Dr. Sabine Mai, PhD
Director and Chair, Clinical and Scientific Advisory Board
Kenneth C. Anderson, MD
Program Director, Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center and LeBow Institute for Myeloma Therapeutics Institute Physician Kraft Family Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Anderson is the Kraft Family Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, as well as Director of the Lebow Institute for Myeloma Therapeutics and Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He is a Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Research Scientist and American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor. After graduating from Johns Hopkins Medical School, he trained in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and then completed hematology, medical oncology, and tumor immunology training at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Over the last three decades, he has focused his laboratory and clinical research studies on multiple myeloma. He has developed laboratory and animal models of the tumor in it is microenvironment which have allowed for both identification of novel targets and validation of novel targeted therapies and has then rapidly translated these studies to clinical trials culminating in FDA approval of novel targeted therapies. His paradigm for identifying and validating targets in the tumor cell and its milieu has transformed myeloma therapy and markedly improved patient outcome.
Shaji Kumar, MD
Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic, Chair at National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Myeloma Committee and at Plasmacell disorders Scientific Committee of American Society of Hematology (ASH)
Dr. Kumar is a Professor of Medicine in the College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN and is a consultant in the Division of Hematology at Mayo Clinic. He is currently the Medical Director for the Cancer Center Clinical Trials Office at the Mayo Clinic. He also serves as the co-chair of the NCI Myeloma Steering Committee. Dr. Kumar is the Principal Investigator on several Phase I, II & III drug development clinical trials for MM. His clinical research is focused on understanding the risk of progression of myeloma precursors patients to full stage myeloma including monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and smoldering myeloma. It is noteworthy that Dr. Kumar is the Principal Investigator on TELO’s ongoing clinical studies for MM in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic.
David S. Siegel, MD, PhD
Chief, Division of Multiple Myeloma of John Theurer Cancer Center
David S. Siegel, MD, PhD, is one of the nation’s foremost authorities on multiple myeloma. His research has almost exclusively focused on multiple myeloma, Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia, and AL amyloidosis, and has been published in many leading medical journals, including Nature, New England Journal of Medicine, Blood, and Journal of Clinical Oncology.
He served as the lead investigator of the pivotal phase IIb study involving 30 cancer centers in North America that led to the FDA’s fast-track approval of Kyprolis (carfilzomib) for recurrent multiple myeloma. Dr. Siegel is one of 11 investigators nationwide who brought Velcade (bortezomib) to multiple myeloma patients through his clinical trials showing that this medication slows and halts the progression of multiple myeloma. Dr. Siegel has also led John Theurer Cancer Center’s development of a program to offer CAR T-cell therapy to patients with multiple myeloma. Dr. Siegel is also a member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium (MMRC) Steering Committee.
Ivan Marques Borrello, MD
Medical Director of the Myeloma, Bone Marrow Transplant and Cell Therapies program of Tampa General Hospital Cancer Institute
Dr. Ivan M. Borrello is a hematologist oncologist and renowned physician-scientist who serves as within the TGH Cancer Institute. Dr. Borrello is recognized as a leader in the field of immunotherapy of hematologic malignancies as well as bone marrow and stem cell transplants. Dr. Borrello joined TGH Cancer Institute from the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, where he was the Medical Director of the Cell Therapy Lab and an Associate Professor of Oncology. He built a premier Multiple Myeloma Program and served as its director before joining Tampa General. Dr. Borrello’s clinical research interest is in developing immune-based therapies primarily for the treatment of multiple myeloma, but his research also extends into other disease. His published works include his participation in more than 100 peer-reviewed original research articles including the New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Medicine and Science Translational Medicine and is credited with numerous inventions, patents and copyrights in areas of his medical expertise.
Hans Knecht, MD
Professor of Medicine and Chief, Division of Haematology at McGill University and Jewish General Hospital, Montreal
Dr. Knecht established himself as a prominent haematologist through his ground-breaking translational research on lymphoma biology. His current focus is on the molecular events leading to the transition from the mononuclear Hodgkin to the multinuclear Reed-Sternberg cell and the impact of 3D nuclear telomere organization on this transformation. Dr. Knecht received his medical degree from the University of Zurich, Switzerland with post-graduate work under both Maxime Seligmann (Haematology) and Karl Lennert (Haematopathology) in Paris and Kiel, respectively. Dr. Knecht is currently a Professor of Medicine and Chief, Division of Haematology at McGill University and Jewish General Hospital, Montreal.
James R. Berenson, MD
Founder and Medical Director of Berenson Cancer Center, Scientific director of Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research(IMBCR)
Dr. Berenson is the President and Medical, Scientific Director, and CEO of James R. Berenson, M.D., Inc. and is the President and CEO of OncoTracker and Oncotherapeutics in West Hollywood, California. For more than 35 years, Dr. Berenson has specialized in treating patients with multiple myeloma, MGUS, amyloidosis, Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia, and metastatic bone disease, as well as conducting research related to these diseases. He has lectured extensively internationally and nationally and authored nearly 300 peer-reviewed publications. He has served as a member of the Scientific Boards of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and the International Myeloma Foundation. Dr. Berenson has served as a member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – Center for Scientific Review, Clinical Oncology Study Section.
Richard Bender, MD
Dr. Bender is a board-certified oncologist who brings more than 40 years of experience in hematological malignancy with a special focus on MM. He received his medical degree from the UCLA School of Medicine and completed his internship and residency at UCLA-Harbor General Hospital followed by a hematology/oncology fellowship at the National Cancer Institute. His past titles include Medical Director for Hematology/Oncology for Quest Diagnostics, Medical Director for Hematology/Oncology for Kaiser Permanente in San Diego, and Chief Medical Officer for both Agendia and Signal Genetics. Dr. Bender has also served on the executive board of the San Diego Hospice and American Cancer Society and has been retained by the FDA as a member of the Hematology and Pathology Devices Advisory Committee. He continues to teach at the UCLA School of Medicine and has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed scientific articles and book chapters.
