Scientific Advisory Board
Our research is guided by a panel of world-renowned experts in GIST.
Associate Professor of Pathology and Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Jonathan Fletcher is a lab-based medical and pediatric oncologist and geneticist at Harvard Medical School, Mass General Brigham, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. His lab focus is translational GIST and sarcoma research, identifying and validating therapeutic strategies. His research program has discovered oncogenic mechanisms in GIST and many sarcoma subtypes. By developing novel genomic and phospho-protein screens, his group identified the first FGFR1 and PDGFRA oncoproteins and the first ALK oncoproteins in solid tumors. His group performed preclinical validations and correlative science supporting the FDA-approved drug applications for GIST, and he coordinates international research consortia devoted to maximizing therapeutic response in GIST and leiomyosarcoma. Dr. Fletcher co-founded CTOS and founded and co-leads SASS, an annual SARC/NCI workshop for sarcoma basic science. He also chairs the clinical trial selection committee of the National Center for Tumor Diseases / Germany and is co-PI for an NCI SPORE grant on LMS and other chromosomally complex sarcomas. He is CSO for the US national GIST/sarcoma research and clinical trials organization, SARC.
Professor of Translational Oncology, University of Duisburg‑Essen
Dr. Sebastian Bauer is a medical oncologist and Director of the Sarcoma Center at the West German Cancer Center (WTZ) in Essen, Germany, a Professor of Translational Oncology at the University of Duisburg-Essen, and the group leader of the Translational Sarcoma Research Group (Dept. of Medical Oncology). He studied medicine at the Julius-Maximilians University of Würzburg (Germany) and earned his MD with a thesis in molecular cardiology. After his clinical training in internal medicine in Essen, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Harvard Medical School) and later specialized in medical oncology at the University Hospital Essen.
Dr. Bauer is a physician scientist who has been the principal investigator in several international early- and late-stage clinical trials in sarcomas, including GIST. His preclinical/translational research aims to discover novel treatments in sarcomas, particularly GIST. He is currently a board member of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society and an ESMO faculty member (sarcoma track). He co-founded the international FORTRESS meeting on translational sarcoma research and the global alliance to cure GIST (GIST-RACE).
Professor of Medicine, OHSU Knight Cancer Institute
Dr. Michael Heinrich is a Professor of Medicine and a Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. Dr. Heinrich is also the head of the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute GIST Translational and Clinical Research Programs. He earned his medical degree in 1984 from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore and completed his Internal Medicine residency and Hematology and Medical Oncology fellowship at OHSU. His primary research interest is the development of novel tyrosine kinase inhibitors for the treatment of GI stromal tumors and CML. Dr. Heinrich’s research includes both preclinical identification of novel molecular targets and testing of new agents in the laboratory and the clinic. Additional information on his research program is available at www.heinrich-corless.net.
Dr. Heinrich was a co-founder of MolecularMD, a molecular diagnostic startup company. MolecularMD performed BCR-ABL transcript quantification testing for clinical studies leading to the FDA approval of nilotinib, dasatinib, ponatinib, bosutinib, and asciminib. In December 2017, the FDA authorized the MolecularMD MRDx BCR-ABL test as a companion diagnostic to help physicians determine whether a patient with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) can stop treatment with Novartis’ drug Tasigna (nilotinib). In February 2019, ICON plc acquired MolecularMD to enhance ICON’s laboratory offerings in molecular diagnostic testing and to bring expanded testing platforms to ICON, including next-generation sequencing and immunohistochemistry (IHC).
Professor of Hematology/Oncology, Fox Chase Cancer Center
Dr. von Mehren is a medical oncologist specializing in sarcoma and gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). She earned her medical degree from Albany Medical College, Albany, New York, and completed training in internal medicine at New York University Medical Center in Internal Medicine, followed by a fellowship in Medical Oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center and Temple University Hospital.
Dr. von Mehren currently serves as Vice Chair of the Department of Hematology/Oncology, Professor of Medical Oncology, Director of Sarcoma Oncology, and Associate Director for Clinical Research at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. Dr. von Mehren has participated in numerous clinical trials evaluating therapeutic strategies for GIST and soft tissue sarcomas, most recently serving on the scientific steering committees for studies of avapritinib and regorafenib, both approved for management of GIST.
With a long track record of collaboration with scientists at Fox Chase, she contributed to research identifying IGF-1R as overexpressed in wild type GIST and evaluated a novel agent targeting this receptor. She is also investigating targeted therapies in liposarcoma and leiomyosarcoma.