medical
advisors
Dr. C Patrick Reynolds, MD PhD
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
Dr. Reynolds grew up in El Paso, TX, received his BA in Biology from The University of Texas at Austin, his MD from UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, TX, his PhD (Cell Biology) from UT Austin, and his pediatrics training at the National Naval Medical Center. His postdoctoral fellowship was in cancer immunology at UT Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, TX. He is currently the Cancer Center Director for the School of Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (http://cancer.ttuhsc.edu), and is Director of the South Plains Oncology Consortium (SPOC; www.SPONC.org).
Dr Reynolds research focuses on retinoids (drugs derived from vitamin A) for treating cancer, and he pioneered the development of the differentiating agent isotretinoin for treating the childhood cancer neuroblastoma, which is now world-wide standard of care. He discovered that neuroblastoma cells resistant to retinoic acid were highly sensitive to the cytotoxic retinoid fenretinide and he identified key mechanisms of action for fenretinide that have led to mechanistic-based drug combination clinical trials. He developed novel formulations that have enabled single agent fenretinide to achieve sustained complete responses in early phase clinical trials of neuroblastoma and adult lymphomas, paving the way for planned phase II and III studies. Other research interests include mechanisms of drug resistance and drugs to modulate resistance in childhood and adult cancers, development of novel preclinical testing models, testing systems for cancer drug development, and clinical trials testing novel therapeutic approaches for cancer, especially in neuroblastoma, lymphomas and leukemias, sarcomas, and ovarian cancer.
Dr. Reynolds is a member of the steering committees for neuroblastoma and translational research of the Children's Oncology Group (COG) and was Vice-Chair of the COG Neuroblastoma Committee during the initial 5 years of the COG. He is a special government employee with the FDA and a founding member of the Pediatric Subcommittee of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee for the FDA. He is a member of the New Approaches to Neuroblastoma Therapy (NANT) consortium Scientific Review Committee, the Advisory Committee on Childhood Cancer for the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, and the Council of Principal Investigators for the Texas Cancer Clinical Trials Network (www.CTNeT.org). He is a chartered member of the Drug Discovery and Molecular Pharmacology Study Section for the National Cancer Institute and a member of the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act prioritization panel for the National Institute for Child Health and Development. Honors received include the 2004 Eurand Prize, 2008 Advances in Neuroblastoma Research Best Clinical Paper, and the most cited paper in Clinical Cancer Research in 2009.
Dr. Reynolds sponsors multiple FDA Investigational New Drug (IND) applications and has active grant support from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Department of Defense, and the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). He is the Principal Investigator of the NCI Pediatric Preclinical Testing Program (PPTP) cell culture laboratory (www.PPTPinvitro.org) and of the CPRIT-funded Texas Cancer Cell Repository (www.TXCCR.org). The Childrens Oncology Group (COG) national resource laboratories under his direction at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center are the COG Cell Culture Repository (www.COGcell.org) and the Ewings Family Tumors Preclinical Testing Lab (www.EFTlab.org). Dr. Reynolds is an author or co-author of more than 160 peer-reviewed scientific papers and is an Associate Editor for Clinical Cancer Research. His avocations include film making and special effects, playing guitar, and writing music. He also enjoys competitive shooting and he was the team physician for the 1992 USA Olympic shooting team in Barcelona.
Dr. John Maris, MD PhD
Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia
Dr. John Maris is currently a tenured Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a physician-scientist who has developed a translational research program from the basic genetic mechanisms of childhood cancer initiation to pivotal clinical trials for these same diseases. He currently serves as Chief of the Division of Oncology at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Director of the Center for Childhood Cancer research, also housed at CHOP. He leads a team of over 50 faculty clinicians and scientists, and is responsible for the strategic direction of the pediatric cancer program at CHOP and Penn. Dr. Maris also serves as Director of the Pediatric Oncology Program in the Abramson Cancer Center at Penn. Dr. Maris has received several prestigious awards including election into the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Oski award for outstanding pediatric oncologists, and the Berwick award at Penn for melding basic and clinical teaching. Dr. Maris was the fellowship program director at CHOP for a decade and played a major role in the training of the next generation of investigators in field of childhood cancer. He is the immediate past Chair of the Neuroblastoma Disease committee in the Childrens Oncology Group (COG) and now serves on the COG Scientific Council. He is a current member of the Cancer Genetics Study Section at the NCI, and serves on many additional funding review committees.
