New Researchers Join Scientific Advisory Board; New Chair Appointed to Medical Advisory Board

Home About the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network New Researchers Join Scientific Advisory Board; New Chair Appointed to Medical Advisory Board

Pancreatic Cancer Action Network’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) and Medical Advisory Board (MAB) provide strategic guidance to the organization’s scientific and clinical agenda, and are composed of biomedical researchers and healthcare professionals who are experts in the field of pancreatic cancer.

Scientific Advisory Board
We are pleased to announce that, as of July 1, 2013, three new researchers have joined Pancreatic Cancer Action Network’s Scientific Advisory Board. We welcome the following new members:

Sunil Hingorani, MD, PhD

  • Associate Member, Clinical Research Division and Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center,
  • Associate Professor, Medical Oncology, University of Washington School of Medicine,
  • Founding Director, Pancreas Cancer Specialty Clinic, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, and
  • Director, Center for Accelerated Translation in Pancreas Cancer, Seattle, Washington

Dr. Hingorani played a lead role in the development of the first genetically engineered mouse model of pancreatic cancer that accurately recapitulates the human disease. Using that model to inform the development of human clinical trials, he works on devising novel strategies to overcome treatment resistance. Dr. Hingorani is a two-time recipient of Pancreatic Cancer Action Network research grants: the 2007 Pilot Grant and the 2005 Dr. Laurence A. Mack and Roselle Mack Memorial -- Career Development Award. Dr. Hingorani is driven to study this disease because his family has been touched by it.

Kimberly Kelly, PhD
Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia

Dr. Kelly’s work focuses on imaging techniques to improve early detection and diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Based on findings funded by our organization, Dr. Kelly has cofounded a biotechnology company and is currently conducting an early-phase clinical trial to test her noninvasive early detection biomarker. Dr. Kelly was awarded a Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Career Development Award in 2007, generously funded by Laurie MacCaskill, a seven-year pancreatic cancer survivor and the new Chair of Pancreatic Cancer Action Network’s Board of Directors, and her husband Paul.

Steven Leach, MD

  • Paul K. Neumann Professor in Pancreatic Cancer,
  • Professor of Surgery, Oncology and Cell Biology, and
  • Vice Chair for Academic Affairs, Department of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

Dr. Leach looks at the early development of the normal pancreas to provide clues to how tumors arise. He also studies the earliest stages of pancreatic cancer initiation to discover better methods to detect and treat the disease before it has progressed to become more aggressive. Dr. Leach is a pancreatic cancer surgeon and the mentor of two postdoctoral fellows, Jennifer Bailey, PhD, who received a Pathway to Leadership Grant (2011), and Florencia McAllister, MD, who received a Fellowship Grant in memory of Samuel Stroum (2012), both from Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

We would also like to express gratitude to Craig Logsdon, PhD, for his service on the SAB, as he ends his term and joins our Emeritus Board.

Medical Advisory Board

Pancreatic Cancer Action Network welcomes Vincent Picozzi, MD, as the new chair of its Medical Advisory Board (MAB). Dr. Picozzi is a physician with the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Virginia Mason Medical Center, in Seattle, Washington, and also serves as director of the Pancreas Center of Excellence there.

Dr. Picozzi has the largest single practice in pancreatic cancer in the nation. He has an active clinical research program, both at his own institution and through the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group. He has been the principal investigator on a number of clinical trials in pancreatic cancer, as well. Dr. Picozzi joined the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network’s MAB in 2008.

We thank Jordan Berlin, MD, as he finishes his tenure as MAB chair, and are pleased that he will be continuing with us as a board member.