Jesse Roth, MD,
FACP
Dr. Roth is Professor of Medicine, Albert Einstein College
of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Associate Director,
General Clinical Research Center (NIH, GCRC, at the
Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, North Shore-Long
Island Jewish Health System. Dr. Roth served for nearly two
decades in a leadership capacity at the National Institute
of Diabetes, and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) of
the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He started as
Clinical Associate, and moved on to Senior Investigator,
Chief Diabetes Section, Chief Diabetes Branch, and finally
Scientific Director NIDDK. During part of this period at NIH
Dr. Roth served also as Assistant Surgeon General, U.S.
Public Health Service. Dr. Roth has introduced the direct
study of cell surface receptors, leading to the recognition
of the vital role of these receptors in transforming the
information provided by extracellular hormonal signals into
intracellular events. He played an important role in
uncovering the first few steps in insulin action and
understanding the role of these events in genetic and
acquired disorders of glucose metabolism. Dr. Roth pioneered
in the measurement of circulating levels of human growth
hormone with introduction of tests for management of
patients with acromegaly and growth hormone deficiency that
remain valid and useful. After leaving the NIH Dr. Roth was
appointed Raymond and Anna Lublin Professor of Medicine,
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Director,
Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology; Director,
Johns Hopkins Center on Aging. He subsequently became
President and CEO, Picower Institute for Medical Research;
Professor, Picower Graduate School of Molecular Medicine,
and Editor-in-Residence, Molecular Medicine (official
publication of Molecular Medicine Society). He left the
institute to become Geriatrician-in-Chief, North Shore-Long
Island Jewish Health System, a position he holds to date. In
2006 he was elected honorary member of EASD (European
Association for the Study of Diabetes). Dr. Roth has had a
great impact on scientific research. He has published more
than 400 articles, some of which have been declared
"citation classics". He was listed by Current Contents among
the most cited authors on multiple occasions. He serves as
editor, or member of the editorial board of several leading
journals in the fields of diabetes, endocrinology &
metabolism, and aging. Dr. Roth is a graduate of Columbia
University in New York, and received his M.D. degree from
Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He trained
in Internal Medicine at Barnes Hospital, Washington
University in St. Louis, followed by a fellowship at the
Bronx VA Medical Center in New York, under Nobel Prize
Laureates Solomon Berson and Roslyn Yallow.
Jeff Trent, PhD
Dr. Trent is President and Research Director of the
Translational Genomics Research Institute (Tgen), Senior
Investigator of Genetic Basis of Human Disease Division, and
Head of the Melanoma Therapeutics Lab. Dr. Trent's research
focuses on the study of genetic changes related to cancer
predisposition and progression. Recently his research has
focused on the genetic susceptibility to human prostate
cancer. Other work in his laboratory has been focused upon
relating the recent advances in both molecular biology and
cancer genetics and the valuable tools of the Human Genome
Project for the study of human oncogenesis. This has
included the development of technologies for analyzing the
expression patterns of genes using cDNA microarray
technology. Additionally, current research in his laboratory
is focusing on the isolation and cloning of specific
chromosomal breakpoints, coupled with the identification and
study of the products of these genes, which is providing an
exciting avenue for future research. The central viewpoint
underlying research in this laboratory is that genetic
abnormalities represent the critical events important to the
genesis and progression of human neoplasia. In addition to
prostate cancer, his laboratory does work in malignant
melanoma, ovarian and breast carcinoma. Studies have ranged
from the utilization of fluorescent genotyping for
genome-wide scans, microcell-mediated chromosome transfer,
genomic mapping using fluorescence in situ hybridization,
numerous genomic strategies for positional cloning, and
recently, the development of chromosome microdissection and
cDNA microarray technology. Accordingly, the spectrum of
activities in this laboratory ranges from chromosome-banding
analysis of tumors through molecular studies of gene
function. Dr. Trent earned his bachelor's degree from
University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, where he received
his MS and PhD in genetics.
Dave Alberts, MD,
PhD to SAB
Dr. Alberts is director of the Arizona Cancer Center and
Regents Professor of Medicine, Pharmacology, Nutritional
Science, and Public Health at the University of Arizona. Dr.
Alberts has had a strong career focus on translational
cancer prevention and treatment research. The emphasis of
his laboratory-based and clinical research has been on the
chemoprevention and treatment of cancers of the breast,
colon, ovary and skin. Clinically, Dr. Alberts pioneered new
treatments for advanced ovarian cancers, including in vitro
tumor cell chemosensitivity testing for personalized
medicine strategies, intraperitoneal chemotherapy, and
maintenance chemotherapy. During his career, Dr. Alberts has
served as an advisor to numerous cancer research foundations
and committees, including chair of the Oncologic Drug
Advisory Committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(1984-1986). He was a member of the National Cancer
Institute's Board of Counselors (to the Division of Cancer
Prevention, 1990-1994), the Board of Scientific Advisors
(1999-2006), and was on the coordinating subcommittee to the
Clinical Translational Advisory Committee, NCI (2006-2009).
