Scientific Advisory Board (SAB)
The MPN Research Foundation Scientific Advisory Board plays a key role in the organization’s near- and long-term priorities and practices, ensuring that our global research strategy and annual research funding programs are aligned with MPNRF’s mission — to stimulate critical research, and ultimately a cure, for myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs).
The Scientific Advisory Board is a valued group of MPN thought leaders who volunteer their time and expertise to provide a broad range of medical, scientific, and strategic counsel to MPRNF staff and board of directors, with the ultimate goal of improving outcomes for patients. Individually and collectively, the SAB’s valued knowledge and vision impacts MPNRF’s strategic planning and execution of its objectives in multiple ways. Ongoing contributions include:
- distinguishing areas of highest priority in current MPN clinical and basic research
- recommending the most effective and highest impact mechanisms for research funding
- identifying opportunities on the horizon to catalyze highly promising directions in MPN research
- helping continuously improve MPNRF’s peer review and funding selection process
- monitoring and prioritizing research and therapeutic developments to identify therapies being developed for other diseases, which may be relevant to MPNs, and
- identifying new research gaps and partnering opportunities to better address patient needs with regard to established and emerging MPN therapies.
MPNRF is grateful for the commitment and contributions of each of the SAB members, listed below.
Scientific Advisory Board Members
Radek Skoda, MD, PhD
- Baylor College of Medicine
- SAB CO-CHAIR
Radek Skoda, MD, PhD
Radek C. Skoda, M.D. is Senior Faculty at Baylor College of Medicine, Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center in Houston TX, and Professor emeritus of Molecular Medicine at the University of Basel, Switzerland.
Dr. Skoda obtained his M.D. from the University of Zürich, Switzerland and trained in internal medicine and hematology at the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland. He was postdoctoral fellow at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel and the Department of Genetics of the Harvard Medical School in Boston. In 1993, he became independent research group leader at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel and from 2000 to 2002 he was head of the Molecular Hematology-Oncology unit at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg. In 2002 he was appointed full professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Basel, in Basel, Switzerland and was Chair of the Department of Biomedicine of the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel from 2006-2021. From 2016 to 2021 he also chaired the Personalized Health Basel Initiative of the University and University Hospital Basel. Since 9/2024 he is Senior Faculty at Baylor College of Medicine, Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center in Houston Texas, supported by a CPRIT grant.
Dr. Skoda’s research focuses on the molecular pathogenesis of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). His major contributions include describing the JAK2-V617F mutation in patients with MPN, dissecting the factors that contribute to the clonal evolution of MPN and discovering mutations in the TPO gene in familial thrombocythemia, and the EPO gene in familial erythrocytosis. He received several prizes and awards, including the 2007 Ham-Wasserman Lecture Award of the American Society of Hematology, the David Grimwade Award of the European Hematology Association (EHA) in 2020, and the Award of the San Salvatore Foundation in 2021. In 2013 he has been elected to the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences.
Robert Cohen, MD
- Calico Life Sciences
Robert Cohen, MD
Robert Cohen is a hematologist-oncologist who has worked in the biotech/pharma industry for the past 30 years. Bob’s ‘day job’ is Head of Human Biology and Fellow at Calico Life Sciences, a biotechnology company focused on aging, where he advances Calico’s mission through original research, scientific guidance, and mentorship. Bob leads Calico’s efforts to advance drug discovery in large human cohorts such as the UK Biobank, utilizing cutting-edge techniques in computational biology and machine learning to understand the biology of aging. Prior to Calico, Bob spent 20 years at Genentech, after joining the research organization in 1994. During his tenure, Bob had multiple leadership roles that contributed to the development of several of the company’s ground-breaking cancer drugs, including Rituxan, Herceptin, Tarceva, Avastin, and Kadcyla.
Bob earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Amherst College and an M.D. with Distinction in Research from the University of Rochester. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of Michigan and his fellowship in hematology and oncology at UCSF. He continued as an assistant professor in residence in the Cancer Research Institute at UCSF before his move to industry. He is board-certified in internal medicine, hematology, and oncology. Bob is a named inventor on 13 issued U.S. patents and has published numerous scientific articles. His most recent publication, a collaboration with fellow SAB member, Jyoti Nangalia in May 2024, is a study of the somatic mutations that underpin clonal hematopoiesis published in Nature Genetics.
After meeting and being inspired by MPNRF founder Robert Rosen, Bob has now worked with the MPNRF for the past 20 years as a board member and scientific advisor. Bob notes that working with the Foundation has been gratifying in terms of raising awareness of MPNs and fostering the development of exciting new treatments for patients (including his own mother!).
John Crispino, PhD
- St. Jude Children’s Hospital
John Crispino, PhD, MBA
John Crispino, PhD, MBA, is the Wall Street Committee Endowed Chair and Chief of the Division of Experimental Hematology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Dr. Crispino received his PhD from MIT for research on the mechanisms of RNA splicing performed in the laboratory of Dr. Phillip Sharp, Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine. He then performed post-doctoral hematology research at Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital of Boston with Dr. Stuart Orkin before establishing his independent group in 2000.
Over the years, Dr. Crispino and members of his laboratory have made many important contributions to improve our understanding of the mechanisms of normal and aberrant blood development. Currently, his research is focused on the biology of red blood cells and megakaryocytes, characterization of genetic changes that lead to transformation of pre-diseases including the MPNs to acute leukemia, and the development of novel, targeted therapies for patients with hematologic malignancies.
He has authored over 170 manuscripts, with recent papers in Cancer Discovery, Journal of Clinical Investigation, and Blood. His laboratory is supported by an NCI Outstanding Investigator R35 award, the NCI-funded Myeloproliferative Neoplasms Consortium, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He is a recent Associate Editor of Blood, on the editorial boards of Leukemia and Blood Cancer Journal and recent chair of the NIH Biochemistry and Cellular Oncogenesis study section. He also reviews grants for the Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and the MPN Research Foundation. Dr. Crispino also received an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management in 2011.
Saar Gill, MD, PhD
- University of Pennsylvania
Saar Gill, MD, PhD
Dr. Gill obtained his medical degree and Ph.D in immunology from the University of Melbourne, and trained in hematology at St Vincent’s Hospital, the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. In 2008 he moved to the United States, first to pursue a post-doctoral fellowship in cellular therapy at Stanford University, and then in 2011 to the University of Pennsylvania where he is now an associate professor of medicine.
Dr. Gill’s clinical practice is in leukaemia and bone marrow transplantation. He has led clinical trials of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells for chronic and acute leukemias. Dr. Gill’s research laboratory focuses on the interface between adoptive cellular therapy and genetic engineering, with a strong translational focus. Dr. Gill has authored over 100 peer-reviewed papers and is listed as an inventor on over 60 patents. He has spun out two biotechnology companies that currently employ over 100 people in Philadelphia. Dr. Gill’s past trainees hold independent academic appointments at the University of Melbourne, the Israel Institute of Technology, Mayo Clinic, Washington University, and at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Catriona Jamieson,
MD, PhD
- University of California, San Diego
- SAB CO-CHAIR
Catroina Jameson, MD, PhD
Catriona Jamieson, MD, PhD, is a board-certified hematologist with broad clinical expertise in caring for patients with hematologic malignancies. As hematology team leader for the Division of Hematology/Oncology at UC San Diego Health Moores Cancer Center, Dr. Jamieson’s clinical interests include the treatment of myeloproliferative neoplasms including chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), polycythemia vera (PV), myelofibrosis and essential thrombocythemia. She is also the principal investigator on several clinical trials for the treatment of these and related bone marrow disorders.
As a physician-scientist, Dr. Jamieson completed her residency and clinical fellowships in bone marrow transplantation and hematology, as well as a postdoctoral research fellowship in the laboratory of Professor Irving Weissman at Stanford. Together with collaborators, she discovered in 2004 that chronic phase CML is initiated by blood-forming stem cells through expression of the BCR-ABL gene, but that a patient’s transition to the blast crisis stage of CML is driven by myeloid progenitors that have been reprogrammed to behave like leukemia stem cells (LSC) through aberrant activation of the gene beta-catenin (Jamieson et al., The New England Journal of Medicine 2004).
In her own laboratory first at Moores Cancer Center, and now also at the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, she has expanded this research to include analysis of the events involved in the initiation and progression of a variety of blood cancers. As a principal investigator on several research grants funded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), Dr. Jamieson has a deep interest in understanding the mechanisms fueling the development, progression and therapeutic resistance of hematologic malignancies. Her translational research efforts have led to discovery of small molecule therapeutic inhibitors that are now being tested in two Phase 1 clinical trials for two different blood cancers. A successful, recently completed Phase l clinical trial showed promising results for myelofibrosis. The continued aims of her research group focus on developing novel therapeutic strategies for hematological malignancies that will improve the quality of life of people with these disorders, with the goal of developing curative therapies that will obviate therapeutic resistance and disease relapse.
Ross Levine, MD
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Ross Levine, MD
Ross Levine is the Senior Vice President, Translational Research, Memorial Hospital at Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK). He is also an Attending Physician on the Leukemia Service, Department of Medicine, the Laurence Joseph Dineen Chair in Leukemia Research and a Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Levine earned his A.B. from Harvard College and a M.D. from Johns Hopkins. Dr. Levine served as a Resident in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and as a Hematology-Oncology Fellow at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
His laboratory focuses on elucidating the genetic basis of myeloid malignancies, and using this knowledge to improve outcomes for patients with these disorders. Moreover, as a physician scientist, his laboratory has a specific interest in translating this knowledge back to the clinic and in participating in the preclinical and clinical evaluation of targeted therapies for leukemia patients. He has been honored with the Dameshek Prize from the American Society of Hematology, the Boyer Award for Clinical Investigation from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and a NCI Outstanding Investigator R35 Award.
Ann Mullally, MD
- Stanford Medicine
Ann Mullaly, MD
Dr. Ann Mullally is a physician-scientist and the Stanford Division Chief of Hematology. Her laboratory studies myeloid blood cancers with a focus on myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). Dr. Mullally received her medical degree from University College Dublin (Ireland), completed residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and fellowship in hematology/oncology in the Brigham/Mass General/Dana-Farber combined program.
Prior to moving to Stanford in 2024, Dr. Mullally was a Principal Investigator at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a clinical faculty member at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute for approximately 10 years. She is actively involved in all aspects of patient-oriented research. The overarching goal of her research program is to advance the biological understanding of MPN and to translate this into improved treatments for patients living with these chronic blood cancers.
Dr. Mullally’s lab elucidated the mechanism by which mutant calreticulin (CALR) is oncogenic and causes MPN. The lab has also worked extensively on the JAK2V617F mutation and MPN stem cells. Additional research interests include early MPN pathogenesis (i.e. clonal hematopoiesis), the biology of myelofibrosis and developing genetic and cellular therapies to treat MPN.
Jyoti Nangalia,
MBBS, PhD
- Wellcome Sanger Institute
Jyoti Nangalia, MBBS, PhD
Dr. Nangalia is a Group Leader in the Cancer, Ageing and Somatic Programme at Wellcome Sanger Institute. Her group studies somatic mutation patterns, methylation changes and clonal selection over life, and how these alter during ageing and cancer. Her earlier work focussed on the genetics of blood cancer, identifying CALR mutations, and integrating genomics to personalise predictions of disease outcome for patients.
Dr. Nangalia studied Medicine at Cambridge University (St John’s College), and subsequently trained as a Haematologist. She undertook a PhD at the University of Cambridge and Sanger Institute where she developed a passion for genomics. During her PhD, she discovered CALR mutations in the vast majority of patients with JAK2 unmutated myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). Testing for CALR mutations in clinical practice is now routine and in international WHO guidelines.
Utilising cancer genetics to support clinical decision-making is a critical application of genetic sequencing technologies, and following her PhD, she worked on the development of an accurate online personalised predictor of prognosis for patients with blood cancer by integrating clinical and genomic parameters.
In 2017, she became a Cancer Research UK Clinicial Scientist and started a group at the Sanger Institute, initially focussing on studying the trajectories to blood cancer. In 2020, she became a Principal Investigator at the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute. She is now a Group Leader within the Cancer, Ageing and Somatic Mutation Programme at the Sanger.
She is also a Consultant Haematologist and treats patients with chronic myeloid malignancies at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She is a member of the myeloproliferative neoplasm clinical study subgroup of the National Cancer Research Institute and contributes to the writing of national guidelines for myeloproliferative neoplasms in the UK. Her team leads the molecular analysis of clinical trials for patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms
Scott Weir, PharmD, PhD
- University of Kansas Medical Center
Scott Weir, PharmD, PhD
Scott J. Weir, PharmD, PhD. is Director, Institute for Advancing Medical Innovation (IAMI), University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC). He also serves as the Associate Director for Translational Research for the University of Kansas Cancer Center. Weir holds academic appointments as Professor in the Departments of Cancer Biology, Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics as well as the Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology at KUMC. He is the Kelly Family Foundation IAMI Professor in Cancer Drug Discovery and Development.
Weir has over 38 years of professional experience in the field of drug discovery and development, 20 of which were spent in the pharmaceutical industry prior to joining KUMC in 2006. During his tenure in the pharmaceutical industry, Weir contributed to the development and registration of over 26 drug products. His specific areas of expertise are in clinical pharmacology and developing innovative approaches to drug discovery and development. He has built a reputation of being innovative in bridging the “Valley of Death” through high performance public-private partnerships as well as repurposing FDA-approved drugs and rescuing abandoned drugs. Such partnerships have resulted in the creation of a robust cancer drug discovery portfolio of approximately 30 projects as well as advancement of five KU-invented anticancer agents to clinical trials over the past six years.
From 2012-2017, Weir served on the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Advisory Council as well as the Cures Acceleration Network (CAN) Board. He co-chaired the NCATS Working Group that developed goals and objectives for the NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award program. Weir also participated on the Institute of Medicine Mapping the Drug Discovery and Development initiative and served on the NCI STTR/SBIR Working Group, advising this small business granting program on initiatives designed to strengthen collaborations with NCI-designated cancer centers.
Weir serves on scientific and external advisory boards for Family Health International 360, MPN Research Foundation, Center for Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Kentucky, and KUMC Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Leo and Anne Albert Institute for Bladder Cancer Care and Research as well as in an advisory capacity to several biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.
