SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

Zheng Ao, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, Biosciences Division, SRI International

Zheng Ao, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral fellow at SRI International. His research focuses on applying SRI’s unique high-throughput optical scanning technology to interrogate rare cell targets in blood, specifically circulating tumor microenvironment components as novel biomarkers. Prior to joining SRI, Dr. Ao received his Ph.D. from University of Miami Miller School of Medicine majoring in Cancer Biology. At University of Miami, his thesis focused on interrogating the interaction between circulating tumor cells and circulating cancer associated fibroblasts as well as myeloid derived suppressor cells and how they formed circulating micro-emboli to promote metastasis.

Nazneen Aziz, Ph.D., Executive Director, Kaiser Permanente Research Bank

Dr. Aziz is the Executive Director of the Kaiser Permanente Research Bank. Dr. Aziz’s interest and expertise is in the implementation of genomics in clinical practice. In her previous roles, Dr. Aziz was the Director of Molecular Medicine at the College of American Pathologists where she led the development of the first set of standards and proficiency tests for clinical laboratories using next-generation sequencing. Nazneen has held executive leadership positions in biotech and healthcare including most recently as the SVP/Chief Research Officer at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Nazneen was an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital and now hold a Research Professorship title in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. Nazneen received her Ph.D. in molecular genetics at MIT. She is on the National Academies Round Table of Genomics and Precision Health and the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s expert panel on multiplex technologies.

John Beeler, Ph.D., Vice President, Corporate and Business Development, Inivata, Inc.

John oversees Inivata's business development activities globally. Spanning a 20 year career, John has established partnerships with leading pharmaceutical companies including GSK, Novartis, Gilead, and others. He holds a Masters degree in biology from Villanova University and a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine.

Lynne Bemis, Ph.D., Chair, Biomedical Sciences, University of Minnesota

Dr. Bemis leads the Biomedical Sciences department at the University of Minnesota Medical School Duluth campus. The Bemis lab focuses on the function and expression of extracellular RNAs in health and disease. Their projects span the continuum from translational to basic science at the mechanistic level. Current translational studies are focused on urine and plasma with the goal of identifying noncoding RNAs with potential as new biomarkers and new therapeutic targets. The basic studies are aimed at defining the mechanism and function of tRNA fragments.

Kenneth D. Cole, Ph.D., Group Leader, Bioassay Methods, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Kenneth Cole is the leader of the Bioassay Methods Group at NIST in the Biosystems and Biomaterials Division. The Bioassay Methods Group has programs in cancer biomarker standard development, quantitative flow cytometry for clinical measurements, cell line authentication measurements, fluorescence and UV absorbance standards, CHO cell genomics for biomanufacturing, and a new program in standards for gene editing measurements. We work with companies and other government agencies to improve the quality of measurements for research, production of biologicals, and healthcare applications.

Carolyn Compton, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University; Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Department of Pathology, Mayo Clinic School of Medicine

Dr. Compton is an academic pathologist who received her M.D., Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School. She a Professor of Life Sciences at Arizona State University, the Chief Medical Officer of the National Biomarkers Development Alliance, Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the Mayo Clinic, and Adjunct Professor of Pathology at Johns Hopkins and the University of Arizona Medical School. Formerly, she was Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, Director of Gastrointestinal Pathology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Pathologist-in-Chief of the Shriners Boston Burn Hospital for many years. From 2000-2005, she was the Chair of the Department of Pathology at McGill Medical School and the Pathologist-in-Chief of the McGill University Health Centre. From 2005-2012, she served as the Director of the Office of Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research at the U.S. National Cancer Institute. She heads the Pre-analytics for Precision Medicine Project Team at the College of American Pathologists.

Kathleen Danenberg, CEO, Liquid Genomics, Inc

Kathleen Danenberg is currently the CEO of Liquid Genomics, Inc. While at the USC/Norris Cancer Center, she developed methodology for quantitative RT-PCR and for extracting RNA from FFPE tissue specimens. Her previous company, Response Genetics, Inc., was founded on the basis of this technology, and under her guidance developed diagnostic gene panels for lung, colon, gastric and melanoma cancers. Ms. Danenberg has over 180 peer reviewed papers and multiple patents in the molecular diagnostics area.

