Principal Investigator
Clinical Trial Core
Genomic Core
Proteomic Core
Pharmacogenomic Core
Pathology Core
Biostatistics and Data Management Core
Patient Advocacy Core
George Sledge, MD
Indiana University
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George W. Sledge, Jr., M.D. is Professor of Medicine and Pathology at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is also Ballve-Lantero Professor of Oncology at the Indiana University School of Medicine and is Co-Director of the Breast Cancer Program, at the Department of Medicine.
Dr Sledge is Chairman of the Breast Cancer Committee, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) one of the largest clinical cancer research organizations in the United States.
Dr Sledge is a member of American Association of Research, as well as the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He currently serves as chair of the ASCO Education Committee, and has previously served as a member of the U.S. Food & Drug Administrations Oncology Drug Advisory Committee (ODAC). He is an active clinical and laboratory researcher and has published over 150 scientific publications during his career.
Kathy Miller, MD
Indiana University
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Jenny Chee Ning Chang, M.D
Baylor College
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Dr. Jenny Chang conducts research in the area of medical oncology, with specific emphasis in the area of breast cancer. She received her medical degree from Cambridge University, UK, and a Research Doctorate from the University of London, UK. Dr. Chang completed her residency at St. Vincent?s Hospital, Sydney, Australia and her fellowship at Royal Marsden Hospital, London, UK. She serves as ad hoc reviewer for the study sections of Medical Genetics, Italian Association of Cancer Research and Cancer Biomarkers, and has published in numerous peer-reviewed publications such as Lancet, European Journal of Cancer, Annals of Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, British Journal of Cancer, and Clinical Breast Cancer. Dr. Chang currently serves as Chief of Breast Medical Oncology at Ben Taub General Hospital, Houston, TX, and is an investigator with Baylor College of Medicine.
Bob Hickey, Ph.M., Ph.D.
Indiana University
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Dr. Hickey received a B.A. degree in Chemistry and a Ph.M. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the City University of New York. He did his postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Cell Biology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and then became a Senior Research Associate at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. He subsequently joined the faculty of the University of Maryland School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor in 1990. Dr. Hickey attained the rank of Associate Professor at the University of Maryland in March of 1998. Then in January 2002 Dr. Hickey moved and joined the faculty at the Indiana University School of Medicine where he is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, and is a member of the Indiana University Cancer Center. Dr. Hickey has been invited to participate in a variety of National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Department of Defense (DOD) grant review study sections. These include: permanent membership on the NIH Experimental Therapies I study section, and a variety of DOD Breast and Ovarian Cancer Program grant review panels.
Dr. Hickey was the first person to use a multiprotein complex demonstrated to mediate human cell DNA replication in vitro to examine the molecular mechanisms by which potential anticancer drugs affect DNA synthesis. He has also explored the mechanisms by which certain heavy metal ions induce mutations in human cells. In addition, he developed a novel in vitro assay for measuring the fidelity with which cells replicate their DNA. Dr. Hickey has also evaluated whether the proteins that mediate the repair of DNA contribute to the reduced DNA synthetic fidelity exhibited by breast cancer cells. He continues to use mass spectrometry and other proteomic techniques to analyze the basis for differences in the structure of proteins involved in breast cell DNA replication and repair.
Linda Malkas, M.D.
Indiana University
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Dr. Malkas received an A.S. degree in Engineering, a B.S. in Chemistry and a Ph.M. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the City University of New York. She then was a postdoctoral fellow at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. She subsequently joined the faculty of the University of Maryland School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor in 1990. During her tenure at Maryland she was the first to isolate and characterize a fully functional multiprotein complex from human cells that supports DNA replication in vitro. Dr. Malkas then demonstrated that the DNA replication apparatus of human breast cancer cells mediates an error-prone (mutagenic) DNA synthetic process. She was also able to correlate acquisition of a mutagenic DNA replication mechanism in breast cancer with a modification of a specific protein in the DNA synthetic apparatus. Dr. Malkas is evaluating this protein as a potential biomarker for breast cancer and as a target for cancer therapy. She attained the rank of Full Professor at the University of Maryland in July 2001. While at Maryland she was a member of the Cancer Center and served on its strategic planning committee and as Chair of its internal grant review committee. She also was a co-leader of the University of Maryland Women?s Health Research Group. In January 2002 she joined the faculty at the Indiana University School of Medicine as a Professor of Medicine, and was named the Vera Bradley Chair for Oncology. In March 2002 she was named the co-leader of the Indiana University Cancer Center's Breast Cancer Program. Dr. Malkas' research program has been continuously funded since 1993 by several awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Cancer Institute. She has given a number of plenary and platform presentations at both National and International scientific meetings. Dr. Malkas has been invited to participate in a variety of National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Department of Defense (DOD) grant review study sections. These include: permanent membership on the NIH Experimental Therapies I Study Section (1994-1998) and the newly chartered NCI Cancer Molecular Pathobiology Study Section (2003-2007). She has participated in a variety of NIH Program Project Review Committees and special review panels, a number of DOD Breast Cancer Program grant review panels and chaired a DOD ovarian program project review panel (Sept. 2001). Several projects are currently being pursued in her laboratory and include: (1) full proteomic characterization of the human cell multiprotein DNA replication complex, (2) elucidation of the molecular alterations that occur to the complex as a function of malignancy, with an emphasis on breast cancer, (3) identification of factors responsible for activation and regulation of the DNA replication complex, (4) determining the mechanism of action of anticancer agents that affect cellular DNA synthesis, and (5) identification of novel biomarkers for the early detection of cancer.
