutic service to then become a full member in the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program (HOPP) department at MSK. He was also a Parker Institute member researcher and led the Melanoma disease management team (DMT) and the Immunotherapeutic group tissue bank at MSK. He was appointed in his current role at WCM in September 2022. He directs a translational tumor immunology laboratory at WCM. His current research projects focus on investigating the means for developing immune-based therapies to treat cancer. In addition, some of his work aims to study the pathogenesis and treatment of melanoma and is directed in part at developing tools to study melanoma and immune responses in multiple cancers. His projects are heavily collaborative in nature, within the institution and across different disciplines with multiple entities. His projects can be divided into the following categories: 1) overcoming resistance to immune checkpoint blockade therapy by modulating the immune system; 2) using the immune modulatory properties of modalities that target and kill tumor cells directly; 3) defining biomarkers and genetic determinants of response to immune therapy; and 4) developing a tissue repository for the immunotherapy and melanoma groups. Dr. Merghoub's findings have been published in prestigious journals including Science, Nature, Cell, Nature Medicine, Nature Immunology, Cancer Cell. He has an h-index of 75, over 35 830 citations which is considered at the top2% worldwide.

Dr. Merghoub participated in multiple actions and initiatives to build bridges between the United States and Algeria. Over the years, he contributed to multiple organization including the Algerian American Foundation for Culture, Education, Science and Technology (AAF-CEST). He served on the board of the AAF-CEST from 2014 to 2021 and as AAF-CEST president from 2017 to 2020.

Chief, Melanoma Service
Co-Director, Melanoma Disease Management Team
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Dr. Postow is the Chief of the Melanoma Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), where his practice is devoted solely to the care of people with melanoma. Dr. Postow leads an outstanding group of medical oncologists, nurses, and researchers with world-leading expertise in the treatment and management of melanoma. Many FDA-approved therapies for patients with melanoma were developed by Dr. Postow's team, including the combination of nivolumab (Opdivo®) and ipilimumab (Yervoy®). The regimen has since been recognized as a major scientific advance in melanoma by The American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Associate Professor, Department of Oncological Sciences
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Precision Immunology Institute
The Tisch Cancer Institute

Dr. Poulikos I. Poulikakos is a biochemist and a cancer biologist whose research is focused on regulation of oncogenic signaling and tumor sensitivity and resistance to targeted cancer therapeutics. He completed his doctoral studies in Athens, Greece and he then moved for postdoctoral training first to Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia and subsequently to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center New York.

During the course of that work, he brought to light hitherto underappreciated aspects of kinase regulation, controlled by conformational switch and dimerization, as well as novel mechanisms of resistance to drugs targeting MAPK signaling (BRAF and MEK inhibitors) in melanoma and other cancers. He subsequently developed a mechanistic model that explains and predicts the biochemical effects of diverse inhibitors based on their structural properties, thus enabling the use of specific inhibitors tailored for clinical contexts.

The long-term goal of his research group is to improve our understanding on the role of signal transduction networks in tumor resistance to targeted therapies and in tumor immunity, to help the design of more effective cancer therapies. The research program of his laboratory is focused on several important areas. They investigate oncogenic signaling by studying the effects of blocking the network at various points (RTK, SHP2, RAF, MEK, ERK, CDK4/6) on signaling and they are developing strategies to overcome adaptive and acquired resistance to these drugs, a major limitation in current therapeutic approaches to cancer.

Secondly, they investigate the effect of targeted cancer therapies on immune signaling and on tumor immunity, with the goal of developing more effective integrated therapeutic strategies. Finally, they investigate novel approaches to target oncogenic signaling more broadly, using alternative pharmacologic approaches and next generation proteasome-targeted technologies.

Professor, Medicine; Professor, Surgery; Professor, Molecular and medical Pharmacology
Director, Turmor Immunology Program, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC)
Chair, Melanoma Committee, SWOG
University of California, Los Angeles

Antoni Ribas, M.D., Ph.D. is a Professor of Medicine, Surgery, and Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). He trained at the University of Barcelona, Spain, with postdoctoral research and clinical fellowship at UCLA. He is the Director of the Tumor Immunology Program at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) and the Chair of the Melanoma Committee at SWOG.

