Dr. Timothy Donahue
Pancreatic Cancer, surgical
Dr. Timothy Donahue is Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology and Professor of Surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He also has a joint appointment in the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology to facilitate his research program. Dr. Donahue is the Surgical Director of the UCLA Agi Hirshberg Center for Pancreatic Diseases. He is a very busy pancreatic surgeon and performs three to four pancreatic surgeries per week. He is genuinely interested in caring for patients with pancreatic cancer and making sure they receive state-of-the-art care. In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Donahue is the Principal Investigator of a National Institutes of Health funded research laboratory. His scientific research focuses on developing new drugs and better treatment strategies for patients with pancreatic cancer. To do so, he collaborates with numerous other researchers across the UCLA campus. He is also dedicated to training the next generation of academic surgeons and serves as the Program Director of the UCLA General Surgery Residency.
Dr. Gary Schiller
Multiple Myeloma, AML
Dr. Schiller is a well-published clinical investigator in acute and chronic leukemias, multiple myeloma, and other hematologic malignancies, as well as in stem cell and bone marrow transplantation. He lectures extensively, and has also written for the popular press. He is Immediate-Past Chairman of the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. His research projects include clinical studies of new drugs, therapies, and bone marrow/stem cell transplantation for patients with malignancies of the blood or bone marrow such as leukemia, multiple myeloma, and lymphoma. He has carried out studies of stem cell transplantation following high-dose chemotherapy and radiation for acute myelogenous leukemia, one of the most common types of leukemia in adults. He has also carried out work with purified stem cell transplantation for multiple myeloma. He has ongoing studies using new drugs and therapeutics for acute and chronic lymphocytic leukemia, acute and chronic myelogenous leukemia, and multiple myeloma; he also has studies going on in certain kinds of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and Sickle Cell Anemia. His approach is to put into clinical trials new treatments developed in the laboratory for patients with blood stem cell diseases or cancers of the bone marrow and blood.
Dr. Aaron Lisberg
Lung Cancer
Dr. Aaron Lisberg is a hematologist and medical oncologist who practices in Santa Monica and Torrance. He specializes in the emerging field of immunotherapy, with a specific focus on malignancies of the lung, head and neck. He is board certified in internal medicine, hematology and medical oncology. In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Lisberg conducts research on immunotherapy, and factors that might predict either a response or toxicity to immune checkpoint inhibition in lung cancer. He also conducts research on the synergistic nature of radiation and immune-based therapies. Dr. Lisberg received his medical degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School, where he was elected to the AOA honor society. He then completed his internal medicine residency at The University of Washington in Seattle, followed by his hematology/oncology fellowship at UCLA. He grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from Grinnell College. When he's not working, Dr. Lisberg enjoys spending time with his wife and two children, either exploring local parks and playgrounds, or checking out the city's diverse restaurant scene.
Dr. Lee Rosen
Pancreatic, Gastrointestinal Malignancies
Lee Rosen, MD, FACP is Health Sciences Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Medicine. He has a longstanding interest in the treatment of pancreas and other gastrointestinal malignancies, specifically in the area of new drug development. Dr. Rosen completed his residency and fellowship in hematology/oncology at the UCLA School of Medicine in 1996, joining the full-time faculty immediately thereafter. He created and directed the Cancer Therapy Development Program, designed to coordinate translational/clinical research of new cancer treatments. Some of the first drugs he and his team worked with were designed for gastrointestinal cancers, so he and colleagues created a group dedicated to treating these diseases in a coordinated fashion. He also became interested in so-called "targeted" therapy, whereby cancers could be attacked by agents with a more rational drug design and the avoidance of toxicity to normal cells. He has worked with angiogenesis inhibitors since their first appearance in the clinic and other molecules inhibiting signal transduction, others that try to harness the immune system to control cancer and still others that work by rational drug design.
Dr. Arnold Chin
Urology oncology, surgical
Associate Professor of Urology and Medical Director, Urology-Westwood. Dr. Chin completed his M.D., Ph.D. and Urology residency training at UCLA. His clinical expertise includes urologic oncology and renal transplantation. He performs open, laparoscopic, and robotic-assisted surgeries for patients with all urologic malignancies including bladder, kidney, and prostate cancer. Dr. Chin's laboratory at the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center studies the differentiation of bladder cancer and its interplay with the tumor microenvironment. The long-term goals are to develop novel therapeutic targets, immune-based platforms, and stem cell-directed therapies against cancer. Dr. Chin's research has led to an investigator-initiated clinical trial that he is leading for patients with advanced small cell-neuroendocrine bladder and prostate cancer.
Dr. Linda Liau
Neurosurgery, brain tumors, Glioblastoma
An internationally renowned surgeon, scientist and educator, Dr. Liau is presently Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery. She also directs the UCLA Brain Tumor Program, one of the world’s leading centers for brain tumor research, diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Liau is internationally known for her pioneering research on clinical neuro-immunology and brain cancer immunotherapies. She is the Principal Investigator of a recently awarded National Cancer Institute Brain Tumor SPORE, which is a $11.4M grant that supports a large multi-disciplinary group of scientists and clinicians in their efforts to diagnose, treat and cure brain cancer. She is the current Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neuro-Oncology and a member of several prestigious organizations including the nominating committee of the American Association of Neurological Surgery and the Board of Directors of the American Board of Neurological Surgeons.
