Our Science Advisory Board (SAB) is comprised of doctors and researchers who work within the mesothelioma field around the world. Members of the SAB are expected to review and score the applications submitted for our research grants. They are the “peers” in “peer-review.” They ensure that grant applications submitted to the Meso Foundation are evaluated through a process that is fair, equitable, timely and free of bias. SAB members are also expected to attend our Symposia, raise awareness of mesothelioma and encourage those affected by the disease to join the Meso Foundation. They are called upon for expert opinions and advice on scientific matters on behalf of the Meso Foundation.
All members of the SAB are volunteers. They receive no compensation for their service.
Our SAB includes the top scientists and doctors fighting mesothelioma. We are pleased to call them a part of the Meso Foundation and honored they have agreed to volunteer in such a capacity, as we all work for effective treatments for mesothelioma patients.
Tobias Peikert, MD
Co-Chair
Mayo Clinic
Cara Haymaker, PhD
Co-Chair
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Dr. Tobias Peikert is a consultant in the Departments of Medicine, Immunology and Molecular Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and holds the academic rank of Assistant Professor of Medicine. He is a previous V-Scholar and his current research program is centered on the potential therapeutic use of a modified vaccine strain measles virus (MV-NIS) for the treatment of mesothelioma. Dr. Peikert holds a K23 career development award from the National Cancer Institute and is the principal investigator of a phase 1 study exploring the safety of intrapleural administration of MV-NIS in mesothelioma.
I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Translational Molecular Pathology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. My research lab is utilizing surgically resected malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) as a model system to study the role of myeloid cells within solid tumors. We are also identifying distinct innate and adaptive immune signatures that correlate with specific clinical features as well as biomarkers that may impact the cytotoxic function of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. Overall, our goal is to provide insights into the tumor microenvironment of MPM that may inform on therapeutic strategies and improve patient outcome. In addition, I am actively involved in the immune profiling of longitudinal tissue and blood collected on clinical trials performed at UT-MDACC through both the collaboration –based Translational Molecular Pathology-Immunoprofiling lab (TMP-IL, Director) and the CCSG-developmental Oncology Research and Immune-monitoring core (ORION, Director).
Joseph Friedberg, MD, FACS, a thoracic surgeon at Temple University Hospital-Main Campus and Fox Chase Cancer Center. Dr. Friedberg , is Thoracic Surgeon-in-Chief of Temple University Health System, Vice Chair of Surgical Services for the Department of Thoracic Medicine and Surgery, Professor of Thoracic Medicine and Surgery at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, and Co-Director of the Temple Health Mesothelioma and Pleural Disease Program. Dr. Friedberg received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania College of Engineering and Applied Science and received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard, residencies at Massachusetts General Hospital and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, and a fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Friedberg came to the University of Maryland from Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (part of the University of Pennsylvania Health System), where he was Chief of Thoracic Surgery, co-director of the Penn Mesothelioma and Pleural Disease Program and an associate professor of thoracic surgery at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Friedberg was recognized by Best Doctors of America for 2009-10 and 2011-12.
Dr. Friedberg’s translational research his focused on developing new, more effective therapies for various types of lung cancer, including mesothelioma. Specifically, he is developing a photodynamic therapy (PDT) – generated autologous tumor vaccine that could be used as a postoperative adjuvant or a primary. PDT involves the use of photosensitizing drug which interacts with a specific type of light to kill cancer cells.
Other areas of Dr. Friedberg’s research include the development of an entirely new type of cancer treatment “photobrachytherapy” that utilizes a combination of radioisotopes, photosensitizers, rare earth nanophosphors, bioabsorbable plasmonic nanovesicles and immunotherapy.
Clinically, Dr. Friedberg is exploring the development of a system for sealing pulmonary air leaks with an inhaled sealant, the development of a new type of surgical drain, an improved method for airway intubation and a device for minimally invasive control of major blood vessels.
Dr. Friedberg is a member of numerous prestigious medical societies, including the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons, the American College of Chest Physicians and the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
His Interests include Pleural Mesothelioma, Pleural Malignancies and Disorders, Complex Lung cancer, Chest Wall Tumors, Pulmonary Metastasis, Malignant Pleural effusions, Diaphragm Disorders, Pneumothorax
Madhavi K. Ganapathiraju received a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science and M.Engg. degree from Indian Institute of Science in Electrical Communications Engineering. She is Associate Professor at the Department of Biomedical Informatics of University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She holds secondary appointment at Intelligent Systems Program of University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information and is a Member of Cancer Biology Program of Hillman Cancer Institute. She is affiliated faculty at Language Technologies Institute of Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science. She received BRAINS award (Biobehavioral Research Awards for Innovative New Scientists) with funding for research from National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health, USA. Her primary research is on the computational discovery of protein-protein interactions and the molecular mechanisms of diseases, specifically neuropsychiatric diseases, mesothelioma, and congenital heart disease.
