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Therapy Finder Advisors
Colorectal Cancer Chief Editor
Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD, FACP
Heinz-Josef Lenz, MD, is a Professor of Medicine in the University of Southern California (USC) Departments of Medicine and Preventive Medicine, Scientific Director of the Cancer Genetics Unit and the Director of the Gastrointestinal Oncology Program, and Co-Director of the Colorectal Center at the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Lenz earned his MD degree at the Johannes-Gutenberg Universität in Mainz, Germany. In 1991, he completed his internship, residency and fellowship training at the Eberhardt Karls Universität in Tübingen, Germany. He had special fellowship training at Universität Wien (Austria), George Washington University and Harvard Medical School. In 1991, he received the prestigious Research Fellowship Award from the “Deutsche Krebshilfe” (Bonn, Germany). He completed his research fellowship in biochemistry and molecular biology at the USC/Norris Cancer Center before joining the faculty of USC in 1994. He was awarded a Career Development Award from STOP CANCER (1994-1997). Based on his research, he also received in 1994 a Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). In 1995, Dr. Lenz was selected for the prestigious ASCO Career Development Award. The National Cancer Institute funded laboratory of Dr. Lenz has been interested in the identification and determination of molecular markers in pre-cancerous and cancerous tissues that might predict for cancer risk and clinical outcome in gastrointestinal and breast cancer. Dr. Lenz is also the Institutional Principal Investigator on the UO1/NIH contract (California Cancer Consortium) in collaboration with City of Hope and UC Davis, which allows him to design innovative clinical trials with novel promising anticancer drugs.
Colorectal Cancer Editorial Board
Scott Kopetz, MD, PhD
Dr. Scott Kopetz graduated Summa Cum Laude from Vanderbilt University with a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering/Electrical and received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He obtained his residency training in Internal Medicine at Duke University Medical Center, followed by a medical oncology fellowship at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Kopetz joined M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in 2006 as an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology. He subsequently completed a PhD at MD Anderson in cancer biology with thesis focus on mechanisms of chemotherapy resistance in colorectal cancer. Dr. Kopetz is board-certified in Internal Medicine and in Medical Oncology. He has authored peer-reviewed articles in respected scientific journals such as Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lancet, Cancer Research, Cancer, Clinical Cancer Research, and JAMA, and is a member of the editorial board for Clinical Cancer Research. In addition, he was a recipient of peer-reviewed grants from American Society of Clinical Oncology and the National Institute of Health, among others. His research interests include the biology of the refractory colorectal cancer and the development of novel therapeutics for molecularly distinct subsets of colorectal cancer patients.
Wells Messersmith, MD, FACP
Dr. Wells Messersmith attended Williams College, Harvard Medical School, and then trained in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. He did his Medical Oncology/Drug Development Fellowship at Johns Hopkins, where he was on the faculty from 2004-2007 in the Gastrointestinal Oncology and Drug Development programs. Dr. Messersmith joined the University of Colorado faculty in August 2007 as the Director of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology and also serves as Deputy Head of the Division of Medical Oncology and Program co-Leader of Developmental Therapeutics. Dr. Messersmith is focused on clinical and translational cancer and has held several National Institute of Health grants (K23, R01, R21’s) as well as an American Society of Clinical Oncology YIA. He serves as the principal investigator on numerous national and local therapeutic trials. He is an active investigator in the developmental therapeutics laboratory, working on novel targeted therapies as well as correlative studies for use on human tissue samples. Honors include the Isselbacher Humanitarian Award (Harvard Medical School), Passano Clinician Scientist Award (Johns Hopkins), and an National Cancer Institute Clinical Investigator Team Leadership Award.
Sabine Tejpar, MD, PhD
Dr. Sabine Tejpar received her medical degree from the Catholic University Leuven (K.U. Leuven, Belgium) in 1995 and did her residency in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, at the University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Leuven. In 2000, she obtained her Ph.D from the program in Molecular Oncology at the Center for Human Genetics at K. U. Leuven. After her medical and scientific training, she joined UZ Leuven as an Associate Professor in the Department of Gastroenterology, Digestive Oncology Unit. She is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine at the K.U. Leuven as well as a Senior Clinical Investigator of the Fund for Scientific Research in Flanders, Belgium where her research focuses on the molecular sub-classification of colorectal cancer, prognostic markers in adjuvant colorectal cancer, and predictive markers for efficacy of EGFR inhibition. She is also a practicing clinician serving at Adjunct Clinical Head of the Department of Gastroenterology, Digestive Oncology Unit, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Leuven. Dr. Tejpar is an active member of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) where she also serves as vice-chair of the EORTC translational research advisory committee, board member of the Gastrointestinal Group, member of the EORTC Network of Core Institutions (NOCI) steering committee and executive committee, member of the EORTC Pharmacology and Molecular Mechanisms Group and Laboratory Research Division, co-chair of the EORTC-NCI-ASCO tutorial, and member of the AACR-NCI-EORTC program committee. She is also on the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) program committee, a member of the Belgian Group for Digestive Oncology (BGDO), and a board member of the Belgian Familial Adenomatous Polyposis Assocation (FAPA). Since 2009, Dr. Tejpar has also been a member of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) translational research working group and since 2006 a member of the Ministerial advisory committee for colon cancer prevention in Flanders.