Board of Trustees
Officers of the Board
Lewis C. Cantley, Ph.D. – Chairman of the Board
Leah Rush Cann – Chair, Executive Committee of the Board
Sam Gillson – Treasurer
Steven Navarro – Secretary
Trustees
Renee Anderson, Pd.D.
Dr. Anderson holds an M.Ed and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina. Renee holds leadership and board positions at several performing arts and educational institutions in the Charleson, SC community, where she and her husband Andy reside.
Robert Bazell Life Trustee
Former NBC Chief Science and Health Correspondent
Adjunct professor of Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology at Yale University
After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1967 with a B.A. in biochemistry and Phi Beta Kappa honors, he studied biology at the University of Sussex as part of his graduate work before returning to Berkeley to complete his doctoral candidate degree in immunology. Mr. Bazell pursued a dual interest in journalism and science by joining Science magazine in 1971 and writing for its News and Comment section. In 1976, he began a career in broadcast journalism by joining WNBC in New York as a reporter before moving to NBC News, where he was one of the first network news correspondents to report on the emerging AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s. He continues to cover health and science issues for the network. His reports appear on NBC Nightly News, Today, and Dateline NBC. Mr. Bazell is a recipient of two Emmy Awards for his reports on the human brain, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award, the Maggie Award from Planned Parenthood, and the George Foster Peabody Award for his service to broadcast journalism. In addition to his television accomplishments, he is the author of HER-2, the acclaimed account of the making of the first targeted cancer drug. Robert is the Hope Funds for Cancer Research 2008 Award of Excellence Recipient in Advocacy.
Patricia F. Bilden, MD Life Trustee
Patricia is a dermatologist who has lived in Hong Kong since 1996. She received her BA from Georgetown University and her MD from the University of Iowa College of Medicine. She did her internship in Internal Medicine at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Boston and her Dermatology residency at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. She is currently a member of the Board of Regents of Georgetown University and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Aquidneck Land Trust in Newport.
Leah Rush Cann
Oppenheimer & Co.
Leah Rush Cann is a consultant with LRC Research & Consulting, LLC. Previously, she was a Managing Director and Senior Biotechnology Analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. Prior to re-joining the Oppenheimer Life Sciences practice, Leah was an independent biotechnology research analyst and life sciences consultant. She began her career as a research scientist with Memtec Corporation and moved to Wall Street in 1992, where she was a research analyst with Oppenheimer for nearly nine years. Leah was a healthcare analyst and portfolio manager for the Boston-based asset manager, Cadence Capital, and later the senior biotechnology analyst for Wachovia Securities. Twice recognized as an All-Star analyst by the Wall Street Journal, she is the founder of Leah Rush Cann Research and Consulting, LLC, an oncology research and consulting organization. Ms. Cann received a BA in Art History and Chemistry and an MBA from Stetson University. She was a post-baccalaureate at the College of William and Mary and a post-graduate at Columbia University.
Leah has been a trustee and member of several committees of International House in New York City for more than 20 years. She has served on the Board of Directors of MEI Pharma, Inc. and currently serves on the Advisory Board of the RNA Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Cancer Center.
Lewis C. Cantley, Ph.D.
Weill Cornell Medical School
Lewis C. Cantley, Ph.D., is Director of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medical College and New York Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Cantley graduated from West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1971. He obtained a Ph.D. in biophysical chemistry from Cornell University in 1975 and did postdoctoral training at Harvard University. Prior to taking the position at Weill Cornell, he taught and did research in biochemistry, physiology and cancer biology in Boston, most recently at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical. His laboratory discovered the PI 3-Kinase pathway that plays a critical role in insulin signaling and in cancers. Dr. Cantley is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has received a number of awards for his research, including the 2005 Pezcoller Foundation-AACR International Award for Cancer Research, the 2009 Rolf Luft Award for Diabetes and Endocrinology Research and the 2013 Breakthrough in Life Sciences Prize.
Samuel Gillson
Omega Sea
Mr. Gillson is the Controller at Omega Sea, Inc., a global seafood importer based in Newport, R.I. Previously, Sam served as Account Manager handling various marketing and communications duties. He graduated cum laude from the University of Rhode Island in 2006 with a B.S. in Accounting, where he was a member of the Beta Alpha Psi Accounting Honor Society. Sam has served as a member of the Finance Committee and most recently as Chair of the Audit Committee of Hope Funds for Cancer Research.
Antonio J. Grillo-López, MD, DSc (hc) Life Trustee
At IDEC Pharmaceuticals, Antonio J. Grillo-López led clinical development of IDEC-C2B8 (Rituxan®, MabThera), the first antibody approved for the treatment of cancer, approved in 1997 by the FDA for the treatment of patients with low-grade or follicular non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. At IDEC, he also supervised the development of Zevalin, the first radioimmunotherapy approved for the treatment of cancer. He has been instrumental in the clinical development of over 25 anticancer agents including: Rituxan, Zevalin, trimetrexate, deoxycoformycin, amsacrine, amsalog, brequinar, tiazofurin, deazaguanine, diaziquone, ametantrone, fostriecin, selenazole, BTPI, acridinecarboxamide, LAK/IL2, Specifid, Melimmune, and the anthrapyrazoles. For his medical work he was awarded the Leukemia Society of America Triumph Award, the Cure for Lymphoma Foundation Trailblazer Award and the Peter McCuen Cancer Research Excellence Award from the University of California. In 2004 he received the first Discovery Health Channel Medical Honors Award for lifetime achievements in clinical cancer research.
Prior to his groundbreaking work at IDEC, he was Executive Medical Director for International Clinical Research and Development at DuPont Merck for five years; Vice President, Clinical Therapeutics and Director, Clinical Oncology Research at Parke Davis (Warner Lambert) for seven years; and was Associate Professor of Medicine in the Department of Hematology and Oncology at the University of Michigan. Dr. Grillo-López trained as a hematologist and oncologist at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, San Juan, where he received his medical degree and later founded the Puerto Rico Society of Hematology and the Latin American Society of Hematology. Dr. Grillo-López has authored over 400 publications, primarily in the fields of hematology and oncology, including co-authorship of the current international response criteria for lymphoma.
In 2003 he was named “Distinguished Alumnus” of the University of Puerto Rico during its Centennial celebrations. Dr. Grillo-López was awarded an honorary doctorate (Doctor Honoris Causa in Scientific Research) by his alma mater, the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine in 2013.
Dr. Grillo-López was the 2007 recipient of the Hope Funds Award for Excellence in Clinical Development and a co-recipient of the 2008 Robert Tiedemann Award for Courage. In 2015, he was designated with the Order of Hope by the Hope Funds for Cancer Research.
Daniel P. Gold, Ph.D.
MEI Pharma, Inc.
Dr. Gold has been President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of MEI Pharma since April 2010. From October 2009 to April 2010, Dr. Gold was Managing Partner of Theragence, Inc., a service provider that focuses on optimizing biopharmaceutical product development, which he co-founded. From July 2008 to May 2009, Dr. Gold was President and Chief Executive Officer of Prospect Therapeutics, a clinical stage, oncology focused, biotechnology company. From January 2000 to May 2009, Dr. Gold was Chief Scientific Officer of Favrille, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company that focused on the development and commercialization of immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and other diseases of the immune system, which he founded. He was an associate Professor at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in LaJolla, CA from 1991 – 2001.
Dr. Gold was a member of the Executive Council of the Sabin Cancer Vaccine Consortium from 2004 to 2006 and a member of the board of directors of the San Diego chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society from 1998 to 2003
Dr. Gold received a Bachelors degree in biology from University of California Los Angeles and received a Doctorate degree from Tufts University in Pathology/Immunology. He was a postdoctoral fellow at MIT.
Adrian N. Hobden, PhD
Dr. Hobden is on the board of two biotechnology companies, Cerespir Inc and Zocere Inc. He was the President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Myrexis, Inc., a position he held from February 19, 2009 until 2012. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Hobden was President of Myriad Genetics’ wholly-owned drug development subsidiary, Myriad Pharmaceuticals, and during his 10 years as President, he grew the organization to about 220 people and put six compounds in the therapeutic areas of oncology, Alzheimer’s disease and HIV, into clinical development. Dr. Hobden became the first employee of Myriad Pharmaceuticals in October 1998 after 17 years at Glaxo Wellcome, where he last held the position of Director of Global Biotechnology Ventures. In addition, Dr. Hobden’s career at Glaxo included roles as head of Genetics, Molecular Science and Pharmacology Departments, head of drug discovery programs in HIV, anti-fungals and cardiovascular disorders and management of collaborations with several biotechnology companies. He received his Ph.D. in molecular biology from Leicester University and BA and MA degrees in biochemistry from Cambridge University in the UK.
Charles B. Holmes
Halstead Properties
Charles Holmes is a native of North Carolina and a graduate of the University of North Carolina. He moved to NY in 1984 and worked for Oppenheimer & Co until 2015. At the end of his career he was Head of U.S. Equities managing over 300 professionals in sales, trading, research and capital markets. After his Wall Street career, he joined GenSpring a division of SunTrust focused on the development of their multi-family, ultra-high net worth client base. After two years, the firm was restructured and merged into the bank’s retail wealth management. Through both his Wall Street career and his work in the multi-family office sector, Charles has developed and continues to maintain an extensive network with private equity and hedge fund managers, trust and estate attorneys, CPA’s, retail wealth managers and art advisors. Today Charles is a real estate broker in New York with Stribling and Associates, Ltd.
In addition to serving as a trustee for the Hope Funds for Cancer Research, he serves on the boards of the St. Bartholomew’s Conservancy in New York, Methodist University in his home town, and is also on the advisory board for the North Carolina Civil War History Center.
Gary Jobson Life Trustee
ESPN/US SAILING
Mr. Jobson, a cancer survivor and advocate, was the America’s Cup Winning Tactician in 1977, sailing on Courageous with Ted Turner. Prior to winning the America’s Cup, Gary was selected for the All-America Intercollegiate Sailing Team and was named the Intercollegiate Sailor of the Year. He was elected to the Sailing World Hall of Fame and was inducted into the America’s Cup Hall of Fame by the Herreshoff Marine Museum, after having won the Nathanael G. Herreshoff Trophy, US SAILING’s most prestigious award. Mr. Jobson was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame. Mr. Jobson was awarded a Doctor of Letters from the State University of New York Maritime College in 2005. Gary has been the National Chairman of the Leukemia Cup Regatta, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s sailing program, since 1994. In 2004, he received the Spiral of Life Award from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and in 2011 Mr. Jobson received the Charles M. Leighton Award for Outstanding Service. In addition to his accomplishments as a sailor and cancer advocate, Mr. Jobson is an award-winning journalist and writer, having won the Cable Ace Awards for the 1987 America’s Cup, an Emmy in 1988 for his coverage of the 1988 Olympic Games, and the Best Sports Book Award of 2002, awarded to him in 2003 by the Independent Publisher Book Awards in America for his book Fighting Finish. He has been ESPN’s sailing commentator since 1985. He is currently President of US SAILING, and covered the 34th America’s Cup for NBC.
Eugene Kennedy, MD
NewLink Genetics
Dr. Kennedy is Vice President for Clinical and Medical Affairs at NewLink Genetics. Prior to joining NewLink from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA where he served as Associate Professor of Surgery and held leadership positions as Chief of the Section of Pancreaticobiliary Surgery and Co-Director of the Jefferson Pancreas, Biliary, and Related Cancers Center. Previously, Dr. Kennedy has held faculty positions at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD and the Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans, LA. He has considerable experience in clinical trial design and implementation, leading both investigator initiated and industry sponsored efforts. Dr. Kennedy obtained his undergraduate education at the University of Virginia and received his medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia. He completed a residency and fellowship in Surgery and Surgical Oncology as well as a research fellowship in tumor immunology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Gene has been a member of the Hope Funds Marketing Committee since 2011.
Jonathan Lewis, MD, PhD – Life Trustee
Molecular Ninja Group
Dr. Lewis is Chairman of the Molecular Ninja Group, and Chief Executive Officer, of Samus Therapeutics. He served as Professor of Surgery and Medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. While at Sloan-Kettering he completed his surgical oncology fellowship, and a postdoctoral fellowship in immunology. He was active in soft tissue sarcoma surgery and clinical research, and laboratory and translational research in immunology and EGF family signal transduction. Prior to Sloan Kettering he completed his general surgical residency and PhD in growth factor signal transduction at Yale. He has lead global translational and clinical research in cancer and has helped develop several new drugs in cancer. He has received numerous honors and awards in medicine and science, including the ASCO Young Investigator Award, the Kristen Carr Fellowship, the Yale University Ohse Fellowship, the Royal College of Surgeons Trubshaw Medal, and the Sarcoma Foundation of America Hope and Vision Award. He has served as Director and Chair of several biotechnology companies. He serves as a Director on the Board of POPPA (the Police Organization Providing Peer Assistance) of the New York Police Department (NYPD). He also serves on the Medical Advisory Board of the Sarcoma Foundation of America, and the Scientific Advisory Board of the Combat Wound Initiative and Limb Salvage Program of the Henry Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine. Dr. Lewis was elected the first Life Trustee of the Hope Funds for Cancer Research on December 1, 2015, having formerly served as a board member, Chair of the Scientific Advisory Council, and as the second Chairman of the Board of Trustees.
