ABOUT OUR BELIEF IN A CURE

The purpose of the Medical Advisory Council is to review grant submissions to determine their relevance and application to the core mission of The Cure Starts Now. They act to monitor and determine the framework of the grant process and then evaluate submissions based upon funding abilities determined by the board. Once approved, this council then makes recommendations based on budget ability to the Strategic Advisory Council for approval.

Gavin Baumgardner, DO, Chair

Gavin Baumgardner, DO completed his education at Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine with residency at Doctors Hospital. He is currently with Ohio Health in the capacity of an Internal Medicine Hospitalist. He is Chair of the CSN Medical Advisory Council.

Oren Becher, MD

Dr. Becher is currently the division chief of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology at the Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital in New York City.  As a physician-scientist, Dr. Becher is dedicated to advancing our knowledge of the biology of Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma or DIPG in the hopes that it provides new insights toward the development of more effective therapies for this extremely difficult to treat childhood brain cancer.

Shana Coley, MD, PhD

Shana Coley, MD, PhD, is Chief Resident for Anatomic Pathology at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. Her thesis research at Emory University focused on transplantation immunology, following twelve years of basic research in microbiology and immunology.

Stewart Goldman, MD

Senior Vice President, Research, Phoenix Children's; Sybil B. Harrington Endowed Chair; Chair & Professor, Department of Child Health, The University of Arizona, College of Medicine, Phoenix

Nicholas Joseph Gottardo, MB ChB, FRACP, PhD

Consultant Paediatric Oncologist & Senior Research Fellow, Princess Margaret Hospital for Children and Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Adam Green, MD

Adam Green, MD, is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and an attending pediatric neuro-oncologist at Children's Hospital Colorado. He completed his undergraduate degree in neurobiology at Dartmouth College and attended medical school at NYU. He served as a resident and chief resident in pediatrics at the University of Colorado and as a pediatric hematology-oncology fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children's Hospital. There, he trained in translational research in pediatric brain tumors with Drs. Andrew Kung and Stu Orkin, and in childhood cancer disparities with Dr. Carlos Rodriguez Galindo. His lab investigates novel targets and therapeutic strategies in the treatment of pediatric high-grade glioma (HGG), including diffuse midline glioma (DMG). There are several clinical trials that have opened based on work from his lab. He also studies causes and interventions for demographic and socioeconomic outcomes disparities in childhood cancer. Dr. Green has had funding from multiple federal and foundation sources; these have included The Cure Starts Now, which has funded his lab’s work on developing combination, multimodality treatment approaches to DMG.

Rintaro Hashizume, MD, PhD

Dr. Rintaro Hashizume is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at UAB. Dr. Hashizume’s research interests in understanding of the molecular mechanisms of the development of pediatric brain tumors (DMG, AT/RT, Ependymoma), genetic and epigenetic targeted therapy, development of patient-derived animal models, and new drug delivery system to the brain tumor.

Timothy E G Hassall, MBBS FRACP

Eminent Staff Specialist in Paediatric Oncology, Children’s Health Queensland; Lead Clinical Investigator / Co-Director Children’s Brain Cancer Centre, University of Queensland Frazer Institute; Adjunct Senior Fellow, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland; Visiting Fellow, School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health Queensland University of Technology

Cynthia Hawkins, MD, PhD

Dr. Hawkins is a paediatric neuropathologist at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). Her practice involves both surgical and autopsy neuropathology and includes neuro-oncologic, neuromuscular and neurodevelopmental disease.

Daniel McPherson, PhD

Daniel McPherson, PhD studied organic chemistry and biochemistry at Auburn University before becoming a Staff Scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for Nuclear Medicine. Then after taking a position as Health Science Administrator for the National Institutes of Health with input into the grant administration position, he then moved to Cincinnati where he now operates as Section Head of Radiochemistry for a local drug company.

Roger J. Packer, MD

Children's National Medical Center, Senior Vice President, Center for Neuroscience and Behavioral Medicine; Director, Brain Tumor Institute; Director, Daniel and Jennifer Gilbert Neurofibromatosis Institute; Principal Investigator, Center for Neuroscience Research (CNR); Children's Research Institute (CRI)

Ralph E. Vatner, MD, PhD

Dr Vatner is a radiation oncologist specializing in pediatric cancers and brain tumors. He received his medical education and PhD in tumor immunology at the University of Connecticut, and his residency training at New York University with additional fellowship training in pediatric proton therapy at the Massachusetts General Hospital. His research has focused on understanding the effects of radiotherapy on the immune response to cancers and normal tissues.

Daniel Weiner, PhD

Daniel Weiner, PhD, specializes in pharmacometrics, which is a science specializing in quantification of drug, disease, and trial information to aid efficient drug development. He previously held executive positions with a number of pharmaceutical companies and currently serves as an Adjunct Professor in The Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy where he works on methods for precision dosing, as well as serving as an independent director for Simulations Plus.