Strategic Advisors
- Gordon B. Mills M.D., Ph.D., Chair, Department of Systems Biology, Professor of Medicine and Immunology, and Director of the Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy, University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center
- Richard L. Schilsky, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Chief, Section of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Medicine, Biological Sciences Division, University of Chicago
- Richard K. Wilson, Ph.D., Professor of Genetics, Professor of Molecular Microbiology, Member of the Senior Leadership Council, Siteman Cancer Center, and Director, The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine
Gordon B. Mills M.D., Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Systems Biology, Professor of Medicine and Immunology, and Director of the Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy, University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center
Dr. Mills is currently chair of the department of systems biology and co-director of the Kleberg Center for Molecular Markers, and holds the Olga Keith Wiess Distinguished University Chair for Cancer Research at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Mills’ research is focused on genomics and molecular markers in the initiation, progression and management of cancer, lysolipid growth factors in cancer, and endocytic recycling, bioenergetics and autophagy. He has made significant contributions to the understanding of ovarian tumorigenesis, including the identification and development of lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and sphingosine 1 phosphate (S1P) as potential diagnostic markers and targets for therapy. Dr. Mills has also extensively explored the genomics and genetics of ovarian and breast cancer, identifying and characterizing a number of potential oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. In all cases, his studies are being translated both as markers and targets for therapy. Dr. Mills earned an M.D. and Ph.D. in biochemistry and completed his training in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Alberta.
Richard L. Schilsky, M.D.
Professor of Medicine and Chief, Section of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Medicine, Biological Sciences Division, University of Chicago
Dr. Schilsky is an international expert in gastrointestinal malignancies and cancer pharmacology. He is presently professor of medicine and chief of the section of hematology-oncology in the department of medicine at the University of Chicago. Dr. Schilsky previously served as director of the University of Chicago Cancer Research Center and as associate dean for clinical research. He currently serves as chair of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Board of Scientific Advisors and as a member of its Clinical and Translational Research Advisory Committee. Dr. Schilsky previously served as chair of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and as president of ASCO (2008-2009). He is a member of the external advisory committees of several comprehensive cancer centers, serves as an associate editor of Clinical Cancer Research and Molecular Oncology, and is a member of the editorial boards of numerous other peer-reviewed oncology research journals. Dr. Schilsky earned an M.D. at the University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine. Following a residency in internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Parkland Memorial Hospital, he received training in medical oncology and clinical pharmacology at the NCI.
Richard K. Wilson, Ph.D.
Professor of Genetics, Professor of Molecular Microbiology, Member of the Senior Leadership Council, Siteman Cancer Center, and Director, The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine
Dr. Wilson is an expert in molecular genetics and large-scale DNA sequence analysis, and his research team at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is among the world's leaders in genome analysis. They have sequenced and analyzed billions of bases of DNA from the genomes of bacteria, yeast, roundworms, plants, vertebrates, primates and humans. Dr. Wilson and his colleagues at The Genome Institute sequenced the first animal genome, and contributed substantially to the sequencing and analysis of the human genome. In 2008, Dr. Wilson’s laboratory was the first to sequence the genome of a cancer patient and discover genetic signatures relevant to the pathogenesis of her disease. Their current focus is to utilize genome sequencing and analysis technology to discover clues that will facilitate more effective diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other human diseases. In 2010, Dr. Wilson and his colleagues sequenced the tumor and normal genomes of over 200 cancer patients. Dr. Wilson received a B.A. in microbiology from Miami University (Ohio) and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Oklahoma, and was a postdoctoral research fellow in the division of biology at the California Institute of Technology.