NETRF Board of Scientific Advisors

The Board of Scientific Advisors provides the scientific direction to the Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation (NETRF) by offering programmatic advice, conducting peer-review of grant proposals to identify the best research, and serving as leaders in the field. The Board of Scientific Advisors comprises highly distinguished scientific and medical leaders who share a commitment to discovering a cure for neuroendocrine cancer. All members of the Board of Scientific Advisors are recognized experts in experimental and medical research, published authors in the top peer-reviewed medical journals, and leaders of collaborative research projects at top-ranked universities and institutes.

Board of Scientific Advisors

Dawn E. Quelle, PhD

CO-CHAIR
Professor, Neuroscience and Pharmacology; Leader, Cancer Genes and Pathways Program, Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center; University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine

Education: The Pennsylvania State University (PhD) 
Fellowships: The Pennsylvania State University, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Chrissie Thirlwell, MD, PhD

CO-CHAIR

Head of Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, UK; Faculty of Health and Life Sciences; Consultant Medical Oncologist UHBW and North Bristol NHS Trust

Education: University College London (MD); University of London (PhD)
Post-Graduate Training: St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, Chelsea and Westminster, Charing Cross, Hammersmith and University College London Hospitals

Justin Annes, MD, PhD

Affiliation: Associate Professor of Medicine; Director and Founding Member of Stanford’s Hereditary Neuroendocrine Neoplasia Clinic, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California

Justin Annes, MD, PhD (NYU MD/PhD, BWH/Harvard-trained) specializes in endocrine genetics, specifically the treatment of hereditary endocrine disorders, such as pheo/para, and NET-focused drug development, including NET-SMART prodrugs. He holds leadership roles in NANETS and the Pheo Para Alliance.

James A. Bibb, PhD

Professor and Chair, Department of Translational Neurosciences, University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix

Education: UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas

Lisa Bodei, MD, PhD

Professor of Radiology at Weill Cornell Medical College and Attending Physician and Director of Targeted Radionuclide Therapy, Molecular Imaging and Therapy Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Board Certification: Nuclear Medicine
Education: University of Pisa (MD); University of Groningen (PhD)
Residency: University of Pisa (Italy)
Fellowship: European Institute of Oncology (Italy)

Mauro Cives, MD

Affiliation: Associate Professor of Medical Oncology, University of Bari “Aldo Moro,” Bari, Italy

Mauro Cives, MD (University of Bari Medical School, Moffit Cancer Center-trained), leads translational NET immunotherapy research, with expertise in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), CAR T cells, BiTE constructs, cancer vaccines, and neoantigen discovery, particularly in pancreatic NETs. He serves on the ENETS Advisory Board.

Talya Dayton, PhD

Affiliation: Group Leader, EMBL Barcelona

Talya Dayton, PhD (MIT PhD; postdoc at Hubrecht Institute), leads a research group that pioneers patient-derived tumor organoid models focused on lung neuroendocrine tumors, enabling ex vivo platforms for experimental therapeutics and mechanistic neuroendocrine tumor biology studies. She is a founding member of the ENETS Basic & Translational Science group.

Jennifer R. Eads, MD

Professor of Clinical Medicine (Hematology-Oncology); Physician Lead for GI Clinical Research; Director, National Clinical Trials Network, Abramson Cancer Center; Director, Neuroendocrine Tumor Program, Division of Hematology and Oncology, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine

Board Certification: Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology
Education: Tufts University School of Medicine (MD)
Residency: University Hospitals Case Medical Center
Fellowships: University Hospitals Case Medical Center

Daniel M. Halperin, MD

Associate Professor and Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Emory University 

Board Certification: Medical Oncology and Internal Medicine
Education: Weill Cornell Medical College (MD)
Residency: Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Fellowship: MD Anderson Cancer Center

Iacovos Michael, PhD

Affiliation: Canada Research Chair in Tumor Biology & Precision Oncology; Assistant Professor, University of Toronto; Scientist, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, Canada

Iacovos Michael, PhD, earned his MSc and PhD at the University of Toronto, followed by postdoctoral work at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. As a Canada Research Chair and Assistant Professor, he studies the mechanisms that enable cancer plasticity and metastasis in neuroendocrine tumors. He holds leadership roles with CNETS, NANETS, and CommNETs.

John D. Minna, MD

Director, Hamon Center for Therapeutic Oncology Research; Professor of Internal Medicine & Pharmacology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; Max L. Thomas Distinguished Chair in Molecular Pulmonary Oncology and Sarah M. and Charles E. Seay Distinguished Chair in Cancer Research

Education: Stanford University Medical Center (MD) 
Residency: Massachusetts General Hospital
Fellowship: National Institutes of Health 

Erik Mittra, MD, PhD

Affiliation: Professor, Diagnostic Radiology & Chief, Molecular Imaging & Therapy; Director, Theranostics Program, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR

Erik Mittra, MD, PhD (Stony Brook MSTP ’05; Stanford residency/fellowship), spearheads theranostic radiopharmaceutical development and translation into clinical practice. He holds leadership roles with SNMMI, the Pheo/Para Alliance, and NANETS.

Lois Mulligan, PhD

Affiliation: Bracken Research Chair in Genetics & Molecular Medicine; Professor of Pathology & Molecular Medicine, Associate Head (Education), Department of Pathology & Molecular Medicine, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Lois Mulligan, PhD, (Queen’s University, Ludwig Cancer Research and Cambridge University-trained) holds the Bracken Chair and a full professorship at Queen’s University. She is recognized for her work on RET receptor tyrosine kinase signaling and hereditary cancer syndromes, including medullary thyroid cancer, a type of neuroendocrine cancer. She has a leadership role with NANETS.

Gregory Way, PhD

Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Biomedical Informatics, University of Colorado Anschutz, Denver, Colorado

Gregory Way, PhD (MS, Saint Joseph’s; PhD, UPenn; postdoctoral training at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard) aims to reduce human suffering through biomedical data science methods and applications. His expertise is machine learning, software development, high-content microscopy, and high-throughput drug screening for precision oncology and rare cancer drug discovery.

Emeritus Members

  • Daniel Chung, MD, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Director, Hi-Risk Gastrointestinal Cancer Clinic, Massachusetts General Hospital
  • George Fisher, MD, PhD, Colleen Haas Chair in the School of Medicine, Stanford Medical School
  • Todd Golub, MD, Chief Scientific Officer, Broad Institute
  • Arnold Levine, PhD, Simons Center for Systems Biology at the Institute for Advanced Study
  • Thomas J. Lynch Jr., MD, Director, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
  • Anil Rustgi, MD, Herbert and Florence Irving Professor of Medicine; Director, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University; Associate Dean of Oncology, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons; Chief, Cancer Services, New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center campus
  • William Sellers, MD, Broad Institute
  • Ramesh Shivdasani, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Deputy Director, Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center
  • Evan Vosburgh, MD, Yale University School of Medicine