Session Chair Profile

Andrew Schorr

Biography

Andrew Schorr leads Patient Power (patientpower.info), one of the most dominant media channels for cancer patients today, reaching more than 150,000 people affected by cancer each month. Andrew has been a pioneer in patient education since 1984. In 1996 he became a cancer patient himself, CLL, followed by a second cancer, myelofibrosis, in 2011. Because of precision medicine he lives a full life. With his longevity, Andrew has co-founded the Precision Medicine for Me consortium, raising awareness of testing, and partnering with science based organizations to propel research in partnership with patients.

Speaker Profile

Larry Saltzman

Biography

Dr Larry Saltzman is a Family Physician, health IT pioneer, leukemia survivor of eight years, and currently the Executive Research Director for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). His journey with CLL has been a long one, and includes, 6-months of chemotherapy, three relapses, removal of the right side of his colon due to obstruction from enlarged lymph nodes, participation in two clinical trials, one for a new oral medication and one for revolutionary CAR T therapy. Currently in remission, he now dedicates his time to helping other patients and their caregivers. Working in partnership with LLS, he currently leads an initiative to build a national registry of blood cancer patients, with the goal of uncovering patterns of care that can help to deliver better treatment options with less side effects. This program also includes its own social network – The LLS Community.

Speaker Profile

Tony Blau

Biography

Tony founded All4Cure after 27-years as a Professor of Medicine/Hematology and physician scientist at the University of Washington (UW). His research has spanned hematopoiesis, gene therapy, stem cell biology, genomics and cancer, consistently focusing on bringing the very latest research advances to patients with heretofore incurable diseases. At UW he founded the Center for Cancer Innovation, which brings together a distributed network of investigators to help patients with advanced cancer. Tony co-founded the UW Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine and chaired the Molecular and Cellular Hematology Study Section for the National Institutes of Health. He has authored more than 85 scientific publications. Diagnosed himself with myeloma in April 2015, Tony infuses All4Cure with an incredible sense of urgency to improve the prospects for cancer patients now and in the future.

Speaker Profile

Mohit Trikha

Biography

Dr. Mohit Trikha is Vice President, Head of Oncology Early Development at AbbVie. He is responsible for implementing the strategic vision for AbbVie’s Oncology Early Development pipeline through clinical proof of concept. Dr. Trikha has >20 years of drug discovery and development experience. Prior to joining AbbVie, he was President, CSO and Head of Triphase Accelerator and a Board member of Triphase Accelerator. He was the Chair of Triphase-Celgene Joint Steering Committee and prior to that he worked at Ambit, Genentech and Centocor/Johnson and Johnson. He is currently is on the Board of EnCycle Therapeutics as an independent member. Dr. Trikha is passionate about advancing first or best in class oncology medicines. His background is in cell signaling, tumor immunology, apoptosis, protein homeostasis, neuroscience, and developing biomarkers for predicting response and toxicity. He has published >40 papers, filed multiple patents and presented at AACR, ASCO, ASH, and EHA. He received his PhD from University of Southern California and was an Assistant Professor of Research at Wayne State University prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry