Uncovering the uncommon in rare cancers: Diagnostic innovation driving change

Razelle (Ray) Kurzrock, MD is a world-renowned physician-scientist leader in precision medicine as well as in the development of novel cancer therapeutics. She is recognized for founding, developing, and chairing one of the largest Phase 1 clinical trial departments globally while at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; the central theme of the department was a personalized medicine strategy. She is also one of the pioneering trialists of the WINTHER precision medicine international (five countries) trial focusing, for the first time, on transcriptomics in addition to genomics. This trial was the signature study of the Worldwide Innovative Network (WIN) consortium (published Nature Medicine, 2019). She also developed and pioneered some of the first tumor-agnostic cancer clinical trials and is recognized as having led the way for the molecular reclassification of cancer. During her time at the University of California San Diego Health, Dr. Kurzrock’s charge was founding and leading the Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy as well as the Experimental Therapeutics program, and she also founded a Rare Tumor Clinic focused on precision medicine. The signature study of the center was the I-PREDICT study (Nature Medicine, 2019) that gave, for the first time, individualized N-of-1 matched combination therapies to patients with lethal malignancies, potentially transforming the entire paradigm for cancer treatment. This work was presented at the Nobel Symposium, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden in September 2023.

Dr. Kurzrock has performed key early-phase studies of 8 drugs that have gone on to FDA approval. Many of her studies have also been incorporated into NCCN guidelines for payors. Dr. Kurzrock also served on the Board of Directors and was elected to the Executive Committee for NCCN and more recently she has served as Chair of the Early Therapeutics and Rare Cancers Committee, for NCI/SWOG, one of the largest clinical trial cooperative groups in the world.

Her strong record of funding is comprised of ~$125 million in lifetime funding, including ~$50 million in NIH/peer-related research support.

Ray Kurzrock is also an entrepreneur. She is co-founder of CureMatch, and on the Board of CureMetrix, CureMatch, and Xzom.

She is the author of >1000 peer-reviewed articles on PubMed and holds a highly exceptional Hirsch index (h-index) score of 152, with ~100,000 citations. She has been selected each year since 2019 on the Clarivate Web of Science list of most cited scientists worldwide.

She has four children and three dogs and lives with her husband Philip Cohen, MD.

Dr. Cohen is a leading medical oncologist and cancer researcher who brings a unique combination of extensive clinical and research experience to Tempus’ leadership team. He was most recently the Chief of the Division of Hematology-Oncology as well as the Associate Director of Clinical Science at UC San Diego (UCSD) Moores Cancer Center. Dr. Cohen also led the Precision Immunotherapy Clinic and co-directed the San Diego Center for Precision Immunotherapy at UCSD. Before UCSD, Dr. Cohen spent 15 years at the University of Chicago, where he was the co-director of the Head and Neck Cancer Program as well as Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program Director.

Dr. Cynthia Ma is Professor of Medicine within the Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, at Washington University School of Medicine, in St. Louis, MO. She is a breast oncologist and a physician scientist, whose research focuses on endocrine therapy and targeted agents for the treatment of breast cancer. She has led several biomarker directed, investigator initiated trials including neoadjuvant studies of endocrine agents in combination with inhibitors against PI3K pathway or the CDK4/6 in patients with locally advanced estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. She is the study chair for the ongoing ALLIANCE ALTERNATE trial, which evaluates Ki67 based biomarkers as well as genomic predictors of endocrine responsiveness and a member of the Alliance Breast Committee. Dr. Ma is the clinical director of the Breast Cancer Program in Medical Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine; Co-leader of the Breast Cancer Focus Group and Breast Cancer Research Program at Siteman Cancer Center located in St. Louis, MO. She is a member of multiple scientific and research committees; Section Editor for Current Breast Cancer Report and serves as an Editorial Board Member on several major journals. Dr. Ma was recently elected as the Vice President of CAHON (Chinese American Hematologist and Oncologist Network).

Dr. Cohen is a leading medical oncologist and cancer researcher who brings a unique combination of extensive clinical and research experience to Tempus’ leadership team. He was most recently the Chief of the Division of Hematology-Oncology as well as the Associate Director of Clinical Science at UC San Diego (UCSD) Moores Cancer Center. Dr. Cohen also led the Precision Immunotherapy Clinic and co-directed the San Diego Center for Precision Immunotherapy at UCSD. Before UCSD, Dr. Cohen spent 15 years at the University of Chicago, where he was the co-director of the Head and Neck Cancer Program as well as Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program Director.