Dr. Ribas is also a permanent committee member of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant review panels and an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI). As a physician-scientist, Dr Ribas conducts laboratory and clinical research in malignant melanoma, focusing on adoptive cell transfer with T cell receptor (TCR) engineered lymphocytes, anti-CTLA4 antibodies, BRAF-targeted therapies and nanoparticle-siRNA.

Associate Professor, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)
Director, International Laboratory for Human Genome Research (LIIGH)

Carla Daniela Robles-Espinoza is Associate Professor and Director at the International Laboratory for Human Genome Research (LIIGH), National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She studied a BSc in genome sciences at UNAM and a PhD in cancer genetics at the University of Cambridge, UK. Her research focuses on using large-scale sequencing data for investigating the driver alterations, risk factors and potential therapeutic targets of types of cancer important in Mexico and Latin America, such as acral melanoma and hepatocellular carcinoma. She has been a Newton Advanced Fellow (Academy of Medical Sciences, UK) and an International Fellow (Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK) and has received the Christopher Marshall Award (Society for Melanoma Research, USA) and Scholar Award (Forbeck Research Foundation, USA).

Professor, Surgery; Vice Chair, Research, Department of Surgery
Director, UVA Cancer Center Human Immune Therapy Center
Co-Chair, Melanoma Committee of ECOG
The University of Virginia

Dr. Craig Slingluff is the Joseph Helms Farrow Professor of Surgery at UVA Health System, where he serves as the vice-chair for research in the Department of Surgery, director of the UVA Cancer Center Human Immune Therapy Center, and co-chair of the Melanoma Committee of ECOG. He has 20 years of experience as a surgical oncologist and as an independent investigator in cancer immunology and immunotherapy, all at UVA.

His research work includes laboratory studies and clinical trials, focused primarily on developing melanoma vaccines and combination immunotherapy, with extensive correlative studies. Since 1996, he has run 19 investigator-initiated clinical trials, most of which have been for melanoma vaccines, especially involving melanoma peptides. These studies have all included intensive immunologic correlates based on evaluating immunologic response in multiple tissue compartments. A major focus of his work now is on characterizing the metastatic melanoma microenvironment, especially including the molecular mediators of immune dysfunction versus tumor rejection.

As a surgical oncologist, he facilitates collection of human tumor tissue for research, and has collected a large human tissue resource for ongoing and future correlative studies. This includes tumor microarrays linked to clinical outcome data. He is dedicated to development of new technologies and therapies for melanoma and other cancers. He has mentored over 20 research fellows and he has been funded continuously by the National Cancer Institute for 20 years for his work in translational and clinical research.

Professor and Director of the Melanoma and Skin Cancers Center of Excellence
Moffitt Cancer Center

Dr. Smalley completed his PhD in Pharmacology at the University of Cambridge in 2000, before switching to work on melanoma as a post-doc at University College London, UK. He moved to the US in 2003 and worked for 5 years with Meenhard Herlyn at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia. In 2008, he started his lab at the Moffitt Cancer Center with a focus on drug resistance in melanoma. Today his lab has wide ranging interests across the melanoma spectrum including cutaneous melanoma, melanoma brain metastases, acral melanoma, uveal melanoma and pediatric melanoma.

Director, Marie-Josee & Henry R. Kravis Center for Molecular Oncology
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Dr. Solit is a medical oncologist and laboratory scientist specializing in the treatment of many cancers using chemotherapy, targeted therapies, immunotherapy, or combinations of these drugs. He is involved with clinical trials, particularly trials of targeted drugs known as kinase inhibitors that block pathways inside cancer cells that cause the cells to grow or spread. Dr. Solit directs the Center for Molecular Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and leads a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, geneticists, bioinformaticians, and laboratory scientists.  