Dr. Malkas shares a selfless passion and enthusiasm for research in the battle against cancer with her IU colleagues, including her husband, Robert Hickey, PhD, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology.
Brian Leyland-Jones, M.D., Ph.D.
McGill University
Brian Leyland-Jones holds biochemistry, medical and doctoral degrees from the University of London. He is a fellow of both the ACP and RCPS of Canada. He received the Cheadle Gold Medal in Medicine for research work with Professor Sir William S. Peart. Following house staff training at Hammersmith, Brompton, St. Bartholomew's and London hospitals, he completed both Clinical Pharmacology and Medical Oncology fellowships at Cornell University and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center respectively. He then joined the academic staff at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and New York Hospitals with a prime interest in the early clinical evaluation of new anti-cancer compounds. In 1983, he moved to the U.S. National Cancer Institute to head the Developmental Chemotherapy section. During this time, he was responsible for the overall development of approximately seventy cytotoxic compounds in various stages of transition from in-vitro screening to Phase III trials.
From January 1990 - May 2000, he served as Founding Chairman of Oncology at McGill University. In this capacity, he has endowed a clinical trails operation that integrated clinical research with five clinical cooperative groups together with over 40 pharmaceutical companies, built completely new sections of Epidemiology and Cancer Pharmacology, tripled its research space and worked with the community to establish eight endowed chairs and several fellowships within the department. The department now encompasses all educational research and clinical components of an integrated comprehensive cancer centre. His main research interests are (1) pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics and pharmacogenetics in oncological clinical trials, (2) translation of preclinical models into the clinic; biomarker endpoints in Phase I/II clinical trials and (3) screening and mechanistic studies of novel targeted and chemotherapeutic anticancer agents. Dr Leyland-Jones has authored more than 125 peer-reviewed articles and book contributions, 150 abstracts and 29 patents.
Ann Thor, M.D.
Oklahoma University
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Dr. Thor received a BS with highest honors from the University of California at Berkeley and an MD from Vanderbilt. She was a pathology resident at Vanderbilt University with fellowships at the NIH/NCI (Tumor Biology and Immunology), UCSF (cytopathology/surgical pathology), the Karolinska Institute (cytopathology), the Ludwig Institute (tumor biology), and Harvard University/Massachusetts General Hospital (gynecologic pathology). She has served on the faculty of Harvard University, the University of Vermont, and Northwestern University prior to her appointment as the Lloyd Rader Professor and Chair of Pathology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Her laboratory has focused on translational and mechanistic studies of gynecologic and breast cancer, with an emphasis on prognostic and predictive markers of breast carcinogenesis. Interactions between erbB-2 and doxorubicin response were first identified through her studies with the cooperative oncology group, CALGB. More recently, her efforts have focused on transgenic models of mammary tumorigenesis to explore interactions between estrogen (derived from hormonal or dietary exposure) and the receptor tyrosine kinase gene family. She has been a member of the NIH Pathology B Study Section, chaired the Pathogenesis Committee of the California Breast Cancer Program, and has actively participated in numerous research committees and programs of the NCI, CAP, US-CAP and other groups. She has received an American Cancer Society Career Development Award, the Benjamin Castleman Award, the Stowell-Orbison Award, the Arthur Purdy Stout Society Young Investigator, and the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Young Investigator Awards in recognition of her scientific endeavors. A five-year appointment on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the NCI will start July 2005.
Constantin Yiannoutsos
Hoosier Oncology Group
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Mary Lou Smith, Esq.
Research Advocacy Network
Mary Lou Smith is a Co-founder of the Research Advocacy Network. She is currently serving as co-chair of the ECOG Patient Representative Committee and as a community member of the IRB at Rush University Medical Center. Mary Lou is past president of Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization and has served on the Cancer Leadership Council and the National Breast Cancer Coalition's Board of Directors. She is a 20-year breast cancer survivor. Mary Lou serves on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Breast Cancer Screening and Treatment Guidelines Committees, the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) Patient Advocacy Committee and the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) Patient Advocate Committee. She has spent over 20 years in health care. Before becoming involved in advocacy efforts she developed managed care products for the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, including a "centers of excellence" network for pediatric oncology, a women's health initiative, clinical trials program, transplant medical review service, national second opinion consulting panel, case management network and a national utilization management capacity. Mary Lou has a Juris Doctorate with a Health Law Certification and a master's degree in Business Administration.
Randi Rosenberg
Young Survivor Coalition