Jonathan B. Greer, M.D. is an assistant professor of surgery and oncology within the Johns Hopkins Department of Surgery and the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Greer’s areas of clinical expertise include colorectal cancer, cytoreductive surgery, gastric and gastroesophageal cancer, gastrointestinal cancers, gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), general surgery, hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery, pancreatic cancer, hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), neuroendocrine tumors, sarcoma, primary peritoneal mesothelioma, pseudomyxoma peritonei and tumors of the appendix. He is a member of the Peritoneal Surface Malignancy Program, the Gastric Cancer Center, and the Sarcoma Center at Johns Hopkins.
Dr. Greer received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. He completed a residency in general surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston. He performed a research fellowship in immunology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, in New York, and a clinical fellowship in complex general surgical oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Dr. Greer is a member of the Association of Academic Surgeons, the American College of Surgeons, the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, and the Society of Surgical Oncology.
Dr. Travis Grotz is a surgical oncologist and an Assistant Professor in Surgery at Mayo Clinic. After graduating Magna Cum Laude from St. Johns University, he attended Creighton University Medical School. He then went on to complete a general surgery residency at Mayo Clinic, during which he spent an additional two years as a research fellow and completed a certificate in clinical and translational research.
Dr. Grotz then completed his subspecialty fellowship training in surgical oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center and is currently boarded in Complex General Surgical Oncology.
At Mayo Clinic, Dr. Grotz has created a multidisciplinary peritoneal surface malignancy program that incorporates enhanced recovery surgery protocols, translational research and clinical trials. He is an active member of ECOG and ALLIANCE cooperative oncology working groups for clinical trials. He is also a member of the peritoneal surface malignancy disease site working group of the Society of Surgical Oncology.
Dr. Hoang received his medical degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School, where he stayed to complete clinical training in general surgery. During his surgical residency, his research work was supported by the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award and a Training Program Grant in the Division of Hematology-Oncology.
Afterwards, Dr. Hoang completed his cardiothoracic residency at the University of Pennsylvania, with an emphasis on thoracic surgery. Since 2008, he then served on faculty at Stanford University School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor. He was the Medical (co-) Director of the Stanford Cancer Center Tissue Bank.
In 2015, he was recruited to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to build a thoracic surgery branch and associated translational research. As part of the intramural program at NIH, Dr. Hoang leads a research section concerned with the comprehensive identification, understanding of mechanisms, and preclinical development of therapeutic microRNAs against thoracic cancers. This translational pipeline also serves to generate hypothesis-driven projects aimed at biomarker discovery for purposes of diagnosis, prognosis, and response evaluation. His lab uses malignant pleural mesothelioma as a model to integrate and validate these research endeavors. Additionally, he utilizes the latest techniques in endoscopic and minimally invasive (VATS and robotic) thoracic surgery to diagnose and treat the entire spectrum of chest diseases while specializing in thoracic oncology clinical solutions.
Fabian M. Johnston, MD, MHS, is an as assistant professor of surgery and co-director of the Peritoneal Surface Malignancy Program. Dr. Johnston’s areas of clinical expertise include colorectal cancer, cytoreductive surgery, gastric cancer, gastroesophageal cancer, gastrointestinal cancers and tumors, hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), neuroendocrine tumors, pancreatic cancer, and sarcoma.
Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, Dr. Johnston was assistant professor of Surgery at The Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. He received his undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and earned his medical degree from The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. He completed residencies at the Louisiana State University School of Medicine and Washington University in St. Louis. He performed fellowships at Washington University in St. Louis, and Johns Hopkins University, where he also earned his master’s degree.
Dr. Johnston holds leadership and committee positions at various organizations, including education committee member for the Association of Academic Surgeons, the Association of Academic Surgeons’ representative for the Society of Black Academic Surgeons, and the American College of Surgeons Committee for Surgical Palliative Care. He is also a member of Americas Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association and the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Dr. Johnston’s research interests include incorporating highly innovative patient-centered models to improve the utilization of palliative care amongst patients with advanced gastrointestinal malignancies and improving the quality of life for patient populations when they are most severely ill and vulnerable.
Dr. Hyun-Sung Lee is an Assistant Professor in the Division of General Thoracic Surgery, Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Lee received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Yonsei University College of Medicine. Dr. Lee is a researcher with clinical and research experience in thoracic malignancies, including malignant pleural mesothelioma and lung cancer. Before joining Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Lee has experienced ten years of attending thoracic surgeon in National Cancer Center Korea, three years of research in the Department of Systems Biology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and five years of immunology at Baylor College of Medicine.
Dr. Lee is particularly enthusiastic about “Systems Immunology” in the field of immuno-oncology with specific experience in comprehensively integrating high dimensional single-cell time-of-flight mass cytometry, imaging mass cytometry, mass spectrometry, and next-generation sequencing data. Dr. Lee has recently generated comprehensive analyses of the immunologic cellular networks within human malignant pleural mesothelioma using single-cell platforms. Dr. Lee has applied innovative immunoproteomic and immunogenomic approaches to this framework to understand mechanisms underlying clinical outcomes and response to immunotherapy in these diseases. Dr. Lee continues to characterize and unravel the cellular immune network by analyzing human and mouse single-cell data, correlating immune composition with immunogenomic determinants to predict clinical prognosis and response to checkpoint immunotherapy. Dr. Lee’s overarching goals are to identify potential therapeutic targets and develop strong prognostic or predictive determinants for the management of thoracic cancers by applying “comprehensive and integrated systems immunology” approaches. Dr. Lee’s most substantial expertise lies in grasping the clinical implications of translational research and bridging our advancing science to meet the critical needs within thoracic oncology.
Michael Offin, MD is an Assistant Attending on the Thoracic Oncology Service in the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) with dual appointment as an Instructor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Offin received his medical degree at Rutgers University New Jersey Medical School and went on to complete his Internal Medicine residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. After residency, he went on to complete his fellowship in Medical Oncology at MSK. Dr Offin’s clinical practice focuses on the care of patients with mesothelioma and other thoracic malignancies. He is devoted to providing the highest level of care throughout his patient’s treatment with the goal of providing a personalized approach to improve both clinical outcomes and quality of life.
Dr Offin is a member of the MSK Mesothelioma Program with a strong clinical and translational portfolio dedicated developing novel treatment modalities for patients with mesothelioma and lung cancers. He is the principal investigator of several mesothelioma directed clinical trials and strives to develop rationale biomarker driven precision medicine and immunotherapy approaches to further the care of his patients and beyond.
Dr. Patel received a BS in Molecular Biology from Vanderbilt University in 1996. He then attended Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, receiving a Doctor of Osteopathy degree in 2001. Dr. Patel then pursued residency in Internal Medicine at McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University. He followed this with a clinical research fellowship at Winthrop University Hospital (Mineola, NY) from 2004-2006. In 2006 he joined the Hematology, Oncology and Transplantation fellowship at the University of Minnesota and in July 2010 became a faculty member of the Division. Dr. Patel is a physician-scientist researching oncolytic virus for lung cancer. In 2019, Dr. Patel became the associate program director for the hematology, oncology, and transplantation fellowship program. He also leads the experimental therapeutics phase I clinical program at the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Emanuela Taioli received her MD from University of Milan in 1981. She then attended Columbia University where she received her MS and PhD degrees in Epidemiology.
In 2015 Dr. Taioli joined Mount Sinai as Professor of Population Health and Science and of Thoracic Surgery, and the Director of the Institute for Translational Epidemiology, and as Director of the Center for the Study of Thoracic Diseases Outcomes. Recently, she was named Associate Director for Population Science of The Tisch Cancer Institute (TCI).
As Associate Director, Dr. Taioli oversees the epidemiological, behavioral and health service research activities of TCI’s multi-disciplinary faculty with a goal of securing designation of TCI as a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Comprehensive Cancer Center – a level higher than the NCI Cancer Center designation that TCI obtained in 2015, reflecting an added depth and breadth of research as well as substantial transdisciplinary research. Dr Taioli also co-leads the Cancer Prevention and Control Program.
Prior to joining the School, Dr. Taioli was the Chief of Epidemiology for the Northwell Health System at Hofstra School of Medicine. She established herself as a pioneer in pooling large datasets and establishing the first international pooled analysis of studies on gene-environment interaction, which lead to the formation of large consortia investigating cancer outcomes on an international level.
Among her most important contributions are those to the field of cancer prevention, including the study of cancer risk factors in healthy populations, cancer predisposing factors, hormone metabolism and genetic susceptibility to environmental exposure. She is a well-recognized expert in cancer survivorship and the effect of lifestyles changes on the risk for cancer recurrence and the development of new secondary cancers. Moreover, she has worked extensively on health disparities, access to care in minority populations, and chronic diseases prevention in the underserved.
Kiran Turaga, MD, MPH, is a surgical oncologist with a special interest in the treatment of advanced malignancies, including metastatic cancers (cancers that have spread beyond their original site to other parts of the body). He is an expert in regional perfusion including hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), a technique that delivers high doses of heated chemotherapy directly to abdominal organs to kill cancer cells that may remain after surgical removal of visible tumors.
Dr. Turaga treats a wide range of abdominal and peritoneal diseases, including colon cancer, appendix cancer, and mesothelioma and malignant bowel obstructions. He is highly skilled in minimally invasive approaches, including robotic surgery, and uses these innovative techniques to surgically treat and remove life-threatening cancers with smaller incisions and shorter recovery times.
Dr. Turaga has significant experience in the management of melanoma, and complex sarcomas and has pioneered the approaches of isolated limb infusion for advanced malignancies for limb preservation so as to avoid amputation.
Dr. Turaga is an avid and influential researcher who has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and is an international authority on peritoneal surface disease. His clinical research focuses on development of novel diagnostics and therapeutics for oligo-metastatic cancer. He is also interested in studying how big data systems can be used to provide the most optimal, cost-effective patient care.
