ADCs in focus: The next generation of precision medicine in oncology

Dr. Johnson is the Deputy Director of Medical Oncology for the Precision Cancer Therapies Program. Dr. Johnson completed his internship and residency at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and completed his hematology/oncology fellowship at MD Anderson. He has special research interests include melanoma and strategies to overcome immunotherapy resistance and prevent immune-related adverse events. Dr. Johnson has multiple peer-reviewed articles and presentations at national meetings pertaining to the management and underlying mechanisms of immune toxicity. He is a clinical investigator focused on designing and implementing clinical trials intended to optimize the safety and efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Dr. Funda Meric-Bernstam is the Chair of the Department of Investigational Cancer Therapeutics -- the Phase I Program at MD Anderson Cancer Center, the Medical Director of the Institute for Personalized Cancer Therapy (IPCT), and The Nellie B. Connally Chair in Breast Cancer at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Meric-Bernstam has a basic and translational research program that is focused on molecular therapeutics to delineate the mechanism of action of each agent targeting this pathway and the molecular alterations useful to prospectively identify patients who will benefit most from each agent, and optimal combination therapies. Her clinical research is focused on Phase I /II trials with focus on novel mechanisms of action, novel combination therapies, and biomarkers to predict and monitor drug response.

Dr. Parsons is a physician-scientist with more than 20 years of experience in designing, executing, and leading clinical trials in the private and public sectors. He has expertise in all phases of bench-to-beside biomedical research and is an author on over 190 scientific publications appearing in JAMA, the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and others. He has served on national committees for the American Society of Clinical Oncology, National Comprehensive Cancer Network (Committee Co-chair), and American Urological Association (Committee Chair); in national leadership positions within the National Cancer Institute clinical trials network; and on the editorial boards of three medical journals. Prior to joining MBrace, he was Senior Medical Director at Janssen R&D. In this role, he supervised an international Phase 3 registrational oncology trial of 2,400 patients, co-led the development of a novel Phase 3 registrational study and corresponding Type C FDA interaction, and advised on Phase 1 through 3 clinical trial designs across the oncology solid tumor portfolio. Prior to Janssen, Dr. Parsons was an endowed Professor and Head of Urologic Oncology at the Moores UC San Diego Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Parsons completed his residency in urologic surgery and fellowship in urologic oncology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He received his M.H.S. in Clinical Investigation from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and A.B. in History from Stanford University.

Dr. Calvin Chao is the Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs at Tempus.  Previously, Dr. Chao spent thirteen years leading studies and education for the Oncotype DX Breast, Prostate, and Colon Cancer assays at Genomic Health, later acquired by Exact Sciences.  Prior to that role, he worked in various bio-pharmaceutical medical director positions at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, PDL BioPharma, TAP Pharmaceuticals, and SmithKline Beecham. In his early career, Dr. Chao practicedas a board-certified internist and hospitalist at Kaiser Permanente in California for ten years. He earned his MD from the University of Texas Medical Branch, completed his medical residency at Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Denver, Colorado, received his MBA from St. Mary’s College, California, and his BS in Chemical Engineering from University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Kate Sasser is the Chief Scientific Officer of Tempus. Dr. Sasser brings over 20 years of experience in translational research and precision medicine in biological sciences across academia and the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Prior to Tempus, she led the translational research, precision medicine, and R&D operations organizations within Genmab, a biotech company focused on developing transformative antibody therapeutics as medicine. She also led translational research for oncology at Johnson and Johnson (Janssen PRD), using translational and data science approaches to accelerate clinical development. Dr. Sasser graduated from Oregon State University with a BS in Microbiology, and received her PhD in integrated biomedical sciences from Ohio State University.