Dolores Di Vizio, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Biomedical Sciences, Cancer Biology Program, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; Associate Professor, Medicine, University California, Los Angeles; Assistant Professor, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Dolores Di Vizio is a pathologist and a molecular and cell biologist trained at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Di Vizio holds an academic appointment as associate professor at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is Executive Chair of the International Society of Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV). Her group studies the molecular mechanisms of progression to advanced disease in human tumors, with a particular emphasis on large oncosomes, extracellular vesicles (EVs) shed into the extracellular space from fast migrating and metastatic amoeboid cancer cells. Her lab is currently profiling the large oncosomes and other EV populations by NGS and proteomics for functional and molecular characterization.

Russell K. Garlick, Ph.D., CSO, SeraCare Life Sciences, Inc.

Dr. Garlick is the Chief Scientific Officer at SeraCare Life Sciences. He is an experienced executive scientific and R&D Leader from the Life Science industry with over 30 years. At SeraCare he has led scientific effort into designing and developing precision medicine products through scientific collaborations and technology transfer with clinical research opinion leaders in the areas of oncology, fetal maternal medicine, inherited diseases, infectious diseases and for new QC approaches applied to NextGen Sequencing assays. He is an active member within American Association for Clinical Chemistry, American Association for Cancer Research, American College Medical Genetics and Association for Molecular Pathology.

James Hicks, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California

Dr. James Hicks is Professor and Member of the Bridge Institute and the Michaelson Center for Convergent Science at the University of Southern California. He is recognized for his innovative work in yeast genetics and single cell cancer genomics. He has co-founded multiple companies in the fields of biotechnology and health information. His current work is aimed at applying single cell biology to clinical problems, focusing on breast and prostate cancer.

Stacey A.A. Honda, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Medical Director, Diagnostic Specialties and Research; Chief, Pathology and Medical Director, Center for Health Research, Hawaii, Hawaii Permanente Medical Group; Medical Director, Laboratories, Kaiser Hawaii Health Plan and Hospital

Stacey Honda is the Associate Medical Director (AMD) of Diagnostic Services and Research for Hawaii Permanente Medical Group (HPMG). In her role as AMD of Diagnostic Services, she oversees Diagnostic Imaging and Laboratory services for the region with 20 facilities located on Oahu, Maui and the Hawaii Island including both hospital and clinic based services. A pathologist by training, Dr. Honda also is Chief of Pathology, Medical Director of Laboratories and Director of Point of Care Testing. In addition, Dr. Honda is the Medical Director for the Center for Health Research, Hawaii (CHRH). CHRH is part of the CHR which is made up of Kaiser research centers from two regions, Northwest and Hawaii. In her role at CHRH she oversees the research activities of the Center. She is also Principle Investigator for Kaiser Hawaii for the Kaiser Permanente Research Bank. Dr. Honda is Board Certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology. She also has a Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Sciences which she received from the John A. Burns School of Medicine.

Tim H-M Huang, Ph.D., Professor & Chair, Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Dr. Huang has been conducting studies on cancer epigenetics and genetics for the last 25 years and has pioneered the development of high-throughput microarray and next-generation sequencing technologies for integrative analysis of cancer genomes. He has previously used these approaches to study molecular mechanisms underlying epigenetic control of gene silencing. Extending these studies, Dr. Huang and his team members have conducted methylome profiling of more than 700 primary tumors and cancer cell lines, generating catalogs of a large repertoire of network-associated loci that stratify subtypes of prostate, breast, endometrial, ovarian, colorectal, and liver cancers. As a result, aberrantly methylated loci associated with specific oncogenic signaling networks have been identified as prognostic and predictive biomarkers. Independent validation of these candidate makers has been performed in cell-free DNAs isolated from blood and bodily fluids (e.g., urine and endocervical brush/wash) for non-invasive cancer detection. More recently, his research team has developed novel technologies to characterize single cancer cells and to address intratumoral clonal heterogeneity in prostate and breast cancers. These approaches include isolation of tumor cells from urine and blood samples, single-cell expression profiling with microfluidic devices, and topographical analysis of tumor cells using atomic force microscopy. These assays are being used for early detection and for identifying prostate and breast cancer patients at risk of developing advanced development. Throughout these studies, he has authored or co-authored 281 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters.

Shidong Jia, M.D., Ph.D., Founder & CEO, Predicine, Inc.

