About Us

Dennis Slamon, MD, PhD

Dr. Slamon currently serves as director of Clinical/Translational Research and as director of the Revlon/University of California, Los Angeles Women’s Cancer Research Program at UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is a Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and Executive Vice Chair of research for UCLA’s Department of Medicine.

He obtained his MD degree at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine and earned his PhD in cell biology that same year. He completed his internship and residency at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics and later became a fellow in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at UCLA.

He is known for his work on the drug trastuzumab (Herceptin™), a gene-based breast cancer therapy that targets a specific genetic alteration, HER2, found in about 20-25 per cent of breast cancer patients. The discovery of the association between the HER2 alteration poor clinical outcomes and the subsequent development of Herceptin was of major significance in cancer research and helped one of the most fatal types of breast cancer become one of the most treatable and manageable. He also led the preclinical and clinical research that demonstrated targeting the CDK-4/6 pathway with specific inhibitors that significantly improved outcomes for women challenged with hormone receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer.

Dr. Slamon has won nearly two dozen national and international research awards for his scientific achievements. These awards include the prestigious Medal of Honor from the American Cancer Society, the David Karnofsky Award from ASCO, the Gairdner International Award from Canada, both the Landon and Rosenthal Awards from the AACR, and most recently the Sjoberg Award from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the DeBakey-Lasker Prize.

Peter Fasching, MD

Dr. Fasching is an Associate Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics Translational Medicine at the University Hospital of the Friedrich-Alexander, University Erlangen-Nuremberg and the National Center for Tumor Diseases WERA in Erlangen, Germany. At the University Hospital Erlangen, he is the Head of the Clinical Trial Unit of the Women’s Clinic, Coordinator of the Breast Center and of the Gynecological Oncology Center, as well as Head of the Biomarker Bank.

After completing medical school at the University Hospital Cologne, he worked at the University Hospital Düsseldorf, Germany and at the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

His research has been rewarded with several awards and focuses on cancer prevention, target discovery, big data and digital medicine. He was awarded to be a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

John Glaspy, MD, MPH

Dr. Glaspy is a Professor of Medicine at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine. Dr. Glaspy holds the Simms /Mann Family Foundation Chair in Integrative Oncology. He previously held the Estelle, Abe, and Marjorie Sanders Endowed Chair in Cancer Research.

He received his MD from the UCLA School of Medicine and his MPH in Health Services Administration from the UCLA School of Public Health. He later completed his residency in internal medicine and fellowship in hematology and oncology at the UCLA School of Medicine.

Dr. Glaspy is involved in clinical trials of therapies for melanoma and breast cancer as well as supportive care trials. He also participates in health services research exploring quality of care improvement and financial toxicity for patients.

Seock-Ah Im, MD, PhD

Dr. Im is the Director of the Cancer Research Institute at Seoul National University and the Chair for the Scientific Committee of Korean Society of Medical Oncology (KSMO).

She obtained her MD degree, MS, and PhD at Ewha Womans University, and is currently a Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at Seoul National University.

Her clinical work focuses on the development of tailored therapy through translational research and clinical trials. She has been involved in early phase clinical trials of DNA damage repair inhibitors and HER-2 targeting agents to test novel anticancer agents incorporating translational research. She also participates in many pivotal phase III clinical trials for breast and gastric cancers.

Miguel Martin, MD, PhD

Dr. Martin serves as Head of the Medical Oncology Service at the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón in Madrid, Spain. He is also a Professor of Medical Oncology at the Complutense University of Madrid and the Chairman of GEICAM (Spanish Group for Breast Cancer Research).

He obtained his MD degree at the University of Valladolid, Spain and later obtained his PhD at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid and his Medical Oncology specialization certificate, also in Spain.

In 1995, Dr. Martin funded GEICAM (Spanish Group for Breast Cancer Research). Dr. Martin’s research focuses on breast cancer research and treatment, new anticancer drugs and supportive care.

Fran Visco

Ms. Visco, a breast cancer survivor of more than 30 years, serves as the President of the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) and as a member of its Board of Directors.

Ms. Visco is an honors graduate of Villanova Law School, where she was an editor of The Villanova Law Review and a chair of the Women’s Law Caucus. President Clinton appointed Ms. Visco to three terms as one of three members of the President’s Cancer Panel; she was the first consumer to chair the Integration Panel of the Department of Defense Peer-Reviewed Breast Cancer Research Program. Ms. Visco co-chaired the National Action Plan on Breast Cancer and served on the National Cancer Policy Board. Ms. Visco has been appointed to several Institute of Medicine panels and served as a member of the IOM Roundtable on Evidence Based Medicine. She is a previous member of the Board of Directors of Women’s Way in Philadelphia, the nation’s oldest and largest women’s funding federation.

Her dedication, leadership and contributions to breast cancer advocacy have earned Ms. Visco numerous awards and honors.

Catherine Marle, MSc, PgD

Catherine holds a Master of Science degree in biochemistry and immunology and a post-graduate diploma in molecular biology from Paris University, France. Catherine has nearly 30 years of leadership and experience in global drug development, translational research and alliance management.

She has worked with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as contract research organizations to bring new products to the market in a range of therapeutic areas, including oncology, CVS, CNS, and rare diseases.

She brings her expertise and passion to support the development of new drugs, leading the TRIO teams across the globe to expand the treatment options available to cancer patients.

Alexandra Neff, CPA, PMP

Alexandra received her BA degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, US and a Master’s degree in Accountancy from Belmont University, also in Nashville, TN, US. She additionally holds her Certified Professional Accountant (CPA) and Project Management Professional (PMP) designations.

Previously, Alexandra served as the Associate Vice President, Research Finance at Sarah Cannon Research Institute. There, she was responsible for overseeing the financial operations of both the contract research organization and the site management organization.

Alexandra joined TRIO in 2022 and is responsible for the financial leadership of the company. She brings over 15 years of healthcare finance experience and a passion for furthering cancer research.

Doug Goss, QC, AOE, LL.D.

Mr. Goss currently serves as Counsel at Bryan & Company LLP, an Edmonton, Alberta law firm, as well as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Premium Brands Holdings Corporation. He also serves on the Boards of various other organizations.

Doug Goss is a graduate of both the University of Alberta School of Business and Faculty of Law, earning a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Finance in 1981, followed by a Bachelor of Laws in 1984. Mr. Goss was inducted into the Alberta Order of Excellence in 2013 and received an Honourary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Alberta in 2017. Mr. Goss served as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) from 2008 to 2010, and as Chair of the Board of Governors of the University of Alberta from 2012 to 2015.

A respected member of the legal community, he has established a leading practice specializing in corporate finance and securities, and acts as counsel to various public boards. Throughout his career, he has been involved in numerous private and public corporations in Canada in a range of sectors including communications, pharmaceuticals, tourism, and cancer research. He has also served on the Boards of many not-for-profit organizations.

Dennis Slamon, MD, PhD

Dr. Slamon currently serves as director of Clinical/Translational Research and as director of the Revlon/University of California, Los Angeles Women’s Cancer Research Program at UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is a Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology and Executive Vice Chair of research for UCLA’s Department of Medicine.

He obtained his MD degree at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine and earned his PhD in cell biology that same year. He completed his internship and residency at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics and later became a fellow in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at UCLA.

He is known for his work on the drug trastuzumab (Herceptin™), a gene-based breast cancer therapy that targets a specific genetic alteration, HER2, found in about 20-25 per cent of breast cancer patients. The discovery of the association between the HER2 alteration poor clinical outcomes and the subsequent development of Herceptin was of major significance in cancer research and helped one of the most fatal types of breast cancer become one of the most treatable and manageable. He also led the preclinical and clinical research that demonstrated targeting the CDK-4/6 pathway with specific inhibitors that significantly improved outcomes for women challenged with hormone receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer.

Dr. Slamon has won nearly two dozen national and international research awards for his scientific achievements. These awards include the prestigious Medal of Honor from the American Cancer Society, the David Karnofsky Award from ASCO, the Gairdner International Award from Canada, both the Landon and Rosenthal Awards from the AACR, and most recently the Sjoberg Award from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the DeBakey-Lasker Prize.

Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH

Dr. Bardia is an Attending Physician at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and an Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School, Boston. He serves as the Director of the Breast Research Program and Co-Leader of the Molecular and Precision Medicine Tumor Board at MGH.

He completed his internal medicine residency at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN), and his medical oncology fellowship at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center (Baltimore, MD).

Dr. Bardia is interested in advancing research to improve the outcomes of breast cancer. He led the clinical development of antibody drug conjugate (ADC), sacituzumab govitecan, the first ADC approved for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, and elacestrant, the first oral selective estrogen receptor degrader approved for patients with metastatic HR+ breast cancer.

John Crown, MD, MBA

Dr. Crown is Consultant Physician at the St. Vincent´s Hospital in Dublin, Ireland.

He received his medical training at the University College in Dublin and later went on to complete his fellowship training in Oncology at Mount Sinai Medical Centre and in Hematology/Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre.

Dr. Crown founded the Clinical Trials Unit at St. Vincent´s Hospital and was the Founding Chairman of the Irish Clinical Oncology Research Group (ICORG), now Cancer Trials Ireland (CTI), the leading cancer research trials organization in Ireland.

Peter Fasching, MD

Dr. Fasching is an Associate Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics Translational Medicine at the University Hospital of the Friedrich-Alexander, University Erlangen-Nuremberg and the National Center for Tumor Diseases WERA in Erlangen, Germany. At the University Hospital Erlangen, he is the Head of the Clinical Trial Unit of the Women’s Clinic, Coordinator of the Breast Center and of the Gynecological Oncology Center, as well as Head of the Biomarker Bank.

After completing medical school at the University Hospital Cologne, he worked at the University Hospital Düsseldorf, Germany and at the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

His research has been rewarded with several awards and focuses on cancer prevention, target discovery, big data and digital medicine. He was awarded to be a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

Valentina Guarneri, MD, PhD

Dr. Guarneri is Full Professor of Oncology at the University of Padua, Italy, where she also serves as Vice Director of Medical Oncology. She also serves as Head of the Division of Oncology 2 at the Istituto Oncologico Veneto, and Head of the Specialization School in Medical Oncology at the University of Padua.

She obtained her MD degree from Pisa University and then her Clinical Oncology specialization PhD Degree in Clinical and Experimental Oncology, also in Italy. In 2005, she also completed a six-month-research experience at the Department of Breast Medical Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Dr. Guarneri earned her PhD in Clinical and Experimental Oncology in 2007.

Dr. Guarneri’s research interest is mainly focused on clinical and translational research for breast cancer patients.

Sara Hurvitz, MD

Dr. Hurvitz is a Professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Co-Director of the Santa Monica-UCLA Outpatient Oncology Practices, and Director of the Breast Cancer Clinical Trials Program at UCLA.

Dr. Hurvitz earned her MD from the University of Southern California School of Medicine. She then completed her internal medicine residency at UCLA, serving as chief resident, followed by her hematology/oncology fellowship at UCLA.

Dr. Hurvitz has won numerous awards over the past few years, among them the Marni Levine Memorial Breast Cancer Research Award (2008 through 2015). She has an active clinical practice specializing in the treatment of women with breast cancer. She is involved in designing, implementing and leading multiple national and international clinical trials testing new targeted therapies.

Young-Hyuck Im, MD, PhD

Dr. Im is Professor of Medicine at the Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine and Attending Physician at the Samsung Medical Center’s Department of Medicine in Seoul, Korea.

He earned his MD from the Seoul National University College of Medicine and completed his residency and oncology fellowship at Seoul National University Hospital.

Dr. Im’s research interest is mainly focused on clinical and translational research for breast cancer patients.

Jeeyun Lee, MD

Dr. Lee is Professor at the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine in Seoul. She serves as Director of the Experimental Therapeutics Development Center and the Precision Oncology Center.

She earned her MD at the Ewha University School of Medicine in Korea and later completed her residency in Internal Medicine and Fellowship in Hematology-Oncology at the Samsung Medical Center.

Her research interest includes new anti-cancer agents for the treatment of gastric and colorectal cancers.

Yen Shen Lu, MD, PhD

Dr. Lu is currently Clinical Professor of Medicine at the National Taiwan University College of Medicine, as well as Division Chief of Medical Oncology at the Department of Oncology, National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan.

Dr. Lu graduated from the Chinese Medical College in Taichung, Taiwan and obtained his PhD from the National Taiwan University.

Dr. Lu has led studies on new drug developments of breast cancer and a series of studies on young female breast cancer, focusing on the epidemiology, biology, and genetic differences between patients in Eastern and Western countries.

Teresa Macarulla, MD, PhD

Dr. Macarulla is a treating physician at the Medical Oncology Department at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, where she serves as the head of the GI Cancer Program Unit.

She earned her MD from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain and afterward completed her specialist training in medical oncology.

Dr. Macarulla´s research focus is on translational research and pharmacodynamic phase I studies with molecular targeted therapies and related translational research, with a special focus on EGFR inhibitors. She is also involved in phase II and III studies with new chemotherapy agents in gastrointestinal tumors, with special interest on hepatobiliopancreatic tumors.

Miguel Martin, MD, PhD

Dr. Martin serves as Head of the Medical Oncology Service at the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón in Madrid, Spain. He is also a Professor of Medical Oncology at the Complutense University of Madrid and the Chairman of GEICAM (Spanish Group for Breast Cancer Research).

He obtained his MD degree at the University of Valladolid, Spain and later obtained his PhD at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid and his Medical Oncology specialization certificate, also in Spain.

In 1995, Dr. Martin funded GEICAM (Spanish Group for Breast Cancer Research). Dr. Martin’s research focuses on breast cancer research and treatment, new anticancer drugs and supportive care.

Tadeusz Pienkowski, MD, PhD

Dr. Pienkowski is Head of Oncology and Breast Cancer and Gynecological Malignancy Department at The Cancer Center in Radom Cancer Center and Head of Department at the Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education in Warsaw, Poland.

Graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the Medical University of Warsaw, he obtained his PhD in the Cancer Center in Warsaw.

He is president of The Polish Society for the Research of Breast Cancer and past president of the Senologic International Society.

Dr. Pienkowski’s research interest is mainly focused on clinical and translational research for breast cancer patients.

Kohei Shitara, MD

Dr. Shitara is the Director of the Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Kashiwa in Japan.

He earned his MD from Tohoku University School of Medicine, in 2002 and later became resident at the Kameda Medical Hospital.

His research interests include the development of new anti-cancer agents, optimal chemotherapy regimens for gastrointestinal cancer, and translational research in GI tumors. He is the primary investigator and Steering Committee member in several sponsor-initiated trials or investigator-initiated trials for gastric or colorectal cancer.

Michelle Tregear, PhD

Michelle Tregear is the current Chief Programs Officer of the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC).

She received her MA and PhD in experimental psychology from the University of Colorado in Boulder, USA.

A survivor of breast cancer diagnosed in 2008 and a passionate patient advocate, she has more than 20 years of complex project management, health services research and educational program development.

Vicente Valero, MD, FACP

Dr. Valero is Deputy Chairman and Professor in the Department of Breast Medical Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, USA.

Dr. Valero obtained his MD from the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo Leon in Mexico and later completed his postgraduate training and fellowships in Hematology-Medical Oncology in the US.

His research interests include breast neoplasms, new drug development, inflammatory breast cancer, and clinical research in HER-2 positive breast cancer and triple receptor negative breast cancer.

Zev Wainberg, MD

Dr. Wainberg is an academic medical oncologist at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, specializing in gastrointestinal malignancies. He serves as the Co-Director of the GI oncology program and medical director of the Pancreas Cancer Center at UCLA, with a joint appointment in medicine and surgery. I He also serves as the Director of the Early Phase Clinical Research Program at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA.

He was trained in medical oncology and hematology at UCLA and completed his residency training at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

His research focus is on translational research of GI cancers with a particular focus on drug development. I also serve as the director of the Early Phase Clinical Research Program at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA. I am currently the principal investigator on over 25 clinical trials focused on targeted therapeutics in patients with gastrointestinal cancers.