The CureSearch for Children's Cancer Scientific Advisory Council was appointed in the summer of 2012 to develop and guide the organization's scientific strategy, agenda, and grants program at a time when CureSearch is expanding its research funding beyond clinical trials to include funding of translational research initiatives focused on moving findings from the bench to the bedside as quickly as possible.
CureSearch will continue to support the Children's Oncology Group (COG), the world's largest children's cancer research cooperative, by this year providing up to $2 million for patients enrolled in COG therapeutic clinical trials at more than 180 hospitals across the country.
Members of the CureSearch Scientific Advisory Committee include:
Joseph Simone, MD
Chair, Scientific Advisory Council
CureSearch for Children's Cancer
President
Simone Consulting Company
Joseph Simone, MD is president of Simone Consulting Company, a firm he established in 2000 to advise organizations on cancer program organization, quality, and development. Dr. Simone spent the majority of his medical career at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, having joined the medical staff in 1967 and served as its director from 1983 to 1992. There, he helped develop curative treatments for childhood leukemia and lymphoma.
From 1992 to 1996, Dr. Simone served as physician-in-chief of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and from 1996-2001 was the Senior Clinical Director of the Huntsman Cancer Institute and is now clinical director emeritus. He is also professor emeritus of pediatrics and medicine at the University of Utah, School of Medicine.
Dr. Simone has served as chairman of the National Cancer Policy Board of the Institute of Medicine, on the Board of Scientific Advisors of the National Cancer Institute, and currently serves on the external advisory committees of eight NCI-designated cancer centers. He was the founding medical director and chairman of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and founder of the American Society of Clinical Oncology's Quality Oncology Practice Initiative. Dr. Simone is also a columnist for Oncology Times.
Archie Bleyer, MD
Clinical Research Professor
Oregon Health and Science University
Professor of Pediatrics
University of Texas Medical School at Houston
Chair, Institutional Review Board
St. Charles Health System, Central|Eastern Oregon
Archie Bleyer, MD is an international expert on adolescent and young adult cancer and currently serves as a Clinical Research Professor at the Oregon Health and Science University and Professor of Pediatrics, University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
Prior to current role, Dr. Bleyer chaired the Children's Cancer Group for 10 years during the 1990s, which at the time was the world's largest children's cancer research organization. He has also served as Director of Community Oncology and Chair of Pediatrics at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX.
Dr. Bleyer pioneered the adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer initiative, which has become a national program adopted by Canada and countries in Europe and Asia. Dr. Bleyer was also a founding member of the LiveStrong Young Adult Alliance.
During the past three decades, Dr. Bleyer has received research grants totaling more than $75 million from the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society, and the Leukemia Society of America. In addition, his research has been published in more than 300 peer-reviewed articles, chapters, and books.
William L. Carroll, MD
Julie and Edward J. Minskoff Professor of Pediatrics
Director, NYU Cancer Institute
New York, NY
William Carroll, MD is the Director of the New York University Cancer Institute where his research focuses on the clinical and translational biology of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), specifically on discovering drug resistance pathways that operate in vivo. He is also professor of pediatrics and professor of pathology at NYU.
Prior to becoming the director in 2004, Dr. Carroll served as Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Stephen D. Hassenfeld Children's Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at NYU Medical Center and Professor of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai. Before coming to New York, Dr. Carroll was Professor of Pediatrics and Deputy Director at the University of Utah-Huntsman Cancer Institute.
Dr. Carroll sits on the Advisory Boards of four NCI Centers and was a member of Subcommittee A (Cancer Centers) for four years, having chaired the Committee in 2006 - 2007. He is the immediate past Chair of the Children's Oncology Group (COG) Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Committee and remains on the COG Executive Committee as well as serving as a member of current and planned clinical trials in ALL.
Dr. Carroll has published more than 100 peer reviewed publications and is a member of numerous medical societies including Society for Pediatric Research, American Society for Clinical Investigation, and American Society of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology.
Alexander R. Judkins, MD
Pathologist-in-Chief and Department Head
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Children's Hospital of Los Angeles
Vice Chair of Department of Pathology
Keck School of Medicine of USC
Los Angeles, CA
Alexander Judkins, MD is the Pathologist-in-Chief and Department Head of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles and Vice Chair of the Department of Pathology at Keck School of Medicine of USC. Dr. Judkins is widely recognized for his diagnostic expertise and research in pediatric brain tumors, particularly embryonal CNS neoplasm including atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors (AT/RT) and nonneoplastic pediatric neuropathology, where his focus has been on developmental malformations and the neuropathology of seizure disorders. He also has expertise in digital pathology and is working to build tools to integrate bioinformatics and pathology image data analysis.
Prior to joining CHLA, Dr. Judkins served as the Chief of the Division of Neuropathology, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He also served as the Director of their Pathology Core Laboratory and Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Dr. Judkins currently serves in editorial positions at a variety of journals and publications, including Brain Pathology, the Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology and Acta Neuropathologica.