Dr. Shidong Jia is the Founder and CEO of Predicine Holdings Ltd., an international precision medicine organization that is committed to developing innovative diagnostics, therapeutics and big data in cancer and other serious diseases. The company operates in California, USA and Shanghai, China. Driven by a passion to improve personalized medicine, Dr. Jia has dedicated the past 21 years to basic, translational, and clinical cancer research. His previous work identified p110beta as novel drug target for PTEN-deficient prostate tumors (Jia S, et al. Nature, 2008), a finding that laid the foundation for the clinical development and testing of p110beta inhibitors in cancers. Most recently, his team at Predicine developed world’s first ctRNA and ctDNA combined liquid biopsy test for precision medicine in cancer. A former Scientist, principal investigator and prostate cancer disease area lead at Genentech, Dr. Jia spearheaded the biomarker strategies and drug & diagnostics co-developments efforts in support of clinical oncology pipeline at various stages (i.e., early stage research, late stage research, early clinical development, Phase I and Phase II clinical trials), culminated by the Lifecycle Investment Point (LIP) achievement of driving an investigative drug from global Phase II into Phase III pivotal clinical trial. Prior to joining Genentech, Dr. Jia was Laboratory Head for Oncology Drug Discovery at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research in Cambridge, MA. Dr. Jia serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Circulating Biomarkers, Guest Associate Editor of Frontiers in Oncology, and Members of National Cancer Institute Review Committees and the Italian Ministry of Health - Scientific Research and Health Innovation Review Committee. Dr. Jia is a BayHelix member and receipt of several awards, including the "Young Investigator Award" at the Fourth Asian Congress for Microcirculation in Indonesia and the "P.A.R.T. Investigatorship Award" at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Phoebe Loh, Global Product Manager PreAnalytiX, Sample Technologies, QIAGEN

Phoebe Loh is the Global Product Manager at QIAGEN for PreAnalytiX, a QIAGEN/BD cooperation dedicated to developing solutions for collection, stabilization and nucleic acid isolation of human specimens for clinical and research workflows, a keystone product being the PAXgene Blood RNA system. Previously in research roles, she was highly involved in genomics, taking part in the sequencing effort of the Human Genome Project with projects centered on sequencing and identifying genes of human chromosome 22q. Later work with RNA, including work with siRNA synthesis at Dharmacon and research on mechanisms of cellular trafficking and gene transport at the University of Rochester Medical Center, then brought her to QIAGEN and PreAnalytix where she focuses on identifying customer needs to direct development of technologies as effective tools for novel workflows.

Stuart S. Martin, Ph.D., Professor of Physiology, Greenebaum NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Dr. Martin received his Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego, after training as a Howard Hughes undergraduate research fellow at the University of Virginia. Dr. Martin completed a Damon Runyon postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School that combined functional genomic studies with mouse models of breast tumor metastasis, under the mentorship of Dr. Phil Leder. In 2004, Dr. Martin joined the Greenebaum Cancer Center at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Dr. Martin is working to apply physical science and engineering approaches to the study of cancer metastasis. In 2010, Dr. Martin was one of only three investigators nationwide recognized with an Era of Hope Scholar Award from the Congressionally-directed Medical Research Program for his innovative research on breast cancer metastasis.

Sarah A. Munro, Ph.D., Team Leader, Genome-Scale Measurements Group, Joint Initiative for Metrology in Biology, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Dr. Munro leads a team developing measurement science for genomics and synthetic biology as part of the Joint Initiative for Metrology in Biology (JIMB), a new joint scientific initiative that NIST has launched in partnership with Stanford University and Bay Area industry (http://jimb.stanford.edu). In her work, Dr. Munro develops method validation tools, analysis software, new measurement technologies, and leads JIMB public-private-academic standards development consortia. Dr. Munro received her Ph.D. and BS degrees in Biological and Environmental Engineering from Cornell University.

Girish Putcha, M.D., Ph.D., Director of Laboratory Science, MolDx, Palmetto GBA

Girish Putcha is currently Director of Laboratory Science for Palmetto GBA’s MolDX program, and the founding Medical Director for Orion Genomics and TOMA Biosciences, personalized medicine companies focused in oncology. Previously, Girish was the founding Medical/Laboratory Director or Chief Medical Officer at Ariosa Diagnostics, Crescendo Bioscience, Life Technologies, and VitaPath Genetics. He also focused on venture capital investments across healthcare, from biopharmaceuticals to medical devices to diagnostics, at Panorama Capital and RiverVest Venture Partners. Prior to this, he held various positions at VeraCyte, CardioDx, and Aviir, all venture-funded personalized medicine companies. Girish received a bachelor's degree from Rice University and two master's degrees from the University of London and the Welcome Institute as a Marshall Scholar. He holds medical and doctoral degrees from Washington University School of Medicine, where he also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular neuroscience. Girish completed his postgraduate medical training at the Stanford University School of Medicine, where he also served as adjunct faculty, specializing in molecular genetic pathology