Dr. Maris is internationally recognized as a leading expert in the field of pediatric oncology, especially in the disease neuroblastoma. His expertise is deep and broad, spanning basic genetics to clinical research and care. Dr. Maris has chosen to study this clinically important disease from all possible angles. His work on the genetic basis of human neuroblastoma has taken both traditional family-based linkage approaches and more recently whole genome association approaches. This work has resulted in his team discovering the major genetic causes of both hereditary and sporadic neuroblastoma. The genome-wide association study has amassed the largest collection of pediatric cancer cases ever assembled, and the ongoing study of 5000 neuroblastoma cases and 10,000 controls is a first in pediatric cancer, and has resulted in several major discoveries of predisposition genes, including the first example of a germline copy number variation being associated with cancer. Dr. Maris has shown an ability to translate these discoveries to the clinic, with several ongoing clinical trials based on work from his lab. For example, the discovery of activating mutations in the ALK oncogene as the cause of hereditary neuroblastoma led to the discovery of this gene being mutated somatically in sporadic neuroblastomas, followed closely by the preclinical work showing that ALK inhibition is potently cytotoxic to ALK mutated neuroblastomas. A clinical trial based on this work is ongoing, as is several other targeted therapeutic approaches. He is currently leading a large collaborative effort to sequence 200 human neuroblastoma genomes, and this will provide an unprecedented opportunity for translational science and impacting patient care.
Dr. Shakeel Modak, MD
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
I am a pediatric oncologist who specializes in the treatment of children and young adults with neuroblastoma and other solid tumors, such as desmoplastic small round cell tumors. These are challenging cancers to treat. By caring for patients and conducting research, I hope to be able make an impact and improve the lives of people diagnosed with these diseases.
Our multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals discusses each patient's case in order to put together an individualized treatment plan. Memorial Sloan-Kettering treats a large number of patients with neuroblastoma, and this volume has afforded us a wealth of knowledge and depth of expertise that benefit all patients. I am also inspired by the parents of my patients, who work tirelessly to support each other and to raise funds for research. They are vital members of our team.
With my colleagues, I translate laboratory research into new immunologic therapies that can target these tumors. We are evaluating radiolabeled monoclonal antibody treatments in combination with cell-based therapies that may enhance their effectiveness. Our research has defined the standards of care used to treat neuroblastoma today.
I also expertly served as chair for the departments quality assessment committee for many years and have overseen the development and implementation of dozens of strategies, changes, and enhancements to improve patient safety and satisfaction.
In addition to caring for patients and conducting research, I teach and mentor fellows. I am able to provide them with a unique viewpoint on rare diseases that are difficult to find at other institutions. It is gratifying for me to see them make their own contributions to our field.
Education
MD, T.N. Medical College, Bombay University (India)
Residencies
B.Y.L. Nair Charitable Hospital (Bombay, India); Birmingham Children's Hospital (UK); Blank Children's Hospital (Des Moines, Iowa)
Fellowships
Royal Marsden Hospital (Sutton, UK); NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital; Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Board Certifications
Pediatrics
Clinical Expertise
Pediatric Hematology-Oncology; Immunotherapy; Neuroblastoma
Arms Wide Open Childhood Cancer Foundation is
a registered 501(c)(3) public charity.
Arms Wide Open Childhood Cancer Foundation
Arms Wide Open Childhood Cancer Foundation's mission is to promote and advance the science and art of medicine related to the study of pediatric cancer cells and related structures, to support and enhance education in pediatric oncology fields, to support and enhance pediatric oncology research and in allied fields, to facilitate, improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disorders affecting pediatric cancer cells and related structures and doing and engaging in any and all activiites that may be necessary or incidental to any or all of the foregoing purposes.
Our mission
Our mission is to (1) provide funds to medical and/or scientific personnel and/or institutions to participate in local, regional and/or national research programs for the study of pediatric cancer diseases and allied fields in effort to treat and/or cure such diseases, (2) to provide educational materials and/or medical equipment to medical and/or scientific personnel and/or institutions for the study of pediatric cancer and related diseases in effort to treat and/or cure such diseases, (3) to provide literary information, support and education concerning pediatric cancer and related diseases to medical and/or scientific personel as well as the general public at no cost in an effort to raise public awareness of such diseases so as to promote early detection and treatment.
