navigational points of light
Our sources of stellar direction from those immersed in the fields of medicine and health science.
Robert Dreicer, MD Advisor, Prostate Cancer Program
Dr. Dreicer is Professor of Medicine, Hematology and Oncology at the University of Virginia. Dr. Dreicer’s primary research interest lies in the clinical research and development of novel therapeutic approaches for urologic cancers including prostate, urothelial and kidney cancers.
Dr. Dreicer received a MS degree from the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Houston and earned his MD degree from the University of Texas-Houston Health Sciences Center, with an Internal Medicine Residency at Indiana University Medical Center and Clinical Fellowship in Hematology-Oncology, at the University of Wisconsin Medical School.
William Douglas Figg Sr, PharmD, MBA Nonpaid - NCI Collaborator, Prostate Cancer Program
Dr. Figg joined the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health in 1992. The following year, he became head of the Molecular Pharmacology Section and the Clinical Pharmacology Program. More recently, he has become Co-Director of the Office of Translational Resources and Associate Director of the NCI’s Center for Cancer Research. His research has focused on using pharmacological principles to optimize the treatment of cancer. Dr. Figg has over 725 peer-reviewed publications, and his work has been cited in scientific literature over 45,000 times. He has received the Leon Goldberg Award from ASCPT, the Allen J. Brands Award from US Public Health Service, the Russell R. Miller Award from ACCP, the Andrew Craigie Award from AMSUS, the Therapeutics Frontier award from ACCP, the NCI Outstanding Mentor award, the Tyler Prize for Stimulating Research from AAPS, and the Sustained Contribution to the Scientific Literature award from ASHP. Dr. Figg is an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, and several other schools of pharmacy.
Dr. Figg received a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Auburn University. He also received an MBA degree from a combined program at Columbia University and the London Business School. He has received two honorary degrees including a Doctor of Science from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Daniel George, MD Advisor, Prostate Cancer Program
Dr. George is Professor of Medicine and Surgery, Divisions of Medical Oncology and Urology in the Duke University School of Medicine. He also has appointments in the Duke Clinical Research Institute and the Duke Cancer Institute (DCI) where he is the Director of Genitourinary (GU) Oncology group and is co-lead of the DCI Center for Prostate and Urologic Cancers. He is a frequently published thought leader in GU malignancies. Research areas include new drug development, biomarkers of GU cancers, VEGF receptor targeted therapy in renal cell carcinoma in both the metastatic and the adjuvant setting.
Dr. George leads the Duke site for the Department of Defense (DOD) Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Consortium. He is the Principal Investigator of the MaRCC and ODYSSEY registries in advanced renal cell carcinoma, and Co-PI of IRONMAN, an international registry in advanced prostate cancer. Dr. George recently served on the ASCO Scientific Committee for non-prostate cancer, the Conquer Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award Committee, the AACR Clinical and Translational Cancer Research Grants Scientific Review Committee, the renal cancer cadre leader for the Alliance GU Scientific Committee, NCI GU Steering Committee and the NCI Renal Task Force. He serves as a senior editor for Clinical Cancer Research and Co-editor in Chief for Clinical Advances in Hematology and Oncology.
Dr. George earned his MD degree from Duke University with Residency and Clinical Fellowship in Medical Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Neal D. Shore, MD Advisor, Prostate Cancer Program
Neal Shore, MD, FACS is the Medical Director for the Carolina Urologic Research Center. He practices with Atlantic Urology Clinics in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Dr. Shore has conducted more than 350 clinical trials, focusing mainly on GU Oncology, and serves on the Executive Boards of: Society of Urologic Oncology Board, Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, and is Immediate Past President, Large Urology Group Practice Association. He is a founder for both: CUSP Clinical Trials Consortium, as well as for DASHKO, large urology practices data registries. He serves as the National Urology Research Director for 21st Century Oncology. He has served on the AUA Male Health Committee and the AUA Data Committee, the SITC Task Force for Prostate Cancer, the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Think Tank and the editorial boards of Reviews in Urology, Urology Times, Chemotherapy Advisor, OncLive, PLOS ONE, Urology Practice, World Journal of Urology, and Everyday Urology-Oncology. He has more than 200 peer reviewed publications and numerous book chapters. He performs peer review for Lancet Oncology, New England Journal of Medicine, European Urology, Journal Urology, Urology, BJUI, PCPD, and other scientific journals.
A graduate of Duke University and Duke Medical School, Dr. Shore is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
Marc C. Hochberg, MD, MPH, MACP, MACR Advisor, Osteoarthritis Program
Dr. Hochberg is Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology & Public Health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine where he also serves as Division Head, Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology and Vice Chair, Department of Medicine.
Dr. Hochberg’s research focuses on the clinical epidemiology of musculoskeletal disorders, particularly osteoarthritis, as well as the design, conduct and analysis of clinical trials in osteoarthritis. He is Principal Investigator (PI) of the Baltimore Clinical Center for the Osteoarthritis Initiative and is Co-Director of the Pilot and Exploratory Studies Core of the University of Maryland Claude Pepper Older Americans Independence Center. His research is funded by the National Institutes of Health. He has published over 450 peer-reviewed articles in a variety of high-quality medical journals. He is Editor-in-Chief of Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism and an Editor of Rheumatology, 7ed (Elsevier, 2019).
Dr. Hochberg received his MD and MPH degrees from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and School of Hygiene and Public Health, respectively. He completed residency training in internal medicine and fellowship training in rheumatology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Anne-Marie Malfait, MD, PhD Advisor, Osteoarthritis Program
Dr. Malfait is a Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Rush Medical College, and the George W. Stuppy, MD, Chair of Arthritis.
Dr. Malfait’s research is on pain in osteoarthritis featuring more than 24 years of expertise with animal models of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. She spent an 8-year tenure as Senior Principal Investigator at Pfizer, leading the Research Team for development of disease-modifying osteoarthritis drugs (DMOADs). In this capacity, she was directly involved with all aspects of the DMOAD discovery process, including target identification, compound development, proof-of-concept studies, animal modeling, safety assessments, biomarker development and design of Phase I clinical trials.
Dr. Malfait earned her MD and PhD degrees from Ghent University in Belgium.
Neil Singla, MD Advisor, Osteoarthritis Program
Dr. Neil Singla, a board-certified anesthesiologist, is the founder and Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of Lotus Clinical Research. He has served in several roles within the organization including: Research Coordinator, Sub-Investigator, Principal Investigator, Coordinating Investigator, and CSO.
Dr. Singla interacts frequently with the FDA’s Analgesics Division and plays a significant role in guiding development strategies for putative analgesic agents. He has played a significant role in bringing several molecules to market.
Dr. Singla’s major scientific interest has been to analyze and minimize the inherent variability in subjective analgesic clinical trial endpoints. Dr. Singla currently chairs the Analgesic Clinical Trials Shared/Special Interest Group at the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), chaired the Clinical Trials Shared Interest Group at the American Pain Society (APS), and chairs the annual Conference on Analgesic Clinical Trials. He has published extensively and is a frequent lecturer for physicians, pharmaceutical companies, and medical research institutes.
Dr. Singla earned his MD degree from the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine.