Medical Advisory Board

Raphael Pollock, MD, PhD, Medical Advisory Board Member

Dr. Raphael Pollock, MD, PhD was born in Chicago, IL where he received his primary and secondary school education.  Dr. Pollock graduated from Oberlin College in 1972 with a BA in History (high honors).  He received his MD degree from St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri and then completed residency training in General Surgery at the University of Chicago and Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, Chicago, IL.  This was followed by a fellowship in Surgical Oncology at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.  Upon completion of fellowship training in 1984, Dr. Pollock joined the faculty in the Department of Surgical Oncology at The University of Texas.  He completed PhD training at the Graduate School of the Biological Sciences, University of Texas Health Sciences Center / Houston in 1990, and was promoted to Associate Professor the following year.  Dr. Pollock became Chairman of the Department of Surgical Oncology in 1993, was promoted to Professor in 1995, and became Head of the Division of Surgery at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in 1997. 

Dr. Pollock has a lifetime professional dedication to patient care and research in soft tissue sarcoma. His clinical practice focuses exclusively on this disease entity, and he has pursued clinical and laboratory research interests in soft tissue sarcoma during the entire time that he has been a member of the faculty of the Department of Surgical Oncology.  Currently Dr. Pollock provides leadership for the Sarcoma Research Center at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.  His laboratory research interests include molecular-oriented tissue- and cell line-based investigations focusing on the role of the p53 tumor suppressor gene in soft tissue sarcoma, modulation of angiogenesis in soft tissue sarcoma, mechanisms of soft tissue sarcoma chemoresistance, as well as the development of novel therapeutics for this disease.  Dr. Pollock is the incumbent in the Senator A.M. Aiken, Jr., Distinguished Chair, and holds joint appointments in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer and the Department of Surgery at The University of Texas Health Sciences Center/ Houston. 

Peter Pisters, MD, Medical Advisory Board Member

Dr. Pisters is a Professor of Surgery at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. His clinical research interests include pancreatic cancer, gastric cancer, and soft tissue sarcoma.

Dr. Pisters also serves as Chair of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) Surgery Committee and Chair of the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group Sarcoma Committee. Dr. Pisters is also a member of the Executive Council of the Society of Surgical Oncology and American Board of Surgery’s Surgical Oncology Advisory Council.

Shreyaskumar Patel, MD, Medical Advisory Board Member

Dr. Patel is the Medical Director of the Sarcoma Center and a Tenured Professor of Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He completed his medical graduation at Baroda Medical College in Baroda, India. He pursued his training in medical oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Dr. Patel has authored or co-authored more than 100 articles in various peer-reviewed journals. He has been section editor for the Sarcoma Section of Current Oncology Reports since 2000.  He has also authored or co-authored 15 book chapters. His clinical research interests include systemic therapy for sarcomas, GISTs and other tumors originating in bone and soft tissues.

Alberto Pappo, MD, Medical Advisory Board Member

Dr. Pappo is a pediatric oncologist with special interest in soft tissue sarcomas and melanoma. He is a Professor of pediatrics at Hospital for Sick Children and head of the solid tumor section at the hospital. Additionally, Dr. Pappo is a a member of the soft tissue sarcoma committee of COG and chair of the rare tumor committee of COG.

Robert Maki, MD, PhD, Medical Advisory Board Member

Dr. Robert Maki is Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics, and Orthopaedics, and the Steven Ravitch Chair in Pediatric Hematology-Onocology. He has published more than 100 articles on sarcoma treatment and basic science research, having worked on studies related to sarcoma since 1985. He treats adults and children with sarcomas (connective tissue cancers of bone, cartilage, muscle, fat and other soft tissue) and has an interest in translational research and the biology that leads to different types of sarcomas.

After his MD/PhD at Cornell Medical College in New York City, he was a resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston before a medical oncology fellowship at Dana-Farber, and was on staff at Dana-Farber before starting at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in 1999. In March, 2011 he moved to the Mount Sinai Medical Center to develop the effort in adult sarcoma therapy and research.

Dr. Maki’s efforts at Mount Sinai will be directed towards an increasingly integrative effort sarcoma biology and treatment of sarcomas. His group will conduct clinical trials in adults with sarcomas, and they will also conduct translational studies in sarcoma biology to identify the next possible targets for new drugs to treat sarcomas.