Honey V. Reddi, Ph.D., FACMG, Clinical Laboratory Director, The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine

Dr. Honey V. Reddi is currently the Clinical Lab Director at The Jackson Labs, Farmington, CT, USA. Prior to her current role at The Jackson Labs, Dr. Reddi held positions of Vice President of Clinical Operations and the Laboratory Director at Transgenomic, Inc. in New Haven, CT, Clinical Molecular Geneticist & Director - Sales and Marketing at Prevention Genetics in Marshfield, Wisconsin and Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Reddi received her Ph.D. in Biotechnology from the International Center for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology and Hamdard University in New Delhi, India, followed by training in Clinical Molecular Genetics at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She has 20 years of experience in Molecular Genetics with expertise in Cancer Biology, Viro-Therapies and Clinical Diagnostics for Somatic and Inherited Disorders. Dr. Reddi is certified by the American Board of Medical Genetics in Clinical Molecular Genetics and is a Fellow of the American College of Genetics and Genomics.

Jason Ross, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist, Health and Biosecurity, CSIRO

Jason Ross completed his BSc in Biochemistry and Genetics and an MSc in Plant Biotechnology at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand before undertaking a doctorate in Plant Biotechnology at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. From there, he moved in 2004 to Sydney to work in human health research at the CSIRO, Australia’s national scientific research agency - where he works to this present day. Dr Ross has research interests in epigenomics, DNA methylation biomarkers and bioinformatics. Presently he leads a team developing liquid biopsy biomarkers for colorectal cancer and traumatic brain injury and he develops computational approaches for data analysis. Dr. Ross’s research has had translational impact. He is co-inventor on patents describing epigenomics technologies and biomarkers. Two of the biomarkers now constitute the Colovera™ ctDNA test, a colorectal cancer diagnostic developed in partnership with Clinical Genomics and Flinders University. Colovera™ is now available on the U.S. market.

Holger Schmidt, Ph.D., Professor, Electrical Engineering; Narinder Kapany Chair of Optoelectronics; Director, W.M. Keck Center for Nanoscale Optofluidics, University of California, Santa Cruz

Holger Schmidt received the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of California Santa Barbara. He served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT. He is currently the Narinder Kapany Chair of Optoelectronics and Professor of Electrical Engineering at UC Santa Cruz. He also serves as the Associate Dean for Research in the Baskin School of Engineering and the Director of the W.M. Keck Center for Nanoscale Optofluidics. His research interests cover a broad range in photonics and integrated optics, including optofluidic devices, chip-based molecular diagnostics, nanopore integration, atom photonics and spintronic devices. He has authored more than 380 publications, several book chapters, and co-edited the CRC Handbook of Optofluidics. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and the Optical Society of America and received an NSF Career Award and a Keck Futures Nanotechnology Award.

Steven A. Soper, Ph.D., Foundation Distinguished Professor, Department of Chemistry, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering; Director, Center of BioModular Multi-Scale Systems for Precision Medicine, The University of Kansas

Prof. Soper is currently a Foundation Distinguished Professor in Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. Prof. Soper also holds an appointment at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in Ulsan, South Korea, where he is a World Class University Professor. Prof. Soper is the Director of the Center of BioModular Multi-Scale Systems for Precision Medicine, which has as its primary charge to develop transformative tools for making health-related measurements from rare disease markers, such as liquid biopsy markers. This Center has recently been awarded funding from the National Institutes of Health as part of their Biotechnology Resource Center Program (funded through the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering). Prof. Soper has secured extramural funding totaling >$90M and has published over 345 manuscripts and is the author of 14 patents. He is also the founder of a startup company, BioFluidica, which is marketing devices for the isolation and enumeration of circulating tumor cells.

Gary Spitzer, M.D., Director, Clinical Validity and Clinical Utility Evaluation, MolDX, Palmetto GBA

Dr. Gary Spitzer presently evaluates the clinical utility of precision medicine testing for potential full coverage or possible coverage with data development under the requirement of a well-designed, prospectively developed outcome protocol and associated registry or trial. He is a Medical Oncologist by training. He graduated medical school in Melbourne Australia and received his medical oncology training and clinical research experience at MD Anderson Hospital Houston Texas. His present interests focus on the evidence-based clinical utility of precision medicine tests, and particularly cell-free DNA and other liquid biopsies techniques.

Rebecca (Becky) Suttmann, MS, Senior Scientific Researcher, Oncology Biomarker Development, Genentech, Inc.

