Cancer claims the lives of more than a half million Americans each year. The lengthy battle against cancer has been one of human ingenuity, dramatic technologic advancement, and tireless commitment, but also of misperception, endless complexity, and frustration. Leading cancer researchers discuss the discoveries, and their collective hope for the future.
Bio
Dr. Mitchel S. Berger MD
Dr. Mitchel S. Berger, chair of Neurological Surgery, is a nationally recognized expert in treating brain and spinal cord tumors and tumor-related epilepsy in adults and children. He also is a specialist in brain mapping techniques, used to identify areas of motor, sensory and language function during surgery, and an expert in the use of the Gamma Knife for tumor treatment. He is co-director of the Adult Brain Tumor Surgery Program, director of the Brain Tumor Research Center and director of the Center for Neurological Injury and Repair.
Berger, a professor of neurosurgery at UCSF, earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard College in 1975 and a medical degree from the University of Miami School of Medicine in 1979.
He completed an internship and residency at UCSF and was awarded a clinical fellowship in neuro-oncology by the American Cancer Society and a research fellowship with the Brain Tumor Research Center. He completed further fellowship training in neuro-oncology at UCSF and in pediatric neurosurgery at the Hospital for Sick Children of the University of Toronto, Canada. His professional activities include his election to the board of directors of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and his appointment to the American Board of Neurological Surgeons. Berger is board certified in neurosurgery.
Walter Bray
Walter Bray is a research specialist in the UCSC Chemical Screening Center.
Laura Esserman
Dr. Laura Esserman, a nationally known breast surgeon, is the director of the UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center at the Mount Zion campus. Her work is devoted to developing new, more effective ways to care for and empower breast cancer patients during treatment and to tailor treatments using biology, personal preference and constant feedback regarding outcomes of care.
Esserman earned an undergraduate degree at Harvard University and completed medical and surgical training at Stanford University. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in breast oncology at Stanford in 1988 and earned a master's degree at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1993. She joined UCSF Medical Center in 1993. Esserman is a profesor of surgery and radiology in the UCSF School of Medicine.
Greg Farrington
Greg Farrington is executive director and William R. and Gretchen B. Kimball Chair of the California Academy of Sciences. Since beginning his post in 2007, Farrington has focused efforts on addressing what CAS considers to be two of the most important scientific questions of our time: How did life happen? And how can we sustain it? CAS is the only institution in the world to combine a museum, aquarium, and planetarium, as well as vigorous programs of research and education. Farrington came to CAS after eight years as president of Lehigh University. Prior to that, he spent 19 years at the University of Pennsylvania. A widely published chemist, Farrington holds more than two dozen patents and has written more than 100 articles in the fields of solid-state chemistry, electrochemistry, and education.
Matthew Hudes
Matthew Hudes is U.S. Managing Principal, Biotechnology, for Deloitte’s Life Sciences & Health Care practice. In this role, he develops, provides and leads the practice’s professional services, working with Tax, Audit, Consulting, and Financial Advisory Services, for this dynamic industry sector. Previously, he was the Chairman and CEO of Accélère, a software company that developed a system to find patients (and investigators) for clinical trials and to improve researchers’ access to information typically “trapped” in laboratory and medical systems.
Matthew has provided strategic professional services to leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including Amgen, Amylin, Biogen Idec, Chiron, Genentech, Gilead, Johnson & Johnson, and Sanofi-Aventis. He speaks frequently about topics such as the use of technology for innovating clinical research, manufacturing and quality, regulatory compliance, and supply chain.
Formerly, Matthew led the global Capgemini Life Sciences Biotechnology and R&D practice. As a former Partner and practice leader with Ernst & Young LLP, he acted as a strategic advisor to leading-edge companies in life sciences and high technology over a period of 17 years. Matthew was a founding management team member of three start-up companies, one of which had a successful IPO and was subsequently acquired. The other two were successfully acquired by larger companies.
Regis B. Kelly
Dr. Regis B. Kelly is the Director of one of four California Institutes for Science and Innovation, created by the California Legislature to strengthen the academic foundation of its technology-based industries. QB3 is the only one of the four devoted exclusively to biology and to the life science industries. It is an innovation center made up of over 200 quantitative biologists at three northern California campuses (UCB, UCSC & UCSF) working at the interface of the physical and biological sciences and a team of professionals converting its discoveries into practical benefits for society.