Dr Maki now also leads the Pediatric Hematology-Oncology program at Mount Sinai, and will continue his personal interest in the care of adolescents with sarcomas, while also expanding the role of the pediatric hematology-oncology program in the treatment and research of pediatric cancers such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia, as well as “benign” but often life-threatening hematologic conditions.

Crystal Mackall, MD, Medical Advisory Board Member

Crystal L. Mackall is Chief of the Pediatric Oncology Branch of the National Cancer Institute. She is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and has received international recognition for her work on T cell homeostasis and tumor immunology.  She leads an active translational research program that incorporates basic studies of immunology with clinical trials of immunotherapy for pediatric cancer, with a special focus on pediatric sarcomas.  She is the recipient of numerous awards including the NIH Distinguished Clinical Teacher Award in 2000, an NCI Mentor of Merit Award in 2003, and the NCI Director’s Award in 2003.  She has authored over 100 scientific publications and is a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation.

Jonathan Lewis, MD, PhD, Medical Advisory Board Member

Jonathan Lewis, MD, PhD is Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of ZIOPHARM Oncology, serving in these capacities since January 2004. From July 1994 until June 2001, Dr. Lewis served as Professor of Surgery and Medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He has been actively involved in leading translational and clinical research in cancer, and is widely recognized by patient advocacy groups. He has received numerous honors and awards in medicine and science, including the ASCO Young Investigator Award, the Yale University Ohse Award, and the Royal College of Surgeons Trubshaw Medal. He served as Chief Medical Officer and Chairman of the Medical Board at Antigenics, Inc. from June 2000 until November 2003. He serves as a Director on the Board of Delcath Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:DCTH) and of POPPA (the Police Organization Providing Peer Assistance) of the New York Police Department (NYPD).

Marc Ladanyi, MD, Medical Advisory Board Member

Marc Ladanyi, MD is Associate Attending Pathologist and Director of the Laboratory of Diagnostic Molecular Pathology in the Department of Pathology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. The focus of his research is the basic and applied molecular pathology of sarcomas, in particular those with specific chromosomal translocations causing gene fusions, in order to help identify molecular markers or targets for diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic applications.

Lee Helman, MD, Medical Advisory Board Member

Dr. Helman is the Chief of the Pediatric Oncology Branch and Deputy Director, Center for Cancer Research. He is Professor of Pediatrics and Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and was a founding member and past president of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society. Dr. Helman is an associate editor for the journals Cancer Research and Clinical Cancer Research. Dr. Helman’s lab currently has two major areas of investigation related to the biology of pediatric sarcomas—the role of insulin-like growth factors on the biology of these tumors and to identify the molecular mechanisms of metastases using animal models of spontaneously metastatic.

Richard Gorlick, MD, Medical Advisory Board Member

Dr. Gorlick is Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Pharmacology and Section Chief, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, at Albert Einstein College of Medicine – The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, in New York. Dr. Gorlick provides clinical care and performs chemotherapy infusions for children, adolescents and young adults with bone and soft tissue sarcomas. His work strongly emphasizes a multidisciplinary approach, with a team that includes pediatric oncologists, pediatric surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, pathologists, radiologists and radiation oncologists. Dr. Gorlick is also Director of the Sarcoma Research Laboratory and a member of the Albert Einstein Cancer Center at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. His laboratory focuses on developing new therapeutics for the treatment of sarcomas. He was a member of the pediatric sarcoma service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for eight years before relocating to the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in July 2004 to serve as the Section Chief. Dr. Gorlick is an active member of the Children’s Oncology Group, serving as chairman of the Biology Section–Bone Sarcoma Disease Committee and as a member of the Bone Tumor Disease and the Developmental Therapeutics Liaison committees. Dr. Gorlick is Co-chair of the Osteosarcoma Biology Protocol-Companion to Therapeutic Studies and Director of the Bone Tumor Resource Laboratory. The Bone Tumor Resource Laboratory has served as a repository for fresh bone sarcoma tumor samples for the Children’s Oncology Group for the last seven years. Dr. Gorlick has published more than 60 peer-reviewed articles in leading medical journals. The vast majority of these manuscripts have focused upon sarcomas.