In June 2001, he was acknowledged by Science to be one of
the top three National Institutes of Health-funded clinical
researchers in the United States. In 2003 the American
Association for Cancer Research (AACR) recognized his
contributions to clinical care in the field of cancer with
the Joseph H. Burchenal Clinical Research Award, and in 2004
the American Society for Preventive Oncology gave him its
Distinguished Career Award for research excellence. Also in
2004, the AACR awarded Dr. Alberts with its AACR-Cancer
Research and Prevention Foundation Award for Excellence in
Cancer Prevention Research Worldwide. Dr. Alberts has
authored or co-authored more than 500 peer-reviewed
publications, more than 100 book chapters and 60 invited
articles, and has served as editor and co-editor of six
books, including Fundamentals of Cancer Prevention, Second
Edition, Springer Verlag, 2009, and Intraperitoneal Therapy
for Ovarian Cancer, Springer Verlag, 2010. He has served on
the editorial boards of several peer-reviewed scientific
journals, including as associate editor for Cancer Research
from 1989-2002. Between 2002 and 2008, he acted as the
co-editor-in-chief of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers &
Prevention, the leading cancer public health research
journal worldwide. Dr. Alberts received his medical degree
from University of Virginia School of Medicine. He conducted
his internship at the University of Wisconsin, before
becoming a clinical associate in medical oncology at NCI's
Baltimore Cancer Research Center. Dr. Alberts conducted his
internal medicine residency at the University of Minnesota
and then served on the faculty of the University of
California, San Francisco, for five years and obtained board
certification in medicine and medical oncology.
Balázs Sümegi, PhD,
DSci
Dr. Sümegi is Professor and Chairman, University Medical
School Pecs, Department of Biochemistry. Dr. Sümegi was a
visiting scientist at the Department of Biochemistry,
University of Texas Health Science Center, Dallas, TX, USA,
and research chemist in the Pre-Clinical Science Unit of the
Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA for three years. He was also
a visiting professor in the Department of Chemistry,
University of Texas at Dallas, USA between 1989 and 1991.
From 1996 to 1999 he served as Dean of the University
Medical School Pécs. Dr. Sümegi contributed to the
understanding the enzymatic activity of the inner
mitochondrial membranes. Dr. Sümegi's involvement in
N-Gene's research lead to the discovery of the PARP
inhibition pathway. Dr. Sümegi earned his bachelor's degree
in chemistry from Jozsef Attila University, Szeged, Hungary,
he received his PhD in biochemistry from the University
Medical School Pécs. He earned a D.Sci. in biochemistry from
the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
József Mandl, MD,
PhD, DSci
Dr. Mandl is Professor and Chairman, Department of Medical
Chemistry, Molecular Biology and Pathobiochemistry,
Semmelweis University of Medicine. Dr. Mandl is also member
of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Between 1982 and 1983,
Dr. Mandl was Research Associate for two years in the
Department of Biological Chemistry, Harvard Medical School,
Boston, MA, USA. Since 1989, Dr. Mandl is Secretary of the
Medical Research Council of Hungary, and Director of the
Department of Science at the Ministry of Welfare. The field
of his research interest includes biotransformation,
metabolism in the liver, and hemostasis. He contributed to
the understating of the role of the endoplasmic reticulum as
nutrient sensor in normal physiology and pathology. Dr.
Mandl received his his MD from the Semmelweis University of
Medicine, and a PhD and a D.Sci. in biochemistry from the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
László Vígh, PhD,
Dsci Dr. Vígh is Deputy Director-General for Innovation, Head
of Membrane and Stress Biology Unit at the Biological
Research Center, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Szeged, and
Honorary Professor at University of Szeged. Dr. Vígh was
postdoctoral fellow at State University, Groningen,
Netherland. Dr. Vígh was visiting scientist at the
Department of Biochemistry, King's College, London, UK; at
the Institute of Cellular Physiology, University of Paris,
Paris, France; at the University of Texas at Austin, Austin,
Texas; USA; at the University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel,
Switzerland; the National Institute for Basic Biology,
Okazaki, Japan. Dr. Vígh has carried out pioneering work to
set up a new model whereby thermal stress is transduced into
a cellular signal at the level of the membranes. It has also
been shown by Vígh's lab that the specific and reversible
interactions of some amphitropic heat shock proteins (Hsps)
with the lipid phase of the dynamic, yet structured
membranes act primarily as a tool for rapid regulation of
the membrane physical state and thereby preservation of
various membrane functions, especially under fluctuating
stressed conditions. The "membrane sensor" model first
suggested by Vígh in 1998 clearly has many important
clinical implications. Dr. Vígh received his bachelor's
degree in chemistry from Jozsef Attila University, Szeged,
Hungary, earned a PhD and a DSci in biochemistry from the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
