David M. Ashley
MBBS (Hon), FRACP, PhD
Tudor Ciuleanu
MD, PhD
Z. Gunnur Dikmen
MD, PhD
Jerry W. Shay
PhD
Adam Yopp
PhD
Remus Vezan
MD, PhD
Saadettin Kiliçkap
M.D, M.Sc
David M. Ashley
MBBS (Hon), FRACP, PhD
David M. Ashley, MBBS (Hon), FRACP, PhD, is Director, The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center, Head, Preuss Laboratory, and Director, Pediatrics Neuro-Oncology, Duke University. Top key opinion leader (“KOL”) in pediatric and adult neuro-oncology.
Dr. Ashley’s career in cancer research dates back more than two decades. He is credentialed in both pediatric and adult neuro-oncology practices and they have been the focus of his efforts in translational research and leadership. As evident from his publication and grant support record, his primary academic focus has been on neurologic tumors, the development of innovative therapies and approaches to care. These efforts have included basic and translational laboratory research. Dr. Ashley’s experience includes moving laboratory findings in brain tumor immunology and epigenetics into early phase clinical trials. He has expertise in immuno-oncology, having developed and clinically tested dendritic cell vaccines and other immuno-therapeutics. His achievements in research have led to change in practice in the care of children and adults with brain tumors, including the introduction of new standards of practice for the delivery of systemic therapy.
Tudor Ciuleanu
MD, PhD
Tudor Ciuleanu, MD, PhD, Professor of Oncology Iuliu Haţieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy and Ion Chiricuta Institute of Oncology, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Dr. Ciuleanu is a leading KOL in non-small cell lung cancer and colorectal cancer in Eastern Europe and he is a key investigator in more than 90 phase 3 and phase 2 clinical trials, including most immune therapy agents. He is one of the most highly published clinical investigators in Eastern Europe and he is a former President and editor of Romanian Federation of Cancer Societies and former editor for the Romanian edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Z. Gunnur Dikmen
MD, PhD
Z. Gunnur Dikmen, MD, PhD, Professor at Hacettepe University Medical Faculty, Department of Medical Biochemistry, as well as the director of the hospital’s emergency laboratory.
Dr. Dikmen graduated from Ankara University Medical Faculty and subsequently completed her residency and received her PhD from Hacettepe University Medical Faculty, Department of Medical Biochemistry. She completed her doctoral research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Department of Cell Biology in the Shay-Wright Lab. Her research has been focused on the discovery of novel molecules targeting telomeres and telomerase, mainly working on GRN163L (Imetelstat®) and 6-thio-2’-deoxyguanosine (6-thio-dG) to show their potent effects on different in vitro and in vivo cancer models. She has a broad range of experimental and clinical experience in molecular & cell biology and clinical biochemistry, translating research results from bench to bedside and from academia to clinical laboratory to mentor the next generation of multidisciplinary research projects by providing new therapeutic approaches for cancer and telomere related diseases. Dr. Dikmen has various international scientific publications as well as oral and poster presentations in national and international meetings. She has also published several book chapters in the fields of telomere-telomerase and clinical biochemistry. Her research was supported by the L’OREAL – Women In Science program in 2003 and received the Hacettepe University-Science Incentive Award in 2010.