From 2000 to 2004, Dr. Kelly served as Executive Vice Chancellor at the University of California in San Francisco, where his major responsibility was the new Mission Bay campus.
From 1995 to 2000, Dr. Kelly served as Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at UCSF; from 1988 to 1995, he was the Director of UCSF’s Cell Biology Graduate Program; and from 1992 to 2000, he was the Director of the Hormone Research Institute at UCSF. He has published extensively in the areas of cell and neurobiology.
Dr. Kelly received his undergraduate degree in Physics from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in 1961 and his Ph.D. in Biophysics from the California Institute of Technology in 1967. Following a post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford, Dr. Kelly was an instructor in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard. He has served as Chairman of the Bay Area Scientific Innovation Consortium (BASIC) and on the Boards of the Malaysian Biotechnology Industry Advisory Board, the Scleroderma Foundation, Bridge Pharmaceuticals, the San Francisco Mayor’s Biotechnology Advisory Group and the San Francisco China Desk, among others. He is also a General Partner of Mission Bay Capital venture fund.
Ira Mellman
Ira Mellman is Vice President of Research Oncology at Genentech where he directs all aspects of cancer research in what is Genentech's single largest therapeutic area. Ira is a cell biologist-immunologist with a long standing interest in membrane traffic and signal transduction. His lab is responsible for key observations resulting in the initial discovery of endosomes, the mechanisms of epithelial cell polarity, and the cellular basis of dendritic cell function in the immune system.
Until 2007, Ira was Chair of the Department of Cell Biology and Scientific Director of the Cancer Center at Yale University School of Medicine. At Yale, Ira also served as Sterling Professor of Cell Biology and Immunobiology and was a member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research.
Ira has been Editor in Chief of the Journal of Cell Biology and a member of the editorial boards of Cell, the Journal of Experimental Medicine, EMBO Journal, and the Annual Reviews.
Ira is an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, a Senior Fellow of Lincoln College (Oxford), and the recipient of numerous named lectureships and awards. Ira received his AB from Oberlin College, his PhD from Yale in Genetics, and performed postdoctoral work at Rockefeller University.
Kelly Peach
Kelly Peach is a graduate student in chemistry and biochemistry, UCSC.
Sabin Russell
Sabin Russell is former science reporter living in San Francisco. He is currently employed as an in-house wordsmith at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. This is his personal blog and in no way represents the views of Berkeley Lab. Prior to joining the Lab, he wrote freelance articles for the New York Times, Nature.com, California Magazine and Technology Review. He was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT from 2008-2009. For 22 years, he covered medical science and health policy for the San Francisco Chronicle.
Nicholas Shikuma
Nicholas Shikuma is a graduate student in microbiology and environmental toxicology, UCSC.
Any of a group of more than 100 distinct diseases that are characterized by the uncontrolled multiplication of abnormal cells. Cancerous cells and tissues have abnormal growth rates, shapes, sizes, and functioning. Cancer may progress in stages from a localized tumour (confined to the site of origin) to direct extension (spread into nearby tissue or lymph nodes) and metastasis (spread to more distant sites via the blood or lymphatic system). This malignant growth pattern distinguishes cancerous tumours from benign ones. Cancer is also classified by grade, the extent to which cell characteristics remain specific to their tissue of origin. Both stage and grade affect the chances of survival. Genetic factors and immune status affect susceptibility. Triggers include hormones, viruses, smoking, diet, and radiation. Cancer can begin in almost any tissue, as well as in the blood (seeleukemia) and lymph (seelymphoma). When it metastasizes, it remains a cancer of its tissue of origin. Early diagnosis and treatment increase the chance of cure. Treatment may include chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy. See alsobladder cancer; breast cancer; carcinogen; colorectal cancer; Kaposi sarcoma; laryngeal cancer; lung cancer; ovarian cancer; pancreatic cancer; prostate cancer; skin cancer; stomach cancer; uterine cancer.
Oh how I hate cancer. I can't even count on all my fingers and toes of all the family and friends that were taken by this scourge. I'm convinced the cure has been found, but we make to much on cancer "research" and "treatment". Corruption prevailing... Xbox 720 | Pictures of Jesus | Halo 4 | Cheetah Facts | Wii U | Easytether
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