Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. Dan Von Hoff, Consulting Medical Officer

Daniel D. Von Hoff, M.D., is currently Physician in Chief and Director of Translational Research at TGen (Translational Genomics Research Institute) in Phoenix, Arizona. He is also Chief Scientific Officer for US Oncology and for Scottsdale Healthcare’s Clinical Research Institute. Dr. Von Hoff’s major interest is in the development of new anticancer agents, both in the clinic and in the laboratory. He and his colleagues were involved in the beginning of the development of many of the agents we now use routinely, including: mitoxantrone, fludarabine, paclitaxel, docetaxel, gemcitabine, irinotecan, nelarabine, capecitabine, lapatinib and others. At present, he and his colleagues are concentrating on the development of molecularly targeted therapies.

Dr. Von Hoff's laboratory interests and contributions have been in the area of in vitro drug sensitivity testing to individualize treatment for the patient. He and his laboratory are now concentrating on discovery of new targets in pancreatic cancer. Dr. Von Hoff has published more than 538 papers, 131 book chapters, and more than 933 abstracts.

Dr. Von Hoff was appointed to President Bush’s National Cancer Advisory Board in June 2004 – March 2010. Dr. Von Hoff is the past President of the American Association for Cancer Research (the world’s largest cancer research organization), a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and a member and past board member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He is a founder of ILEX™ Oncology, Inc. (acquired by Genzyme after Ilex had 2 agents, alemtuzumab and clofarabine approved for patients with leukemia). He is founder and the Editor Emeritus of Investigational New Drugs – The Journal of New Anticancer Agents; and, Editor-in-Chief of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. He is also proud to have been a mentor and teacher for multiple medical students, medical oncology fellows, graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows.

Dr. Bob Kerbel, Consulting Scientific Officer

Robert Kerbel is currently a Senior Scientist in Molecular & Cellular Biology Research at the Sunnybrook Research Institute of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. He is also a Professor of Medical Biophysics and Laboratory Medicine/Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. He is the co-Director of the Toronto Angiogenesis Center and Canada Research Chair in Tumor Biology, Angiogenesis and Antiangiogenic Therapy. He has made numerous seminal contributions to our understanding of tumor angiogenesis and antiangiogenic therapeutics. He was formerly involved in establishing and directing three different major cancer research programs in different universities and hospitals in Ontario Canada. Dr. Kerbel is the pioneer of a concept known as ‘metronomic’ chemotherapy (where chemotherapy is given at close regular intervals at low doses with no prolonged drug-free breaks) as an exciting and novel new way to combine chemotherapy with a targeted antiangiogenic drug such as bevacizumab, for the treatment of advanced metastatic disease. He has developed a number of new models of advanced metastatic disease in immune deficient mice involving human tumor cell lines, including breast, ovarian, and hepatocellular carcinoma, as well as malignant melanoma. These studies have evolved in a new research initiative, namely, the development of models of spontaneous brain metastases and their use to study the biology and treatment of such lesions. Dr. Kerbel’s group is also at the forefront of studying circulating cellular and molecular surrogate biomarkers in peripheral blood for anti angiogenic drugs and/or metronomic low-dose chemotherapy which can help determine the optimal biologic dose to be used for such drugs/treatments. Dr. Kerbel lists over 350 research papers during his career and has supervised almost 100 graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, sabbatical visitors since 1975. He is a member of the editorial board of numerous scientific journals and has given over 700 invited lectures during his career.