Charles Forscher, MD, Medical Advisory Board Member

Charles Forscher, MD is an attending physician at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with offices in the Cedars-Sinai Outpatient Cancer Center at the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute. He is also the Medical Director of the Cedars-Sinai Sarcoma Center. Dr. Forscher has special expertise in bone and soft tissue sarcomas and limits his practice exclusively to treating these and related high risk conditions.

Prior to joining Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Forscher was Assistant Professor in the Department of Neoplastic Diseases at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. In addition, he was Clinic Chief at Mount Sinai’s Neoplastic Diseases Clinic. He is board certified in internal medicine, hematology and medical oncology. Dr. Forscher has been cited as one of the top experts in sarcoma in America’s Top Doctors for Cancer. He has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, including Cancer, American Heart Journal, American Journal of Hematology and the Journal of Clinical Oncology. He has also published chapters in several books, including Cancer Medicine, Musculoskeletal Oncology, Medical Oncology, Cancer Treatment, Current Therapy in Hematology-Oncology and Skeletal Nuclear Medicine. Dr. Forscher earned his bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He completed his internship and residency at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. In addition, Dr. Forscher completed fellowships at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montifiore Medical Center and Mount Sinai Medical Center.  Prior to joining Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Forscher was Assistant Professor in the Department of Neoplastic Diseases at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. In addition, he was Clinic Chief at Mount Sinai’s Neoplastic Diseases Clinic. He is board certified in internal medicine, hematology and medical oncology. Dr. Forscher has been cited as one of the top experts in sarcoma in America’s Top Doctors for Cancer. He has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, including Cancer, American Heart Journal, American Journal of Hematology and the Journal of Clinical Oncology. He has also published chapters in several books, including Cancer Medicine, Musculoskeletal Oncology, Medical Oncology, Cancer Treatment, Current Therapy in Hematology-Oncology and Skeletal Nuclear Medicine.

Dr. Forscher earned his bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He completed his internship and residency at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. In addition, Dr. Forscher completed fellowships at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montifiore Medical Center and Mount Sinai Medical Center.

Robert Benjamin, MD, Medical Advisory Board Member

Dr. Benjamin was born in 1943 in the Brooklyn, New York. His father, a pediatrician, and his mother, a biochemist, instilled in their son not only a love of science and medicine but a strong sense of compassion and advocacy for patients.  He earned his medical degree from New York University School of Medicine and did his postgraduate training at Bellevue Medical Center.  He was a fellow and senior clinical associate at Baltimore Cancer Research Center, at that time affiliated with the National Cancer Institute.  He spent one year at the University of Southern California prior to joining M. D. Anderson.

Under Dr. Benjamin, the Sarcoma Center at M. D. Anderson has become one of the premier treatment and research centers in the nation dedicated solely to the management of soft-tissue and bone tumors. His team at the Sarcoma Center offers a multidisciplinary approach to the disease, providing the expertise of medical, surgical and radiation oncologists as well as pathologists and rehabilitation therapists for the benefit of each patient.

George Demetri, MD, Chair

Dr. George D. Demetri is Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Center for Sarcoma and Bone Oncology in the Department of Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Demetri received his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from Harvard College and medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine in 1983, then went on to Internal Medicine residency and chief residency at the University of Washington Hospitals in Seattle. He then completed a fellowship in Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, where he has served as an Attending Physician since 1989. He is also an affiliate investigator with the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research.

Dr. Demetri’s research and clinical interests have focused on the translation of scientific discoveries into targeted drugs for the management of sarcomas as a model for solid tumor research and development. This work has led to the development of the oral drug Gleevec as an effective treatment for the gastrointestinal sarcoma known as GIST, and is continuing with the research leading to the new multi-targeted agent SU11248 for GIST resistant to Gleevec.

A fellow of the American College of Physicians, Dr. Demetri is a member of many professional societies and editorial boards of scientific journals. He is a member the Board of Directors of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society and a member of the Medical Advisory Board of the Sarcoma Foundation of America. He has been instrumental in raising awareness of issues relating to drug development and sarcoma research by his activities on the Internet, and he founded a non-profit educational site for sarcoma patients and their families, http://www.sarcoma.net.

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