Dr. Solit received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania, completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital and a fellowship in medical hematology/oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Professor, Dermatology
Assistant Chief, Dermatology Service
Director, Pigmented Lesion & Melanoma Program
Physician Leader, Cancer Care Program in Cutaneous Oncology
Stanford University Medical Center & Cancer Institute

Susan M. Swetter, MD, is Professor of Dermatology and Director of the Pigmented Lesion and Melanoma Program at Stanford University Medical Center and Cancer Institute, as well as Physician Leader of the Cancer Care Program in Cutaneous Oncology. Dr Swetter received her BA with Distinction from the University of Virginia and her MD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She completed an internship in internal medicine at University of California San Francisco, followed by a residency and a chief residency in dermatology at Stanford University Medical Center. She joined the Stanford Dermatology faculty in 1994 and has directed the Pigmented Lesion and Melanoma Programs at Stanford and VA Palo Alto since 1995.

Dr. Swetter’s research interests include primary and secondary prevention strategies in melanoma and clinical studies of melanoma epidemiology, prognostic factors, and chemoprevention. She serves on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Melanoma Panel and chairs the American Academy of Dermatology melanoma clinical practice guidelines Work Group. Dr. Swetter is the national dermatologist liaison to the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group’s Melanoma Committee and co-directs the Melanoma Prevention Working Group, a multi-center Intergroup collaboration dedicated to cancer control and melanoma prevention.

Associate Professor, Molecular and Cellular Oncogenesis Program 
The Wistar Institute

Dr. Villanueva studies the molecular signaling pathways that become deregulated in melanoma with the goal of identifying suitable targets for therapy, particularly for tumors with limited therapeutic options.

Dr. Villanueva received her Bachelor of Science degree in biology at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in her native Peru. She then enrolled in the graduate program at University of Miami School of Medicine and she earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology. She pursued postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine where she began her research on melanoma. Dr. Villanueva joined The Wistar Institute as a postdoctoral fellow in the Herlyn laboratory, and was later appointed assistant professor in the molecular and cellular oncogenesis program.

Associate Professor, Dermatology
Massachusetts General Hospital

Before joining the faculty of MGH/HMS, Xu was a PI and Director of Biological Chemistry at Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) for six years. He has been working on chemical biology and drug discovery for regenerative medicine and cancer.

Chair, Cancer Immunology and Virology
Professor, Immunology, Harvard Medical School
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Dr. Wucherpfennig is a leader in cancer immunology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. He serves as chair of the Department of Cancer Immunology and Virology at the Dana-Farber and is the co-leader of the Cancer Immunology Program of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center.

Dr. Wucherpfennig has worked in the T cell immunology field for more than 30 years, with a focus on the molecular mechanisms of antigen presentation and T cell recognition. His lab has defined key features of T cell receptor recognition of peptide-MHC complexes at a structural, biochemical and cellular level, and has also defined the molecular mechanisms responsible for the assembly of the T cell receptor – CD3 complex which is composed of six distinct chains. He showed that the polar interactions among the transmembrane domains that guide TCR-CD3 assembly are also highly relevant for many other receptors in the immune system. Most recently, his lab developed an in vivo shRNA screen to discover key negative regulators of T cell function in the tumor microenvironment. These genes are studied at a mechanistic level and are used as therapeutic targets to improve the efficacy of adoptive T cell therapy against solid tumors.

Associate Professor, Dermatology and Pathology
University of California, San Francisco

Dr. Iwei Yeh is a dermatologist and a dermatopathologist, a specialist in diagnosing skin cancer and other skin disorders by analyzing samples under a microscope. With her colleagues in the Clinical Cancer Genomics Laboratory, she studies mutations in cancer to propose novel therapies for patients with advanced disease.

Yeh's research focuses on understanding the genetics of melanoma to improve treatment for advanced melanoma by studying the genetic changes that occur in melanocytic tumors – which start as benign moles or birthmarks and develop into melanoma – with the goal of providing more accurate diagnoses and additional treatment options.

After earning a bachelor's degree in biochemical sciences at Harvard College, Yeh earned her medical degree and a doctorate in biomedical informatics at Stanford University School of Medicine. She completed a residency in dermatology at the University of Washington and a fellowship in dermatopathology at UCSF.