CPTC Leadership

Anna D. Barker, Ph.D.

Deputy Director, Advanced Technologies and Strategic Partnerships
National Cancer Institute

Dr. Barker serves as the Deputy Director for Advanced Technologies and Strategic Partnerships of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). In this role she plans and coordinates the implementation of integrative, multi-disciplinary and multi-sector programs to accelerate the development and translation of new knowledge and advanced technologies into effective interventions to prevent, detect and treat cancer. Under her leadership, the NCI has recently launched programs in bioinformatics and nanotechnology and is currently developing initiatives in proteomics and biospecimens to enable cancer research. Dr. Barker completed her Ph.D. at the Ohio State University, where she trained in immunology and microbiology. Her research interests include experimental therapeutics, tumor immunology, and free-radical biochemistry in cancer etiology, prevention and treatment.

Dr. Barker has a long history in research and the leadership and management of research and development, technology transfer and product commercialization in the non-profit and private sectors. Prior to entering the biotechnology sector, she was a senior executive at Battelle Memorial Institute for 18 years where she developed and led a large group of scientists and technical staff working in areas such as drug discovery and development, pharmacology and biotechnology, including several NCI sponsored research programs. In the private sector she co-founded and served as the CEO of a public biotechnology company, focused in therapeutics discovery and development; and subsequently founded and served as the CEO of a private company dedicated to the transfer and deployment of technologies to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer.

She is a member of the Steering Committee of C-Change and Chairperson of the C-Change Cancer Research Team. She is a member of the DOD Breast Cancer Research Program Integration Panel, and a past chairperson of the BCRP Integration Panel. Dr. Barker has served in several capacities for the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), including the Board of Directors and chairperson of the Public Science Policy and Legislative Affairs Committee; and the NCI, including membership on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the Division of Cancer Etiology and chairperson of the Cancer Center Support Review Study Section. Dr. Barker has received a number of awards for her contributions to research, cancer patients, professional and advocacy organizations and the ongoing national effort to prevent and cure cancer, including a named fellowship from the AACR.

Henry Rodriguez, Ph.D., M.B.A.

Director, Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer
Office of the Director
National Cancer Institute

Dr. Rodriguez serves as the Director of the Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer programs within the NCI's Office of Technology and Industrial Relations, in the Office of the Director. In this role, he oversees and is responsible for the vision, direction, and implementation of highly complex scientific proteomic technology programs. These initiatives consist of the Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer initiative (CPTC) and the Mouse Proteomic Technologies Initiative (MPTI).

Dr. Rodriguez is an internationally recognized expert in advanced molecular-based cancer technologies, specifically proteomics, genomics, cellomics, and bioinformatics. Immediately before coming the to NCI in 2006, Dr. Rodriguez was at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where he held several roles (1998-2006). At NIST, Dr. Rodriguez developed and was the Leader of the Cell & Tissue Measurements Group, where he successfully established four advanced technology research programs in the areas of quantitative cell biology/cellomics, proteomics, gene expression, and bioinformatics. Initiatives in proteomic metrology included protein capture chemistry, mass spectrometry, protein sequencing, peptide synthesis, and database development.

Dr. Rodriguez also developed a tissue engineering program, of which he was the program manager and chairman of the NIST Regenerative Medicine Strategic Working Panel. In this capacity, he established molecular-based analytical procedures to measure genetic damage in tissue-engineered medical products that may result from manufacturing, storage or shipping, and coordinated these efforts with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and ASTM International.

Dr. Rodriguez helped pioneer new measurement methodologies that utilized liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS). He is internationally known for his outstanding efforts in developing, applying, and quantifying oxidatively-modified base detection methods for applications in health care and cancer diagnostics. Dr. Rodriguez has been awarded several Department of Commerce Advanced Technology Program (ATP) intramural awards and served as an ATP Proposal Scientific Expert.

Dr. Rodriguez served as a Program Analyst (Science/Strategic Policy Expert) in the Office of the Director at NIST, where he helped in the planning and evaluation of strategic scientific policies and partnerships in biotechnology, including interactions with the Department of Commerce and members of Congress. In 2005, Dr. Rodriguez developed the Measurement Challenges in Proteomics workshop, as part of NIST’s Roadmap Initiative. He also participated on Department of Commerce efforts in education and/or training in genetics and genetic technologies of professionals for the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health, and Society (SACGHS).