Rebecca “Becky” Suttmann, MS, is a research scientist with solid industry background in immunology, cell biology and biomarker development. Her current work at Genentech includes developing oncology diagnostics strategies that involve identification and analysis of circulating tumor events. Ms. Suttmann has happily spent her career in the research labs at Genentech, Roche and Syntex.

Theral Timpson, Host and Producer, Mendelspod

Along with interviewing the who's who in the life sciences, Theral is a regular blogger at Mendelspod and frequent speaker, emcee and advisor for life science conferences and related events. He is an active mentor in Silicon Valley for those seeking careers in science and/or media. Mr. Timpson has over 18 years’ experience establishing and growing companies in the life science industry, including as President and Co-Founder of Consumer Genetics and Vice President of Marketing at Medax International. He received training from the E. Goldratt Institute in Theory of Constraints and holds a BA degree in English Literature from the University of Utah.

Hunter R. Underhill, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, Division of Medical Genetics, University of Utah

Dr. Underhill obtained an M.D. from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Washington. He has completed separate postdocs in Radiology and Tumor Biology. He is board certified in Clinical Medical Genetics and Clinical Biochemical Genetics. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Pediatrics at the University of Utah. Dr. Underhill’s research interests include the detection of circulating tumor DNA for the diagnosis and monitoring of solid tumors. He also works towards the development, translation, and application of advanced quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques for studying white matter diseases. Dr. Underhill has a particular interest in research that integrates molecular techniques for genotyping with MRI for phenotyping to explore relationships between changes in DNA and tumor behavior.

Joshua Xu, Ph.D., Senior Computer Scientist, Division of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, National Center for Toxicological Research, Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Dr. Joshua Xu is a Senior Computer Scientist at the FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR). He specializes in data mining and integration, next-generation sequencing data analysis, image analysis, and high-performance computing. His recent endeavor has been with the Sequencing Quality Control (SEQC) project, a large and international collaborative consortium led by the FDA to evaluate the technical reliabilities and scientific applications of whole transcriptome sequencing technologies. Currently, he is leading the deep sequencing QC study, a component of the FDA-led SEQC project phase 2 (SEQC2). Deep sequencing focuses its sequencing reads on few small regions of the genome and thus achieves very sensitive detection of sub-clonal mutations.

J. Winny Yun, Graduate Assistant, JS Alexander Lab, Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center - Shreveport

Winny is a fourth-year graduate student in Steve Alexander’s lab in Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology. Her current projects include the study of endothelial microparticles in neurovascular inflammatory conditions. Winny received her Bachelor of Science degree from Johns Hopkins University in 2012.

Hai Zemmour, Research Scientist, Department of Developmental Biology and Cancer Research, The Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada, The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School

Hai Zemmour is a Ph.D. student under the supervision of Prof. Yuval Dor from the Department of Developmental Biology and Cancer Research at the Institute for Medical Research, Israel-Canada of the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School. He completed BSc in Biology from the Faculty of Science and MSc in Bio-medical Sciences from the Faculty of Medicine, both of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research focuses on non-invasive detection of human cell-death. More specifically, his works examine cell type-specific methylation patterns of circulating cell-free DNA in order to determine tissue origin of the DNA released to the circulation by dying cells. Following his preliminary results recently published, he is further studying tissue damage in neurodegenerative disorders and cardiovascular diseases.

Lihan Zhou, Ph.D., CTO & Founder, MiRXES Pte Ltd.

Dr. Zhou Lihan has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the National University of Singapore. He was trained as a molecular neurobiologist and worked on a spectrum of technology development projects on qPCR, gene delivery, and tumor targeting nanoparticles. Lihan has co-authored more than 20 peer-reviewed publications and several patent applications. Lihan co-founded and serves as the CTO of MiRXES, a biotech startup focused on developing microRNA technologies and diagnostic applications. Lihan was recently recognized by the MIT Technology Review as a member of the Innovators Under 35 (Asia).

Andries Zijlstra, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Dr. Andries Zijlstra is Associate Professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology at Vanderbilt University. He has broad experience in oncology with a focus on the contribution of tumor cell motility to metastasis. His research emphasizes the molecular changes in the migration machinery that promote invasion and dissemination. These change are often epigenetic and post-transcriptional. Consequently, Dr. Zijlstra uses collaborative efforts with industry and research institutions to develop biomarker strategies that use molecular components of the migration machinery released into the circulation as soluble biomarkers to predict disease-specific survival and detect response to therapy. He is also actively engaged with the metastasis research community, serves on the board of the Metastasis Research Society and acts as consultant to industry partners with projects on molecular profiling of cancer.