• Michael A. Curran, PhD

    Dr. Curran is an Assistant Professor of Immunology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is scientific director of the Oncology Research for Biologics and Immunotherapy Translation (ORBIT) platform, which coordinates development and production of clinical immunotherapeutic antibodies based on novel targets and preclinical reagents originating at MD Anderson. He also heads an independent laboratory at MD Anderson, where his group studies the origins of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment and how it can be disrupted to facilitate immune-mediated tumor rejection.

    Dr. Curran completed B.A. degrees in biology and foreign affairs and a minor in computer science at the University of Virginia and received a PhD in immunology from Stanford University. Dr. Curran completed his postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of James P. Allison, PhD, where he was the first recipient of the prestigious American Cancer Society Levy Fellowship. He is also a recipient of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer’s prestigious Presidential Award.

  • David G. DeNardo, PhD

    Dr. DeNardo is Professor of Medicine, Pathology & Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis. His research is focused on understanding how immune responses shape and are shaped by malignancies. This includes investigating efforts to enhance response to conventional, targeted or immunotherapy treatment approaches. Dr. DeNardo’s research aims to understand the impact of fibrosis on responses to immunotherapy and understanding the effects of macrophage origin on tumor fibrosis, immunity, and regulation of tumor progression. In addition, his work seeks to understand defects in dendritic cell development and trafficking in cancer patients as well as targeting macrophages to unlock responsiveness to immunotherapy.

  • Mike Gallatin, PhD

    Mike brings over 35 years of experience as a scientist and executive to the OncoResponse Scientific Advisory Board. He is a member of Frazier Healthcare Partners' Life Sciences team, has co-founded Calistoga (acquired by Gilead) and Stromedix (acquired by Biogen Idec) and served as President of Calistoga, which was the first company to demonstrate the clinical benefit of an isoform selective PI3K (idelalisib) inhibitor in hematologic malignancies. That drug, under the brand name Zydelig, received approvals from both the FDA and EMA in 2014 to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia and follicular lymphoma. Mike was one of the founding scientists at ICOS Corporation, where he served as VP and Scientific Director. Mike's responsibilities at ICOS included discovery, preclinical research, medicinal chemistry, and process chemistry groups including those that helped generate and support the worldwide registration and launch of Cialis. Earlier, Mike developed expertise in the fields of immunology/inflammation and oncology while on the faculty at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. Mike has also been a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Keystone Symposia, Caprion, and the University of Texas Department of Chemistry.

    Mike is currently is a member of the Therapeutic Advisory Board for FH V company AnaptysBio and is a member of the Board of Directors of EpiThany, Inc. Mike also serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Benaroya Research Institute and is co-chairman of the University of Washington CoMotion Advisory Board for Therapeutics and Diagnostics. Mike received his PhD from the University of Alberta Department of Immunology. His doctoral research focused on genetic resistance to virally induced neoplastic disease and invasive mechanisms, including the first description of antigen gain associated with organ-specific tumor metastasis. While a Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell and American Cancer Society fellow at Stanford University in the lab of Irving Weissman, Mike discovered the first cell adhesion molecule implicated in site selective leukocyte traffic.

  • David Hong, MD

    Dr. Hong is an Associate Professor and Deputy Chair in the Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics (Phase I Program) at MD Anderson Cancer Center. The approach of the department is unique with an emphasis on molecular characterization of each patient’s tumor and personalized therapy in the Phase I setting. Dr. Hong has extensive expertise in drug development for combination therapy and patient populations with other major comorbidities, a clinical reality for many lung cancer patients due to association with smoking and advanced age (Islam KMM et al 2015). For example, he served as investigator on a recently completed combination drug trial that included cancer patients with diabetes (Busaidy N et al 2015). He has published extensively on the clinical investigation of combination drug therapy, including multiple studies involving antibody therapeutics and/or immuno-oncology drugs (Hong DS et al 2014, Hong DS et al 2015).Throughout his career, Dr. Hong has developed an interest in studying the efficacy of novel drug combinations in patients with solid tumors. Recently his research endeavors have focused on developing personalized therapies for patients, whose tumors bear specific genetic mutations/amplifications and combining targeted therapies with immunotherapies. He has demonstrated the ability to successfully place patients on clinical trials, manage toxicities and oversee the correlative studies associated with various phase I research projects.

  • Miriam Merad, MD, PhD

    Dr. Merad is the Director of the Precision Immunology Institute at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and the Director of the Mount Sinai Human Immune Monitoring Center (HIMC), which she founded. She is an internationally acclaimed physician-scientist and a leader in the fields of dendritic cell and macrophage biology, focusing on their contributions to human diseases. Dr. Merad has authored over 200 peer-reviewed papers and reviews in high profile journals and belongs to several NIH consortia. She is a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the recipient of the William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic and Tumor Immunology. She is President-elect of the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS). In 2020, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of her contributions to the field of immunology.

  • Anil Singhal, PhD

    Dr. Singhal is the former Vice President of Early Oncology Development at AbbVie and Head of AbbVie-Redwood City site. During his tenure at AbbVie, he oversaw the global regulatory approvals of Empliciti in multiple myeloma and Zinbryta in multiple sclerosis. As a member of the R&D leadership team, he helped to build an impressive portfolio and key translational science capabilities in oncology, immunology and other diseases. Dr. Singhal has held senior roles in the US, Japanese and German biopharma / biotechnology industry for over 30 years leading to the approval of Prosorba in rheumatoid arthritis and talaporfin sodium in non-small cell lung cancer. Prior to his industry tenure, he was Assistant Research Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and concurrent with the industry role, Adjunct Associate Professor at University of Washington.

    Dr. Singhal is passionate about the translation of novel science into transforming medicines for cancer patients. He holds a PhD from Wakesman Institute of Rutgers University and an Executive MBA from University of Washington.

  • James Welsh, MD

    James W. Welsh, MD, Head of Immuno Radiation, is a Tenured Physician Scientist and faculty member at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Welsh started his oncology career in the Department of Molecular Oncology at Genentech Inc., at an exciting time when some of the first personalized target therapies were developed. While at Genentech he helped to discover and clone the Wnt-Induced secreted proteins (WISP) family of oncogenes. He later attended Dartmouth Medical School, and completed a residency in radiation oncology at the University of Arizona, where he helped develop a novel drug targeting c-Met kinase (MP-470). At MD Anderson, Dr. Welsh is the director of the immune radiation program, with has goal of using radiation to turn the tumor into an “in-situ” vaccine in order to prime T cells, turning radiation into a systemic therapy. Being able to both see patients and run a lab has provided insights on how to improve patient care which have resulted in the founding of three new companies Healios Oncology, MolecularMatch and OncoResponse.