Dr. Rodriguez is an advocate that molecular medicine is transforming the processes of drug discovery, development, and delivery, suggesting that the war on cancer is embarking upon a new era. By providing a suite of rapid, sensitive, specific, high-throughput analytic tools and supporting standardized reagents and informatics capabilities, the integrated application of advanced technologies offers the possibility of transforming this challenge into an opportunity.

Dr. Rodriguez began his career as a fellow at the Department of Immunology of The Scripps Research Institute, and then at the Department of Medical Oncology of the City of Hope National Medical Center. Dr. Rodriguez is the recipient of domestic and international awards, including the Sigma Xi Young Scientific Investigator award, the Alumni Honor Roll of the MARC/MBRS programs of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the National Institutes of Health, a Proclamation letter signed by the Governor of Hawaii, and the Science Spectrum Trailblazer, Top Minority in Research Science Award. In addition, he has been elected to the presidency of scientific organizations such as the Oxygen Club of Greater Washington, D.C. He has authored over 59 papers in peer-reviewed journals and books and co-edited a science book titled Oxidative Stress and Aging: Advances In Basic Science, Diagnostics and Intervention, that made the publisher’s “Bestsellers List.”

Dr. Rodriguez received a B.S. and M.S. in Biology from Florida International University, a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Boston University, and an M.B.A. from Johns Hopkins University School of Business Management.

Tara Hiltke, Ph.D.

Program Manager, Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer
Office of Technology and Industrial Relations
National Cancer Institute

Dr. Tara Hiltke serves as Program Manager for the Clinical Proteomics Technologies for Cancer initiative, a program in the NCI Office of Technology and Industrial Relations. In this role she will serve as a technical resource for the integration of proteomic reagents and resources into targeted diagnostics and therapeutics.

Dr. Hiltke has nearly ten years of post graduate experience in immunology, biochemistry and molecular biology. Prior to NCI, she served as a senior scientist/project manager in assay development at both Wellstat Diagnostics and BioVeris Corporation. She developed clinical assays for diagnostic markers through the use of an electrochemiluminescence platform and magnetic beads. Prior to that, she led a number of projects at GenCyte LLC which focused on a mammary associated chemokine. Specifically she investigated the diagnostic and therapeutic potential of this marker through the use of ELISA and animal models respectively.

Dr. Hiltke received a B.S. from Nazareth College, where she was in the college honors program and majored in Biology/minored in Chemistry. She obtained her Ph.D. from the Center of Advanced Molecular Biology and Immunology (CAMBI) at the University of Buffalo in 1999.

Mehdi Mesri, Ph.D.

Program Manager, Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer
Office of the Director
National Cancer Institute

Dr. Mesri serves as program manager of the Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer initiative, a program in the NCI’s Office of Technology and Industrial Relations. In this role, he coordinates novel proteomics and genomics technology development, assessment, and metrology development projects for the program. In addition, Dr. Mesri serves as a technical resource on integrating emerging technologies in proteomics, genomics, and pharmacogenomics into targeted diagnostics and therapeutics. Dr. Mesri performs scientific analysis and coordinates the implementation of trans-divisional cancer proteomic technology research initiatives.

Dr. Mesri has seven years of experience in biopharmaceutical drug discovery/validation in cancer, vascular biology, and immunology. Prior to the NCI, Dr. Mesri served as a principal scientist/projects manager in the Department of Protein Therapeutics at Celera. There, he used mass spectrometry technologies to discover and validate biologic antibody targets in oncology, including prostate cancer and angiogenesis. Using in vitro and in vivo models, he has contributed to the validation of biologic and small molecule targets using validation platforms including proteomics, antibody and/or toxin-conjugated antibody-mediated cell death, RNAi, IHC, FACS, and apoptosis. Dr. Mesri was also instrumental in a lung cancer biomarker/diagnostic discovery and validation program at Celera, which was aimed at generation of a constellation of biomarkers for early detection and management of lung cancer. Prior to that Dr. Mesri was a project leader at CuraGen Corporation, where he championed genomically-derived high value protein drug and fully human monoclonal antibody targets for an immunology/inflammation program, including a new protein with a novel immunosuppressive function which he advanced to the pre-clinical stage. There he also established a functional screening assay panel, developed bio-analytical ELISA methods for CuraGen clinical candidates, presented at the IND team meetings, and established/managed external collaborations on target candidates, among other responsibilities.