A. Thomas Look, MD
Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
Vice-Chair for Research, Pediatric Oncology
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Boston, MA
A. Thomas Look, MD, is a Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Pediatric Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, as well as leader of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center's Leukemia Program.
Over the past two decades, Dr. Look has published multiple peer-reviewed papers about the molecular basis of apoptosis and cancer and the application of molecular genetic findings to improve the treatment of childhood malignancies, particularly T-cell acute leukemia and neuroblastoma. He moved from St Jude Children's Research Hospital to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in 1999 specifically to establish a research program in the zebrafish model, to conduct genetic studies aimed at the identification of novel targets for cancer therapy, and is now internationally recognized as a leader in this field.
Dr. Look's initial work led to the first transgenic model of leukemia in the zebrafish, paving the way for chemical and genome-wide genetic modifier screens in a vertebrate disease model. Recently, his laboratory developed the first zebrafish transgenic model of childhood neuroblastoma, opening up the opportunity to apply the powerful genetic technology available in the zebrafish to identify new molecular targets for therapy in this devastating childhood tumor.
He is the principal investigator on several NIH-funded grants, including a Program Project focusing on T-ALL pathogenesis. He also serves on numerous editorial boards for peer-reviewed journals, including Neoplasia, Cancer Research and the International Journal of Hematology.
Brad H. Pollock, MPH, PhD
Professor and Chairman
Epidemiology & Biostatistics
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
San Antonio, TX
Brad Pollock, MPH, PhD, is Professor and the founding Chairman of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and holds the Henry B. Dielmann Distinguished University Chair at the School of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Dr. Pollock served as a cooperative group statistician for the legacy Pediatric Oncology Group (POG) and the Children’s Oncology Group (COG). He has continuously served as the Principal Investigator of the POG and COG Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) Research Base since 1996. Dr. Pollock is the Chair of the Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Research Design (BERD) Key Function Committee of the national Clinical Translational Science Award (CTSA) Consortium and President of the Association of Clinical Translational Statisticians.
Dr. Pollock’s research focuses on childhood cancer epidemiology, cancer prevention and control research, as well as the design and analysis of cancer clinical trials and observational studies. His research has been published in more than 40 academic journals.
Kathleen Ruccione, MPH, RN, FAAN
Co-Director, HOPE Program
Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA
Kathleen Ruccione, MPH, RN, FAAN, is a national leader in pediatric oncology nursing and a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. Currently, Ruccione serves as the Co-Director of the HOPE Program at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA), which provides compassionate psychosocial care and support for patients diagnosed and treated in its Children's Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases.
Ruccione completed her graduate training in public health from California State University, Northridge, with a focus on health education. She founded the LIFE Program for cancer survivors at CHLA and has co-edited/co-authored two landmark books on childhood cancer survivorship.
During her career, Ruccione has also pioneered education programs to empower patients and families coping with cancer, culminating in the development of CHLA's HOPE Resource Center and the incorporation of health educators as members of the multidisciplinary health care team.
She served as inaugural Chair of the Children's Oncology Group Nursing Discipline for 10 years, and is currently a member of the COG Nursing Steering Committee. At CHLA she mentors graduate and postgraduate students in nursing, health education, and health communication. Her research interests are focused on health literacy/health communication, and biobehavioral issues in cancer survivorship. She is a doctoral candidate in health behavior research (preventive medicine) at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine.
Nita Seibel, MD
Head: Pediatric Solid Tumors
National Cancer Institute
Bethesda, MD
Nita L. Seibel, MD joined the Clinical Investigations Branch of the Cancer Treatment and Evaluation Program (CTEP) in 2008 to oversee the development of the Pediatric Solid Tumor extramural program, long term childhood cancer survivorship, Pediatric Central Institutional Review Board and adolescent and young adult cancer program. She is also Professor of Pediatrics at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Dr. Seibel is board certified in pediatric hematology/oncology and prior to joining CTEP was an attending physician at Children's National Medical Center for 20 years where she also held numerous positions including Solid Tumor Director and Fellowship Training Program Director for Hematology/Oncology, Outreach Services Director for the Department of Hematology/Oncology, and Principal Investigator for the Children's Oncology Group.
Dr. Seibel is a member of the NCI PDQ (Physician Data Query) Pediatric Board and a regular reviewer for numerous journals including Cancer, Journal of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Pediatric Blood and Cancer, Journal of Clinical Oncology and Clinical Infectious Disease. Dr. Seibel has spoken internationally on the treatment and management of invasive mycoses and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in children and adolescents.
In addition to her many invited lectures, Dr. Seibel has published over 90 articles, 70 abstracts, and numerous book chapters. In addition to her interest in new oncology agents, antifungal agents, Wilms' tumors, and ALL, she also is interested in clear cell sarcoma of the kidney, osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma.