Phase One

Medical Advisory Board

	Robert Figlin, M.D. F.A.C.P. is the Associate Director of the Academic Development Program and Director of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Cedars-Sinai's Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute. He is board-certified in both medical oncology and internal medicine. Dr. Figlin previously served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Medical Oncology and Therapeutic Research at City of Hope. He also was affiliated with the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for more than 20 years, where he held a number of leadership positions in the areas of urologic cancer, hematology/oncology and thoracic oncology. Dr. Figlin is a prolific researcher known for advancing urologic and lung cancer therapies. His expertise has resulted in the development of novel anti-cancer drugs that have led to improved outcomes for patients. Dr. Figlin has written more than 300 peer-reviewed publications, authored several books on kidney cancer and published more than 60 book chapters on new approaches to cancer treatment. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the International Society for Biologic Therapy as well as a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Association for Cancer Research, the National Comprehensive Cancer Center Network and the American Urological Association. Dr. Figlin earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Temple University where he also earned a graduate degree in organic chemistry. He earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania. Dr. Figlin served his internship and residency at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where he was Chief Medical Resident and completed a fellowship in hematology/oncology at UCLA.
	Stephen J. Forman, M.D. has been Chair, Division of Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope National Medical Center and Program Director, Hematologic Neoplasia, City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center since 1987. He first joined City of Hope in 1979 after completing a fellowship there. He did his undergraduate studies at St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland and attended medical school at the University of Southern California In addition to serving on the Phase One Medical Advisory Board, he is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Cure for Lymphoma Foundation, a member of the Scientific Subcommittee of Transplant Biology for The American Society of Hematology, Chairman of the Marrow and Stem Cell Committee for the Southwest Oncology Group, and a member of the Gene Therapy Advisory Council, City of Hope and Beckman Research Institute.
	Philip H. Koeffler, M.D. is a Professor of Medicine at UCLA School of Medicine and is Director of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He did his undergraduate training at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and then attended Baylor College of Medicine for Medical School Training. He completed his internship and residency at the University of Southern California, and his fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at UCLA. He went through the professorial ranks from Assistant Professor to Full Professor at UCLA from 1978 to 1986, and in 1992, he moved his laboratory to a large research area at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He has over 600 peer-reviewed scientific articles published or in press and over 75 chapters in medical scientific books. Dr. Koeffler uses cellular and molecular biology to ask cancer-related questions. He has large tissue banks for many different cancers including brain, breast, lung and leukemias and lymphomas. He has well over 100 different cancer cell lines frozen viably and at any one time perhaps 30 of these cell lines are growing in the laboratory. In addition, he frequently uses mice (nude, transgenic, and deletional). Some of his major accomplishments include: being the first lab to identify p53 to be mutated in human cancer; being one of three labs to identify p53 as a transcription factor; developing one of the first human myeloid leukemia cell lines (KG-1) which has over the years has become a model to study leukemia (these cells were used to clone, for the first time, the alpha interferon gene and to make the CD34 antibody which has been used to purify hematopoietic stem cells); being first to develop a cell line (KS-1) infected with Karposi's Sarcoma associated virus (HHV-8), but not infected with either Epstein Barr Virus or human immunodeficiency virus; being first to clone cyclin A1, a protein involved in cell cycle progression and performing experiments to understand the protein's biology; being first to clone and study transferrin-2 and receiving a patent on various aspects of this protein which is important in iron metabolism, and if mutated, causes hemachromatosis; being first to clone a myeloid transcription factor known as C/EBP, a protein critical for myeloid (white) cell development (Dr. Koeffler's lab was one of two labs to first identify the genetic abnormality in patients with "Specific Granule Deficiency" disease - germline mutation of C/EBPand one of two labs first to identify mutations in C/EBP in acute myelogenous leukemia. He also noted that the gene was silenced in a number of other cancer subtypes, a discovery that lends itself to become a therapeutic target).
	Heinz-Josef Lenz, M.D. is a Professor of Medicine and Professor of Preventive Medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC). He is Co-director of both the Colorectal Center and the Gastrointestinal (GI) Oncology Program, as well as is Scientific Director of the Cancer Genetics Unit at USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles. Dr. Lenz received his medical degree from Johannes-Gutenberg University 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 Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and a clerkship in hematology at Beth Israel Hospital of Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass. He served subsequent fellowships in biochemistry and molecular biology at the 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, determination of carcinogenesis, and methods of early detection and better surveillance of these cancers. He is a member of several professional societies such as the American Association for Cancer Research, American Gastroenterological Association, and National Society of Genetic Counselors. He also serves on the national advisory board of a number of professional organizations. A Fellow of the American College of Physicians, Dr. Lenz is the author of numerous peer-reviewed publications and invited papers, reviews and editorials. In addition to having a National Cancer Institute-funded laboratory, he is a recipient of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Young Investigator Award, ASCO Career Development Award, and the STOP CANCER organization's Career Development Award. He has been listed in the BestDoctors.com database since 2003.
	Frank L. Meyskens, Jr., M.D., F.A.C.P. is Professor of Medicine and Biological Chemistry, Director of the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Senior Associate/Dean of Health Sciences for the College of Health Science at UC Irvine. He was originally recruited to UC Irvine in 1989 as Professor of Medicine and Biological Chemistry and to serve as Medical Director of Oncology Services and Chief of Hematology/Oncology with the mandate to develop a Cancer Center. He received his M.D. and interned at the University of California, San Francisco, and completed his Medical Oncology training at the National Institutes of Health, during which time he conducted molecular biology investigations in the Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology. Since 1977, he has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health. Prior to UCI, Dr. Meyskens was at the Arizona Cancer Center at the University of Arizona where he served as Associate Director of Cancer Prevention and Control, from 1984 to 1989, and established one of the most successful Cancer Prevention Research Programs in the world. While at Arizona, he was Principal Investigator of the Vitamin A and Chemoprevention Program Project (PO1 CA 27502) and the PO1 CA41108 Program Project for the study of colon cancer and prevention. He has established a similar chemopreventive effort at UCI and is conducting phase I, II, III and IV chemopreventive trials supported by the NCI and NIH. His current major efforts also include accrual to a phase IIb trial of Bowman-Birk Inhibitor in oral leukoplakia, a phase IIb/III cohort of patients at risk for colon polyps treated with DFMO plus sulindac versus placebo, and a unique natural history, epidemiology and chemoprevention study of patients at high risk of prostate cancer based on familial background. All studies have extensive translational components and are funded by the National Cancer Institute. Additionally, for over 25 years he has conducted active clinical and laboratory research into the cellular and molecular mechanisms of transformation of human melanocyte and melanoma cells and he is recognized as one of the premier clinical and experimental oncologists concerned with melanoma.