During his five-year postdoctoral training, and later as a junior faculty at Yale University, Dr. Mesri led a number of projects. He investigated cancer gene therapy by developing a survivin (member of inhibitors of apoptosis, IAP) mutant adenovirus in xenograft breast cancer models. He was interested in trying to bridge the survivin story with some aspects of vascular biology and he pursued some initial observations and demonstrated that survivin was actually a key cell viability gene downstream of VEGF stimulation and supported the data using animal studies.

Dr. Mesri is the recipient of domestic and international awards including the CuraGen Corporation Special Achievement Award, a Reciprocal Exchange Fellowship by the British Society for Immunology, a federally funded National Research Service Award, and a Scottish Medical Research Studentship.

Dr. Mesri received a B.Sc. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Bradford, (UK), a M.Med.Sci. in Clinical Pathology from the University of Sheffield (UK), and a Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Aberdeen (UK).

Amir Rahbar, Ph.D., M.B.A.

Program Manager, Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer
Office of the Director
National Cancer Institute

Dr. Amir Rahbar serves as Program Manager for the Clinical Proteomics Technologies for Cancer, a program in the NCI Office of Technology and Industrial Relations, in the Office of the Director. In this role, he serves as a technical resource and oversees the development, implementation and assessment of proteomic technology platforms for cancer research. Dr. Rahbar focuses on programmatic goals involving mass spectrometry, affinity arrays, proteomics and informatics. Dr. Rahbar’s experience in proteomics and protein science stems from research focused on biomarker discovery, approaches for studying chemoresistance in cancer, pathogen detection/analysis, and the study of membrane proteins and other drug targets.

Dr. Rahbar was a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s Center for Bio/Molecular Science and Engineering where he was the lead on all proteomics related projects. After completing his postdoctoral fellowship, he stayed on to lead the proteomics segment of the Naval Research Lab’s Systems Biology Group. Prior to joining the NCI’s Clinical Proteomics Management team, Dr. Rahbar served as the Senior Science Market Analyst at BioInformatics, LLC. Dr. Rahbar received a B.S. and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Maryland, College Park, and an M.B.A. from American University’s Kogod School of Business.

Christopher Kinsinger, Ph.D.

Program Specialist, Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer
Office of the Director
National Cancer Institute

Dr. Kinsinger serves as program specialist of the Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer initiative, a program in the NCI’s Office of Technology and Industrial Relations. In this role, he oversees the development and assessment of technology platforms for cancer research. Dr. Kinsinger focuses on programmatic goals involving mass spectrometry, informatics, and biospecimens. In this role he works with NCI staff and investigators to optimize proteomics technology, establish policies for sharing data and biospecimens, and generally improve the quality and reliability of proteomic data and samples. Dr. Kinsinger completed his B.S. degree in 1999 from Wheaton College and Ph.D. degree in chemistry in 2004 from the University of Minnesota. Prior to joining the NCI’s Clinical Proteomics Management team, Dr. Kinsinger completed postdoctoral training at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where he researched fragmentation pathways of peptide ions in mass spectrometry.

Emily Boja, Ph.D.

Program Manager, Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer
Office of the Director
National Cancer Institute

Dr. Emily Boja serves as Program Manager for the Clinical Proteomics Technologies for Cancer, a program in the NCI Office of Technology and Industrial Relations. In this role, she serves as a technical resource and oversees the development, implementation, and assessment of proteomic technology platforms for cancer research. Dr. Boja focuses on programmatic goals involving mass spectrometry and proteomics. Dr. Boja’s experience in proteomics and protein biochemistry originates from her initial research on structural/functional studies of enzymes involved in one-carbon metabolism using biophysical and biochemical approaches and later mass spectrometry-based quantitative analysis of complex proteomes. She was involved in studies such as the identification of oxidation of a cysteine residue (i.e., glutathionylation) at the dimer interface in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 protease critical for preventing its dimerization, as well as quantitative changes in tyrosine phosphorylated proteins in EGFR signaling pathways from lung cancer cells with and without radiotherapy.

