Scientific Advisory Board
Prof. Antoni Ribas
Antoni Ribas, M.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Medicine, Professor of Surgery, and Professor of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Director of the Tumor Immunology Program at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC), Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI) Center at UCLA, Chair of the Melanoma Committee at SWOG and President-elect of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).
Prof. Ribas is a physician-scientist who conducts laboratory and clinical research in malignant melanoma, focusing on immune checkpoint blockade, gene engineered T cells, and BRAF targeted therapies. He has had a leading role in the clinical development and FDA approval of five new drugs for the treatment of metastatic melanoma. His National Cancer Institute (NCI), State of California and foundation-supported research laboratory develops models of disease to test new therapeutic options, studies mechanism of action of treatments in patients and the molecular mechanisms of therapy resistance. This work has allowed defining mechanisms of response and resistance to modern immunotherapies.
Prof. Ribas is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI), has a Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Buenos Aires, co-led the Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C)-Cancer Research Institute (CRI)-AACR Immunotherapy Dream Team with the Nobel Laureate James Allison, is the recipient of a NCI Outstanding Investigator Award, was profiled as one of the five Visionaries in Medicine by the New York Times on May 27, 2018, acknowledged as Great Immigrant by the Carnegie Foundation in the New York Times on July 4, 2018, and is the recipient of the 2014 AACR Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award and the 2018 AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology.
Prof. Antoni Ribas’s personal web page
Dr. Omid Hamid
Dr. Omid Hamid is the Director of the Melanoma Center and Phase I Immuno-Oncology Program at The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute. Dr. Hamid is recognized nationally and internationally as a key opinion leader in Immuno-Oncologic Drug Development and Melanoma Therapeutics. Through his role as the Chief of Immunotherapy and Translational Research patients at The Angeles Clinic have benefited from first in class, paradigm shifting drugs. Dr. Hamid was an investigator in the initial trials with Ipilimumab, Pembrolizumab, Nivolumab, Atazolizumab and Vemurafenib, agents that led to significant survival benefits in the lives of patients. He has been a key investigator on combinations of BRAF/MEK inhibitors and novel immune therapy with PD-1 antibodies and continues to be at the forefront of drug development.
Dr. Omid Hamid’s personal web page
(http://www.theangelesclinic.org/Home/MeetOurTeam/Doctors/tabid/19273/Default.aspx)
Prof. Ofer Mandelboim
Prof. Mandelboim is a principal investigator and a Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, where he leads a research laboratory and serves as the head of the Lautenberg Center for General and Tumor Immunology, and the head of the Department of Immunology and Cancer Research. Prof. Mandelboim received his Ph.D. in Immunology from the Weizmann Institute of Science followed by a post-doctorate fellowship at the Harvard Medical School. He then joined the Department of Immunology and Cancer Research at the Faculty of Medicine at the Hebrew University, to establish a laboratory of NK cell biology. To this date, Prof. Mandelboim published more than 180 scientific papers, participated in 3 EU consortium grants, in two Marie Curie student network grants, and won an ERC advanced grant. He obtained grants in a total sum of more than 15,000,000 Euro, received more than 20 awards, and supervised more than 50 Ph.D. students.
Prof. Ofer Mandelboim’s personal web page
Prof. Menashe Bar-Eli
Menashe Bar-Eli , Ph.D. is a Professor at the Department of Cancer Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX. Prof. Bar-Eli received his Ph.D. in Immunology from the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School. The focus of his laboratory is to study the molecular biology of melanoma metastasis. He is a Co-Director of the CCSG Metastasis Program at the Department of Cancer Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, a Member at the AACR TME Steering Committee, and a member at the Editorial Boards of Cancer Research, Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research, Cancer and Metastasis Reviews journals. Dr. Bar-Eli is currently the Director of the Cancer Biology Program, UT health Science Center and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and he is the Co-Director of the Metastasis Cancer Center.
Prof. Menashe Bar-Eli’s personal web page
(https://faculty.mdanderson.org/profiles/menashe_bar-eli.html)