Scott T. Lewis
TIAA-CREF
Mr. Lewis is a Managing Director at TIAA-CREF in New York City serving as a product specialist supporting several of TIAA-CREF’s investment strategies. Previously he was a member of the international equity portfolio management team at Lord Abbett & Company in Jersey City, New Jersey. Prior to that he was a portfolio manager at ING Investment Management, Credit Suisse Asset Management and Warburg, Pincus Asset Management, all located in New York City. Scott received both his MBA in Finance and B.Sc. in International Business and Management from New York University. He and his family reside in Wilton, CT.
Paul D. Maxwell
Great Range Capital
Paul Maxwell is a Founder and Managing Partner at Great Range Capital in Kansas City. Prior to founding Great Range, Paul was a Principal at Monitor Clipper Partners, a private equity firm based in Boston. Paul began his career as an investment banking analyst at Salomon Smith Barney in New York. His prior experience also includes working for Merrill Lynch in London and for Fenway Partners, a private equity firm based in New York.
Malcolm A.S. Moore, DPhil – Honorary Trustee
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute
Dr. Moore received his Bachelor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from the University of Oxford. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed a Prize Fellow at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was a Queen Elizabeth II Visiting Fellow and Senior Research Scientist and Head of the Laboratory of Developmental Biology at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia. Since 1974 he has been a Member at the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research and heads the James Ewing Laboratory of Developmental Hematopoiesis. He is perhaps best known for identifying and purifying a human growth factor, G-CSF, that stimulates white blood cell production (neutrophils). In collaboration with Amgen, recombinant G-CSF (Neupogen) was developed. This therapy has significantly improved survival in cancer patients. Malcolm is the Hope Funds Award of Excellence Honoree for Clinical Development in 2008. Dr. Moore chaired the Hope Funds Board from 2012 until 2016, at which time he was given the organization’s highest honor for governance, being made an Honorary Trustee.
Steven A. Navarro
Morgan Lewis
Mr. Navarro is the practice group leader of the New York office Business and Finance Practice. Prior to that he co-led the firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions Practice. Mr. Navarro’s practice focuses on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, joint ventures, and strategic alliances in a wide variety of industries, including energy and natural resources, life sciences, manufacturing, and retail.
Mr. Navarro advises private equity funds and multinational public and private companies on complex acquisitions, dispositions, and securities transactions. His practice encompasses public and private M&A, stock and asset transactions, and purchases and sales through bankruptcy and out-of-court restructuring. He also represents issuers in initial and subsequent public offerings, as well as issuers and strategic and financial investors in private placements of the securities of publicly and privately held corporations.
Mr. Navarro is admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey. He received his JD degree from, Georgetown University Law Center in 1987, and his BA in Political Science from State University of New York at Albany.
He resides in Westport, CT with his wife Sharon and their children.
John E. Parks
Oppenheimer & Co., Inc.
John is the Director of Equity Research at Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., a position he has held since 1999. He joined the firm in 1989 as a senior institutional salesman covering major clients in New York City. He became Head of Domestic Institutional Sales in 1995 and Head of Global Institutional Sales in 1997. He has been a member of the firm’s US Management Committee, the Executive Committee, and the Commitment Committee. He is currently Chairman of the Research Review Committee and member of both the Equity Transaction Committee and the Benefits Committee. John began his Wall Street career as an investment banker and later as an institutional salesman at the First Boston Corporation from 1983 to 1989.
He holds a BA in economics from Princeton University and an MBA in finance from Columbia University. John is also a founding board member of EmergingMed.com which is the premier online clinical trial matching and referral service for cancer patients.
Andrew Robertson
BBDO Worldwide
Andrew Robertson has been President and Chief Executive Officer of BBDO Worldwide since June 2004, and has worked with major clients including AT&T, ExxonMobil, FedEx, GE, HP Inc., Mars Inc, PepsiCo, SAP and Visa. It has been named Network of the Year at Cannes a record-setting seven times and the world’s most awarded agency network according to The Gunn Report for twelve years in a row. Since 2005, BBDO has been honoured as Global Agency of the Year in Ad Age, Adweek (three times) and Campaign (five times). BBDO Worldwide was also recognized as the Most Effective Network in the world by the Global Effies in 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2017. Andrew first came to BBDO in the UK in 1995, joining Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO where he subsequently served as Chief Executive. In 2001, he moved to BBDO North America to serve as President and CEO.
He began his advertising career at Ogilvy & Mather, London as a Media Planner. He switched to Account Management and was appointed to the Board of Ogilvy & Mather in 1986. In 1989, he joined J. Walter Thompson and in November 1990, was appointed Chief Executive of WCRS. Andrew has a degree in Economics from City of London University. He currently serves on the Boards of Autism Speaks and Hope Funds for Cancer Research. He is a past Chairman of The Advertising Council.
David J. Straus, MD
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
David Straus is a medical oncologist and hematologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Dr. Straus received his MD at Medical College of Wisconsin (Marquette), was a resident at Montefiore Medical Center, and held fellowships at Beth Israel Hospital/Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology. Dr. Straus’s clinical expertise is in Hematology, Lymphomas and Hodgkin’s Disease, Multiple Myeloma and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.
O. Lee Tawes III – Life Trustee
Lee is Executive Vice President and Head of Investment Banking, and a Director at Northeast Securities, Inc. From 2000-2001 he was Managing Director of Research for C.E. Unterberg, Towbin an investment and merchant banking firm specializing in high growth technology companies. Mr. Tawes spent 20 years at Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. and CIBC World Markets, where he was Director of Equity Research from 1991-1999. He was also Chairman of the Stock Selection Committee at CIBC, a member of the firm’s Executive Committee, and Commitment Committee. From 1972 to 1990, Mr. Tawes was an analyst covering the food and diversified industries at Goldman Sachs & Co. from 1972 to 1979 and Oppenheimer from 1979 to 1990. As a food analyst, he was named to the Institutional Investor All American Research Team five times from 1979 through 1989. In addition to serving on the Northeast Board, he is on the Board of Baywood International, GSE Systems, Houston American Energy, and 100 Wall Energy Partners. Mr. Tawes is a graduate of Princeton University and received his MBA from Darden School at the University of Virginia.
J. Gregory Van Schaack
Executive Vice President, Academy Securities, Inc.
Mr. Van Schaack is co-founder of Academy Securities, a disabled veteran owned broker/dealer. The mission of the firm is to bring together Wall Street veterans with military veterans to provide institutions with superior financial services while creating jobs for disabled veterans. Prior to founding Academy, Mr. Van Schaack had advised private clients at firms including Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. and the United States Trust Company and Citizens Fidelity Bank and Trust Company. He has a wide range of experience in the financial services industry and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences.
Mr. Van Schaack is a graduate of Williams College.
Professor Bryan R.G. Williams, Ph.D.
Monash Institute
Professor Williams is a distinguished researcher and international authority on innate immunity and cancer biology. He received his PhD from the Department of Microbiology at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. Following postdoctoral training at the National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, London, he held faculty positions at the University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada. He was Chairman of the Department of Cancer Biology at the Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, USA, before joining the Monash Institute of Medical Research (MIMR) as Director. He is currently Director and CEO of the Hudson Institute of Medical Research, created by the merging of MIMR with Prince Henry’s Institute. Professor Williams is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.
Tracy Wilson Kooyman
Tracy previously spent 15 years as a Wall Street banker. In her banking career, she was a Relationship Manager for International Mutual Funds and multinational banks. She worked in New York City for Citibank, Bankers Trust, Bank of NY (Irving Trust) as well as Standard Chartered in Sydney, Australia. Tracy is a graduate of Columbia School of International Affairs, with a Masters degree in International Relations and International Banking. Tracy is fluent in French and Spanish and hold US and French passports. Her husband, John Kooyman, is a VP at Colgate Palmolive. Tracy has lived or worked in Geneva, Madrid, Brussels, Copenhagen and Australia. After 10 years abroad, she is currently residing in Connecticut with her husband, John Kooyman, and their two sons.
all photography on this page is courtesy of Julie Skarratt Photography and Mia McDonald