Dr. Boja was a Research Fellow at the Laboratory of Biophysical Chemistry, NHLBI, NIH, where she was involved in the application of mass spectrometry and other analytical techniques on proteomics-related projects under Dr. Henry M. Fales. After completing her research fellowship in 2002, she stayed on as a Staff Scientist to lead the proteomics projects in the same laboratory. Her expertise involves qualitative and quantitative LC-MS-based analysis of proteins and their post-translational modifications (phosphorylation, oxidation and glycosylation, etc.) in complex biological systems. In 2007, Dr. Boja joined the Laboratory of Cardiac Energetics at NHLBI, NIH where she studied mammalian mitochondrial phosphoproteome upon physiological perturbation using iTRAQ-based quantitative approaches on an LTQ-Orbitrap XL. Through her extensive collaborative efforts with principle investigators from academia and government agencies, she is very familiar with the concept of integrating genomics, proteomics, and bioinformatics for basic mechanistic research and clinical applications. Dr. Boja received a B.Sc. in Biochemistry with honors from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada in 1994, and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University in 1999.

Robert Rivers, Ph.D.

AAAS/NIH Science and Technology Policy Fellow
Office of the Director
National Cancer Institute

Dr. Robert Rivers is an American Association for the Advancement of Science/NIH Science and Technology Policy Fellow and serves as liaison between the Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer and the Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities in the development of diversity training opportunities in clinical proteomics. Dr. Rivers also serves as a liaison between CPTC and the Food and Drug Administration in the area of multiplexed proteomic technologies. Prior to joining NCI’s Clinical Proteomics team, Dr. Rivers worked for Synchrogenix - a medical writing company located in Wilmington, Delaware. Dr. Rivers received a B.S. in Chemistry from Kentucky State University and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Cambridge.

Steve Carr, Ph.D., Broad Institute

Dr. Carr leads the Proteomics and Biomarker Discovery efforts at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. His current research involves development and application of novel, quantitative approaches for biomarker discovery and validation as well as phosphoproteomics to understand drug and disease mechanisms and provide biomarkers for human cancers, heart disease and metabolic disorders. The Carr lab collaborates with biologists and chemists to systematically identify proteins and their modifications whose abundance or form is modulated by disease or drug action, as well as to define physical and functional associations of protein constituents of regulatory and signaling pathways involved in health and disease. These studies involve analysis of complex biological specimens, such as tumor tissues or patient blood using protein chemistry and advanced separation methods together with state-of-the-art mass spectrometry.

For the last 25 years, Dr. Carr's research has focused on applying and developing proteomics methods in order to understand the mechanism of action of drug candidates and build an understanding of protein targets and their roles in disease. He is noted for developing methods for selective enrichment, detection and quantitation of posttranslational modifications such as phosphorylation and glycosylation in the proteome. While at GlaxoSmithKline (1984-2001) and Millennium Pharmaceuticals (2001-2004), he made significant contributions to the discovery and development of four marketed drugs (small and large molecule) and to numerous drugs in clinical trial. His groups at GSK and Millennium also produced one of the first examples of proteomics-derived biomarkers in use in the clinic and the first example of de-orphaning of a G-coupled protein receptor by mass spectrometry. He has over 130 peer-reviewed publications on development and use of proteomics and biological mass spectrometry. Dr. Carr is an Associate Editor of Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, and he has served on the editorial boards of Analytical Chemistry and Protein Science, among others.

Dr. Carr received his B.S. in 1976 from Union College and Ph.D. from MIT in 1980. After four years of postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School and MIT, he joined SmithKline Pharmaceuticals (now GlaxoSmithKline), becoming director of Computational and Structural Sciences in 1997. Most recently he led protein science and proteomics groups at Millennium Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, MA, prior to joining the Broad Institute in 2004.

Susan Fisher, Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco

Susan Fisher, Ph.D., is currently a Professor of Cell and Tissue Biology and the Faculty Director for the Biomolecular Resource Center Mass Spectrometry Center. Her research is focused on many aspects of reproductive biology as well as the biomedical applications of mass spectrometry. She has received numerous honors throughout her career, including an achievement award from the Society for Women's Health. Fisher received her Bachelor degree from Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and her Ph.D. degree from the University of Kentucky, where she also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in mass spectrometry.

Dan Liebler, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University

Dr. Daniel C. Liebler received a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Vanderbilt while training in the laboratory of F. Peter Guengerich. He did postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Donald J. Reed at Oregon State University. From 1987-2003, Dr. Liebler served on the faculty of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Arizona. From 1987 to 1998, his research program focused on the mechanisms of action of antioxidants in prevention of oxidative damage and cancer. His group defined antioxidant pathways and mechanisms of antioxidant action of vitamin E, carotenes and flavonoid antioxidants and established the use of mass spectrometry (MS)-based assays for products of antioxidant reactions as markers of antioxidant function. Since 1998, Dr. Liebler's program has focused on the application of MS-based proteomics approaches to address the problem of how reactive chemical intermediates cause damage to proteins.

The Liebler group developed two data analysis tools, SALSA and P-Mod, which enable discovery of modified protein forms through analysis of MS data, even when the chemical nature and sequence specificity of the modifications are not known beforehand. This approach has been integrated with affinity capture methods to evaluate electrophile-mediated protein damage on a proteomic scale and map over 1500 sites of chemical modification on over 800 human proteins. Dr. Liebler's laboratory has also extended these proteomic approaches to analyze the role of site-specific modifications in the function of signaling and sensor proteins that regulate responses to chemical toxicity and oxidative stress. The mapping of modifications has been augmented by application of stable isotope tagging methods to analyze the kinetics of protein modification reactions.

Dr. Liebler relocated to Vanderbilt in June 2003, where he has served as Director of Proteomics in the Mass Spectrometry Research Center. The Proteomics Laboratory has implemented methods and approaches developed in Dr. Liebler's laboratory and serves over 130 research groups at Vanderbilt. Most recently, Dr. Liebler has accepted Directorship of the Jim Ayers Institute for Precancer Detection and Diagnosis, which is dedicated to the discovery of proteomic markers for early cancer detection and for guiding therapy of established disease. Dr. Liebler's long-term research goals are to apply proteomics and related emerging technologies to identify markers of disease, therapeutic effect and toxicity and to characterize the roles of protein damage in chemical toxicity and disease.

Paul Tempst, Ph.D., Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Dr. Tempst leads a proteomics research team specializing in R&D of protein / peptide microanalysis, with applications in chromatin dynamics research and cancer biomarker discovery. He is a Member of the Sloan-Kettering Institute and Professor at the Gerstner Sloan-Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, as well as Professor of Molecular Biology at the Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Cornell University. He provides executive oversight of the microchemistry, proteomics, genomics and engineering resource laboratories at his host institution. He has over 25 years of experience in protein chemistry and biochemistry, and mass spectrometry, and he has collaborated with investigators worldwide to identify and characterize novel and unknown interacting proteins and protein complexes.

His research is documented in over 230 peer-reviewed papers on proteomics methods and applications, mostly to study the mechanisms of transcriptional regulation. He is an inventor on several patents, including microfluidics-based automated chemistries, a continuous nano-electrospray ion source for mass spectrometry, Gallium-affinity chromatography of phosphopeptides, a protein-nitrosylation assay, and antibody micro-arrays with multi-layered affinity detection. Recently, his lab developed a novel platform for serum peptidome analysis and advanced the model that cancer type-specific peptide patterns are surrogate markers for changing exoprotease panels.

Dr. Tempst obtained a B.S. (1976) and Ph.D. (1981) at Ghent University in his native Belgium. He received a NATO Research Fellowship to conduct postdoctoral studies (1982-85) in the laboratory of Dr. Leroy Hood at the California Institute of Technology, where he was involved in the development of the earliest microchemistry systems. He later received a Leukemia Society of America Special Fellow Award and the Irma Hirschl Trust Career Scientist Award for the application of these novel technologies in molecular biology, genetics and medicine. He was a faculty member at the Harvard Medical School (1986-90) before taking up his current positions in New York in 1991.

Fred Regnier, Ph.D., Purdue University

After completing a Ph.D. at Oklahoma State University (1965) and Post Doctoral work at the University of Chicago (1966) and Harvard (1968), Professor Regnier became an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry (1968) at Purdue University. During twenty years in Biochemistry at Purdue he was an Associate Professor (1971-76), Professor (1976-90) and Associate Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station (1976-78). He became a Professor of Chemistry in the Chemistry Department at Purdue in 1990 and was promoted to Distinguished Professor in 2004. He is the author of over 300 publications, 40 patents, and several books on various aspects of chemistry, biochemistry, and particularly separation science and immunological assays as they relate to proteins.

Professor Regnier has for several decades been involved in the transfer of technology to society through patents from his laboratory, company creation, and continuing education. Along with Professor Barry Karger (Northeastern University), he co-founded Bioseparations in 1984 to provide advanced courses in analytical chemistry to scientists in the pharmaceutical industry. During the course of the next four years Bioseparations presented courses to more than a thousand scientists in U.S and European pharmaceutical companies. He then co-founded PerSeptive Biosystems (PBIO) with Noubar Afeyan in 1988 based on licensed Purdue technology, and actively participated in the growth of that company to 500 people in the U. S., Europe, and Asia. The sale of large-scale pharmaceutical manufacturing systems and scientific instruments by PBIO to more than 300 pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies grew to $100 million in 1997, when the company was sold to Applied Biosystems (ABI). In 2000, he co-founded Beyond Genomics (BG) with Jan van der Greef (University of Leiden), David Clemmer (Indiana University), and Scott McLuckey (Purdue University). BG provides advanced drug discovery tools to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. The company has grown to 60 people with facilities in Europe and North America and has ongoing drug discovery relationships with major pharmaceutical companies. Most recently, he co-founded Quadraspec with David Nolte, Chard Barden, and Eric Davis. The focus of Quadraspec is on very high throughput immunological assay technology for health assessment.

Henry Rodriguez, Ph.D., M.B.A., National Cancer Institute

Dr. Rodriguez serves as the Director of the Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer programs within the NCI's Office of Technology and Industrial Relations, in the Office of the Director. In this role, he oversees and is responsible for the vision, direction, and implementation of highly complex scientific proteomic technology programs. These initiatives consist of the Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer initiative (CPTC) and the Mouse Proteomic Technologies Initiative (MPTI).

Dr. Rodriguez is an internationally recognized expert in advanced molecular-based cancer technologies, specifically proteomics, genomics, cellomics, and bioinformatics. Immediately before coming the to NCI in 2006, Dr. Rodriguez was at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where he held several roles (1998-2006). At NIST, Dr. Rodriguez developed and was the Leader of the Cell & Tissue Measurements Group, where he successfully established four advanced technology research programs in the areas of quantitative cell biology/cellomics, proteomics, gene expression, and bioinformatics. Initiatives in proteomic metrology included protein capture chemistry, mass spectrometry, protein sequencing, peptide synthesis, and database development.

Dr. Rodriguez also developed a tissue engineering program, of which he was the program manager and chairman of the NIST Regenerative Medicine Strategic Working Panel. In this capacity, he established molecular-based analytical procedures to measure genetic damage in tissue-engineered medical products that may result from manufacturing, storage or shipping, and coordinated these efforts with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and ASTM International.

Dr. Rodriguez helped pioneer new measurement methodologies that utilized liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS). He is internationally known for his outstanding efforts in developing, applying, and quantifying oxidatively-modified base detection methods for applications in health care and cancer diagnostics. Dr. Rodriguez has been awarded several Department of Commerce Advanced Technology Program (ATP) intramural awards and served as an ATP Proposal Scientific Expert.

Dr. Rodriguez served as a Program Analyst (Science/Strategic Policy Expert) in the Office of the Director at NIST, where he helped in the planning and evaluation of strategic scientific policies and partnerships in biotechnology, including interactions with the Department of Commerce and members of Congress. In 2005, Dr. Rodriguez developed the Measurement Challenges in Proteomics workshop, as part of NIST’s Roadmap Initiative. He also participated on Department of Commerce efforts in education and/or training in genetics and genetic technologies of professionals for the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health, and Society (SACGHS).

Dr. Rodriguez is an advocate that molecular medicine is transforming the processes of drug discovery, development, and delivery, suggesting that the war on cancer is embarking upon a new era. By providing a suite of rapid, sensitive, specific, high-throughput analytic tools and supporting standardized reagents and informatics capabilities, the integrated application of advanced technologies offers the possibility of transforming this challenge into an opportunity.

Dr. Rodriguez began his career as a fellow at the Department of Immunology of The Scripps Research Institute, and then at the Department of Medical Oncology of the City of Hope National Medical Center. Dr. Rodriguez is the recipient of domestic and international awards, including the Sigma Xi Young Scientific Investigator award, the Alumni Honor Roll of the MARC/MBRS programs of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the National Institutes of Health, a Proclamation letter signed by the Governor of Hawaii, and the Science Spectrum Trailblazer, Top Minority in Research Science Award. In addition, he has been elected to the presidency of scientific organizations such as the Oxygen Club of Greater Washington, D.C. He has authored over 59 papers in peer-reviewed journals and books and co-edited a science book titled Oxidative Stress and Aging: Advances In Basic Science, Diagnostics and Intervention, that made the publisher’s “Bestsellers List.”

Dr. Rodriguez received a B.S. and M.S. in Biology from Florida International University, a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Boston University, and an M.B.A. from Johns Hopkins University School of Business Management.

Lee Hartwell, Ph.D., Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Dr. Leland Hartwell is President and Director of Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Professor of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington. Dr. Hartwell is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has received the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, the Gairdner Foundation International Award, the Alfred P. Sloan Award in Cancer Research, and the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Gordon Mills, M.D., Ph.D., M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Dr. Mills is Chair of the Department of Molecular Therapeutics, the Ann Rife Cox Chair in Gynecology, and Professor of Medicine and Immunology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. He currently serves on a number of research and advisory boards at the University of Texas and the University of Toronto. Dr. Mills is also on the external advisory board of the Seattle ovarian cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence, a program of the National Cancer Institute that promotes the transfer of cancer research into the clinical setting. His interests in ovarian cancer include the prognosis and discovery of therapeutic targets and treatments of the disease. His contributions include developing a potential marker for early-stage ovarian cancer, and studying this as a possible target for therapy. He has also studied genetic mutations in the phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase/PTEN/AKT pathway as another possibility for therapy.

Joe Gray, Ph.D., Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Dr. Joe Gray majored in engineering physics at the Colorado School of Mines and obtained his Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics from Kansas State University in 1972. He then joined the Biomedical Sciences Division of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, moving to UCSF as Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Radiation Oncology in 1991. He established and headed the Division of Molecular Cytometry in the Department of Laboratory Medicine until 1997. He was Interim Director of the UCSF Cancer Center from 1995 to 1997 and is now Program Leader for Cancer Genetics and Breast Oncology there. He has been Principal Investigator of the Bay Area Breast Cancer SPORE since 1996. Dr. Gray accepted a position as Division Director of Life Sciences and Associate Director of Biosciences at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in April 2003, and will continue as a member of the UCSF Cancer Center and as Principal Investigator of the Breast Cancer SPORE.

David Ransohoff, M.D., University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

Dr. Ransohoff’s primary research interest is in improved methods of colon cancer screening. He has published extensively on the use of colonoscopy screening and surveillance, fecal occult blood testing, sigmoidoscopy, and virtual colonoscopy; his most recent work concerns stool DNA testing, serum proteomics, and the development and assessment of other new ‘omics’ methods to screen for cancer. Working with NCI's EDRN (Early Detection Research Network) and others, he is leading a multi-center study about serum proteomics to diagnose colon cancer. At UNC he has directed the K30 faculty development program since its inception in 1999, helping train junior faculty build careers in clinical and translational research.

Amanda G. Paulovich, M.D., Ph.D.

Mandy Paulovich is the Director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's Early Detection Initiative. With training in both clinical medicine and basic science, she currently manages the efforts of an interdisciplinary team to develop molecular imaging tools, design improved diagnostic tests, and identify risk biomarkers. Mandy earned her BS in biological sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, her Ph.D. in genetics at the University of Washington, and her M.D. at the University of Washington. Before joining the Hutch, she completed her internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, her oncology fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and postdoctoral training in computational biology at the Whitehead Institute's Center for Genomics Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Leigh Anderson, Ph.D.

