Beth Karlan, MD
Beth Y. Karlan, MD is Director of the Women's Cancer Research Institute, the Division of Gynecologic Oncology in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Gilda Radner Hereditary Cancer Detection Program and the holder of the Board of Governors' Endowed Chair in Gynecologic Oncology. Dr. Karlan also is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Board certified in obstetrics and gynecology and in gynecologic oncology, Dr. Karlan has been awarded research grants from such groups as the Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer Society. Her research interests include the genetic definition and phenotypic determinants of human ovarian carcinomas, molecular biomarker discovery and inherited cancer susceptibility.
Dr. Karlan has written over 100 articles, many published in peer-reviewed publications, such as Gynecologic Oncology, Cancer, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer Research and Clinical Cancer Research. She also serves as an Editorial Board Member for Obstetrics and Gynecology, Journal of Clinical Oncology and Gynecologic Oncology. Dr. Karlan's national leadership is exemplified by her positions as President of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists (2005-2006), a member of the Gynecologic Oncology Division of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and service on the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons. In 2006, Dr. Karlan was awarded the American Cancer Society, California Division, Early Detection Professorship. After a nationwide search, Dr. Karlan was appointed Editor-in-Chief for the Gynecologic Oncology Journal, effective January 2008.
Dr. Karlan is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard-Radcliffe College. She received her medical degree from Harvard Medical School and the Harvard-Massachusetts Institute of Technology Program in Health Sciences and Technology. After finishing her residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital, Dr. Karlan completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in molecular biology at Yale University School of Medicine, and a clinical fellowship in gynecologic oncology at UCLA School of Medicine
Douglas A. Levine, MD
Douglas A. Levine, MD, is a gynecologic oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City who specializes in the surgical treatment of women with known or suspected ovarian and uterine cancers. Board certified in obstetrics and gynecology and in gynecologic oncology. Dr. Levine also has an intensive laboratory effort focused on identifying clinically relevant genomic predictors of outcome for women with ovarian or endometrial cancer. A major portion of this research also focuses on studying molecular profiles of women who are treated with novel targeted anticancer drugs. The goal is to determine which patients are most likely to respond to a given therapy so that we can direct the best treatments toward the most-appropriate patients. His research is supported by funding from the National Cancer Institute, the Department of Defense, Stand Up To Cancer, the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, the Gynecologic Cancer Foundation, and the Entertainment Industry Foundation.
In addition to caring for patients and conducting translational research, Dr. Levine also has an active interest in medical education and innovative technology. He has authored or co-authored more than 85 peer-reviewed research papers, review articles, and book chapters. Dr. Levine is the founding editor of Atlas of Procedures in Gynecologic Oncology — the only full-color photographic surgical atlas in the field. In addition, he serves on the editorial boards of Gynecologic Oncology and Ovarian Cancer and is co-chair of both the Ovarian and Endometrial Cancer Working Groups of The Cancer Genome Atlas.
Dr. Levine received his medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine and completed his residency at Mount Sinai Medical Center and a fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Click here to follow Dr. Levine on Twitter.
Julie Cherrington, Ph.D.
Julie Cherrington, PhD is the CEO of Pathway Therapeutics, a New Zealand based oncology company focused on the discovery and development of PI3K inhibitors. Previously, Dr. Cherrington was the President of San Diego based Phenomix Corporation with strategic and operational responsibility for research and development at the discovery, pre-clinical and clinical stages. Prior to joining Phenomix in 2003, Dr. Cherrington was Vice-President of pre-clinical and clinical research at SUGEN, a Pfizer company. SUGEN focused on the discovery and development of small molecule kinase inhibitors for cancer and was a leader in molecular profiling patient samples in concert with innovative Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trial designs with novel targeted agents. Dr. Cherrington was instrumental in the development of SUTENT and its approval for renal cell cancer and gastrointestinal stromal tumors as well as Paladia for the treatment of mast cell tumors in dogs. Dr. Cherrington is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Progen Pharmaceuticals, an oncology biotechnology company, and consults for several other oncology focused companies. Prior to SUGEN, Dr. Cherrington held a range of positions of increasing responsibility at Gilead Sciences.
Dr. Cherrington received her MS in microbiology from the University of California at Davis. She completed her graduate work in microbiology and immunology at the University of Minnesota and Stanford University. Dr. Cherrington was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California at San Francisco. She has co-authored more than 80 peer-reviewed scientific papers.
Ursula A. Matulonis, MD
Ursula A. Matulonis, MD is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Medical Director and Program Leader of the Medical Gynecologic Oncology Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. Her research is focused on targeted therapies for gynecologic malignancies, and she is the Principal Investigator of several clinical trials as well as translational studies for ovarian cancer.
Dr. Matulonis currently serves on the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Ovarian Cancer Recommendation and Guideline Committee for both ovarian cancer and for the treatment of anemia, the Gynecologic Oncology Group Quality of Life and Rare Tumor Committees, and is the Medical Director and Board Member for the non-profit organization Ovations for the Cure. She is a recipient of the Dennis Thompson Compassionate Care Scholar award, the Lee Nadler “Extra Mile” Award at Dana-Farber, and was named one of Boston’s Best Physicians in Medical Oncology by Boston Magazine. She serves as an editorial board member of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
After receiving her MD from Albany Medical College in New York she completed an internship and residency at the University of Pittsburgh, followed by a medical oncology fellowship at Dana-Farber. She has been an attending physician at both Dana-Farber and Brigham and Women’s Hospital since 1995.
Deborah Zajchowski, PhD, Scientific Director
Deborah Zajchowski, PhD is a cancer biologist with over 20 years experience in cancer research and drug discovery in the biopharmaceutical industry. Her involvement with the Clearity Foundation began in November, 2007 and since that time she has guided the selection of the biomarkers and technologies that comprise the molecular profiling panel, ensuring the consistency with the most recent knowledge in the area of drug response prediction markers. Under her direction, the foundation has developed a database to track patient histories and testing results to enable an ovarian cancer-centric interpretation of molecular profiles and established an ovarian cancer biomarker knowledgebase to fuel the foundation's patient and physician education program. She is also president of Oncology Consulting Services and provides clients with cancer biology/ functional genomics guidance for biomarker, target, and drug discovery efforts. Prior to this, she was a Senior Project Leader in the Cancer Research department at Berlex Biosciences, Inc (a subsidiary of Schering AG, Germany), where she led cross-functional teams in cancer drug target identification and validation as well as in preclinical drug development. She led the pre-clinical development efforts for a novel chemotherapeutic agent for ovarian and pancreatic cancer treatment and the breast cancer genomics drug discovery efforts. She is an active member of the American Association for Cancer Research, serves as a reviewer for several scientific journals, and has published many scientific research articles in the areas of cancer genomics, estrogen action, and transcriptional control. Dr. Zajchowski received her PhD from the University of Chicago and had post-doctoral research fellowships at the L.G.M.E. in Strasbourg, France and at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Mass.
