Expert Roundtable: leveraging cutting edge tools to convert I-O data into knowledge

Anil K Sood

Professor, Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center

Dr Anil K Sood is Professor in the Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine at the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center. He holds a joint appointment in Cancer Biology and is co-director of the Center for RNA Interference and Non-Coding RNA at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. He is also Director of the multi-disciplinary Blanton-Davis Ovarian Cancer Research Program and co-leads the Ovarian Cancer Moonshot Program. Dr Sood received his medical degree from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. A major and consistent theme of his scientific research has been on understanding human cancer biology and converting lab discoveries into novel therapeutics. His research group has made several seminal research contributions in the fields of tumor microenvironment, nanomedicine, and neuroendocrine effects on cancer biology. Dr Sood has received recognition for his research accomplishments including the Hunter Award, the Margaret Greenfield/Carmel Cohen Excellence in Ovarian Cancer Research Prize, and the GCF/Claudia Cohen Research Foundation Prize for Outstanding Gynecologic Cancer Researcher. He is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the Association of American Physicians (AAP). Dr Sood was selected as an American Cancer Society Research Professor in 2017.

Sandhya Prabhakaran

Applied Research Scientist, Integrated Mathematical Oncology Department, Moffitt Cancer Centre

Dr. Sandhya Prabhakaran is an Applied Research Scientist at the Integrated Mathematical Oncology department, Moffitt Cancer Centre, Florida. Before that she was a Research Scientist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre and Columbia University. Her PhD in Computer Science is from University of Basel and her Masters in Intelligent Systems (Robotics) is from University of Edinburgh. Her research deals with developing statistical theory and Bayesian inference models, particularly to problems in Cancer Biology and Computer Vision. Prior to academics, she was an Assembler programmer working with the Mainframe Operating System (z/OS) at IBM Software Laboratories and has developed Mainframe applications. She has completed 4 out of the 6 World Marathon Majors.

Gregory Goldmacher

Executive Director, Clinical Research, Head of Clinical Imaging, Merck Research Laboratories

Greg has been at MSD since 2015. With his team of radiologists and imaging scientists, he oversees the clinical imaging in over 200 clinical trials in oncology and other therapeutic areas. He also leads research in radiomics, artificial intelligence, novel response criteria, tumor growth kinetics, and other innovative approaches to clinical trial imaging. Prior to MSD, he was a senior medical director and head of oncology imaging at a global CRO, and before that in academia. His clinical training was in diagnostic radiology, along with a PhD and postdoctoral work in neuroscience, and business training in finance. In his ‘free’ time, he enjoys playing with his kids, running, and training in the martial arts.

Shomyseh Sanjabi

Principal Scientist, Oncology Biomarker Development, Genentech

Shomyseh Sanjabi, PhD is a Principal Scientist in Oncology Biomarker Development (OBD) at Genentech. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in microbiology and molecular genetics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and completed her PhD training with Dr Stephen Smale at UCLA in the department of microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics elucidating the molecular mechanism of family member specificity among the NF-kappa-B family of transcription factors. She then completed a postdoctoral training in immunobiology at Yale University with Dr Richard Flavell studying the role of TGF-beta and common gamma chain cytokines in CD8 T cell development and function in the context of autoimmunity, anti-pathogen immunity, and cancer immunity. In 2010, she joined the faculty at the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology and UCSF department of microbiology and immunology, where she was the recipient of numerous awards including an NIH New Innovator Award. Her independent academic research focused on using model pathogens and emerging human pathogens, together with preclinical genetic mouse models and human primary tissue samples to study how protective innate and adaptive immune responses are elicited and maintained upon mucosal transmission of viral pathogens. Her passion for human immunology and her vision to apply innovative technologies to study the immune response of patients undergoing cancer immunotherapy brought her to Genentech in 2018. She currently leads the biomarker and translational activities for several early-stage cancer immunotherapy programs.

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