Leigh Anderson has served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Plasma Proteome Institute, a scientific research institute in Washington, D.C., of which he is also a founder (since 2002). Dr. Anderson also consults through Anderson Forschung Group, of which he has been a Principal since 2002 and a member of its board of directors since 2004. From 2001 to 2002, Dr. Anderson served as the Chief Scientific Officer and a member of the board of directors of Large Scale Biology Corporation, a biotechnology company that previously traded on NASDAQ under the symbol "LSBC." Dr. Anderson also served as a member of the board of directors and a member of the audit committee of Dade Behring Holdings, Inc. (DADE), a NASDAQ-listed company, from 2002 until its acquisition by Siemens AG in 2007. Dr. Anderson earned a B.A. in Physics from Yale University and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Cambridge University.

Steven J. Skates, Ph.D.

Steve Skates is a biostatistician at Massachusetts General Hospital. His research interests focus on early detection of cancer, with a particular emphasis on ovarian cancer. This includes development of algorithms for longitudinal biomarker screening, identification of new biomarkers, and design of screening studies. Steve received his BSc in mathematical sciences at University of Western Australia, and his Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Chicago.

Bradford W. Gibson, Ph.D.

Brad Gibson is currently Professor and Director of Chemistry at the Buck Institute of Age Research, an independent non-profit research institute founded in 1999 to study the basic biology of aging and age-related disease. Since 1985, Dr. Gibson has also been a faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Prior to his work at the Buck Institute and UCSF, Brad received his Ph.D. in Klaus Biemann's lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he developed mass spectrometry approaches to study protein primary structures, and then as a postdoctoral fellow in Dudley Williams group at Cambridge University to study bioactive peptides. While at the Buck Institute, Dr. Gibson has focused his research interests on advancing proteomic technologies to aging research, with a focus on mitochondria, oxidative damage, and protein phosphorylation. More recently, he has expanded these efforts to include studies in protein aggregation, turnover and disease-specific biomarker discovery.

LeeAnn Bailey, Ph.D.

Program Director, Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities
National Cancer Institute

Dr. LeeAnn Bailey is a Program Director at the Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities of the National Cancer Institute. In this role, Dr. Bailey manages the Career Development portfolio and has assumed the lead for developing a training program in emerging technologies for underserved investigators at all stages of the pipeline. She works to fulfill the Center’s initiatives to train the next generation of cancer health disparities investigators and to increase diversity within this cadre.

Prior to her appointment at NCI, Dr. Bailey was a Project Leader at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory where she developed novel tissue engineering platforms and developed cellular response biomarkers.

Dr. Bailey received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics from the University of Virginia. She is the author or co-author of over 30 technical publications and reviews. In addition, she has extensive experience in training, program development and significant clinical expertise.

Elizabeth Neilson, M.S.

Advocacy Relations Manager
Office of Advocacy Relations
National Cancer Institute

Elizabeth Neilson is OAR's primary contact for issues regarding current CARRA members, program orientation and training, and staff requests for consumer involvement in NCI activities. In addition, she also serves on the steering committee for TEAM Up, a national partnership to promote cervical and breast cancer screening among rarely and never screened women using evidence-based interventions. Ms. Neilson received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Emory University, as well as a Master of Public Health and a Master of Science in Nursing from Johns Hopkins University.

Elda Railey

Co-Founder, Research Advocacy Network

Following 12 years of service with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation as Director of Grants, where she led one of the largest programs for private funding of breast cancer research, Ms. Railey is now an independent consultant working with patient advocacy organizations. Her interests include education programs to enhance access for people of all backgrounds and socioeconomic status to quality healthcare. She specializes in collaborations and training advocates for effective integration in research and patient advocacy. Clients include: The Coalition of National Cancer Cooperative Groups, The National Lymphedema Network, American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, and the Colorectal Cancer Network. She has reviewed for Komen, Avon-NCI Partners in Progress, CDC, and is a member of the Intercultural Cancer Council, the External Advisory Board of the UCSF Breast Cancer SPORE, and the Conference Committee for Healthcare Advocates at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, School of Public Health. In her capacity with the Coalition of National Cancer Cooperative Groups she has been contributing author on Modules 3: Drug Development, Module 4:Surgical and Radiation Therapies, and Module 6: Tissue and Its Use for the Patient Advocate Training Program and served as coordinator for the Advocate Training Program. She serves on the Patient Advocate Committee for ACOSOG.