Jerry W. Shay
PhD
Jerry W. Shay, PhD, Professor and Vice Chairman of the Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
Dr. Shay is one of the world leaders in the study of telomeres and telomerase. Professor Shay is the scientific co-founder of the research supporting THIO and is an integral advisor to the program. He has been a consultant and a member of multiple scientific advisory boards for companies such as the Procter & Gamble Company, Geron Corporation, Corixa Corporation, BioWhitaker, Inc., Clontech Laboratories, Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Sierra Science and Barricade Therapeutics. Dr. Shay has been noted as a highly influential biomedical researcher by the Institute for Scientific Research and Science Watch, with over 30 issued patents, more than 500 peer reviewed publications, and a citation h-index of 117. Dr. Shay holds the Southland Financial Corporation Distinguished Chair in Geriatric Research and is a Distinguish Professor at UT Southwestern having received the University of Texas Regent’s Outstanding Teaching Award, and the Minnie Steven Piper Foundation Professor Award. Dr. Shay was also awarded the Eunice Kennedy Shriver NIH Alliance Pioneer Award. Dr. Shay received his PhD from the University of Kansas and completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
Adam Yopp
PhD
Adam Yopp, PhD, Occidental Chemical Chair of Cancer Research and an Associate Professor and Division Chief of Surgical Oncology and Colorectal Surgery, at Harold C. Simmons National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Texas (“UT”) Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
Dr. Yopp completed a fellowship in surgical oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center focusing on upper gastrointestinal (“GI”) and hepato-pancreato-biliary (“HPB”) malignancy and joined UT Southwestern in 2009. At UT Southwestern, Dr. Yopp is the Director of the Liver Tumor Program, and both his research and clinical interests are focused on the delivery of care in patients with primary liver cancer. Specifically, he has National Institute of Health and Department of Defense funding examining the racial and ethnic disparities in outcome measures for patients newly diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma. In addition, as the Director of the UT Southwestern Biorepository he is focused on translational collaborations expanding our genomic characterizations of upper GI and HPB malignancies.
Remus Vezan
MD, PhD
Dr. Remus Vezan is a seasoned leader in drug development of novel therapeutic modalities, including cell and gene therapies, with over 20 years of academic and biopharmaceutical industry experience, and had a seminal contribution to the development and approval of multiple products, including TECARTUS®, YESCARTA® or IMBRUVICA®. Dr. Vezan currently serves as Vice President, Global Clinical Development at BeiGene where he is overseeing the global clinical development of the BTKi and BCL2i in B cell malignancies.
Prior to BeiGene, he served as Chief Medical Officer of CytoImmune Therapeutics, a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company focused on advancing allogeneic cell therapies and other therapeutic agents into solid tumors. Prior to that, he held the positions of Chief Medical Officer of CERo Therapeutics and Executive Director of Clinical Development at Kite Pharma. At Kite Pharma, Remus was primarily responsible for managing and overseeing the clinical development of CAR T-cell products, including axi-cell/YESCARTA®, the first CART-cell therapy approved for relapsed/refractory B-cell lymphoma and brexu-cell/TECARTUS®, the first CART-cell therapy approved for mantle cell lymphoma and adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Earlier, Remus served as Medical Director at Pharmacyclics, an AbbVie Company, where he was the clinical lead for HDACi-abexinostat program and ibrutinib (IMBRUVICA®) in lymphoplasmacytic lymphomas (Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia). He completed his medical training (M.D. and Ph.D.) at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj, Romania and University of Bern, Switzerland.
Saadettin Kiliçkap
M.D, M.Sc
Professor Dr. Saadettin Kiliçkap is a renowned faculty member at İstinye University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine since 2021. Dr. Kiliçkap graduated from Gazi University Faculty of Medicine with honors in 1998, completed his Internal Medicine specialty training at Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine in 2003. In 2009, completed the education programme of Medical Oncology at Hacettepe University Oncology Institute and the Cancer Epidemiology Thesis Master's Program at Hacettepe University Oncology Institute Preventive Oncology Department, granting him the title of “Master of Science”.
His experience ranges from Department of Hematology-Oncology at the University of Regensburg in 2009, faculty member at Sivas Cumhuriyet University Faculty of Medicine in 2010, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology at the Preventive Oncology Department of Hacettepe University Cancer Institute in 2013, appointed Professor at the same University in 2016 and started to work as a faculty member at İstinye University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine in 2021.
Dr. Kiliçkap received more than 20 oral presentations or best work awards at national congresses, has more than 240 scientific articles published in international peer-reviewed journals and more than 50 papers presented at international congresses. He took part as principle or sub-investigator in more than 50 national and international multicenter phase 2 and phase 3 clinical studies. In addition, Dr. Kiliçkap serves as a referee in many national and international scientific journals. His special interests include the treatment of solid tumors such as lung cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, and the gastrointestinal tract, as well as targeted therapies and immunotherapy, cancer epidemiology, quality of life and nutrition in cancer patients.
