Board of Directors

Allen Lichter, MD - Chair

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Allen S. Lichter, MD, earned his bachelor’s degree (1968) and medical degree (1972) from the University of Michigan. He trained in radiation oncology at University of California, San Francisco, before joining the faculty at Johns Hopkins University, and later the National Cancer Institute.

From 1984- 2006, Dr. Lichter was at the University of Michigan in two significant leadership roles. He served as Professor and Chair of Radiation Oncology from 1984-1998 and as Dean of the Medical School from 1998 - 2006.  Prior to his tenure at the University of Michigan, Dr. Lichter was the Director of the Radiation Therapy Section of the NCI’s Radiation Oncology Branch. Dr. Lichter’s research and development of three-dimensional treatment planning and dose delivery led to a Gold Medals from the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) and from the Radiologic Society of North America (RSNA). In 2002 he was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science (now the National Academy of Medicine).

From 2006-2016 Dr. Lichter served as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the world's leading professional organization representing nearly 40,000 physicians and health professionals in oncology.

Dr. Lichter has held many prominent roles in the Society, including President (1998-1999), Founding Chair of ASCO’s Conquer Cancer Foundation Board, and founding Chair of the Board of Governors of CancerLinQ, ASCO’s learning health platform in oncology. He remains a member of the CancerLinQ Board.

Mark J. Ratain, MD - Treasurer

Dr. Ratain is a graduate of Harvard College (A.B., 1976) and Yale University School of Medicine (M.D., 1980).  His postgraduate training was completed at Johns Hopkins Hospital (Internal Medicine, 1980-3) and the University of Chicago Hospitals (Hematology/Oncology, 1983-6).  He has been a faculty member in the Department of Medicine at The University of Chicago since 1986, and is currently the Leon O. Jacobson Professor of Medicine, the Director of the Center for Personalized Therapeutics and Chief Hospital Pharmacologist.  In addition, he serves as the Associate Director for Clinical Sciences in the University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center, and leads the University of Chicago’s phase I oncology trials program.  Dr. Ratain’s research focuses on the development of new oncology drugs and diagnostics, and he is an international leader in phase I clinical trials, pharmacogenomics, and clinical trial methodology, with over 280 original publications.   He served as the first chair of the Steering Committee of the National Institutes of Health Pharmacogenetics Research Network, as well as one of the first co-chairs of the National Cancer Institute Investigational Drug Steering Committee.  He currently serves as co-Editor of Pharmacogenetics and Genomics, and is a past Associate Editor of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.  He is the recipient of multiple awards, including the Research Achievement Award in Clinical Pharmacology and Translational Research from the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, the Rawls-Palmer Progress in Medicine Award from the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, the Translational Research Professorship from the American Society of Clinical Oncology, a Honorary Fellowship from the American College of Clinical Pharmacology, and the Award in Clinical Excellence from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association Foundation.

Leonard Saltz, MD - Secretary

Much of Dr. Saltz's career has been dedicated to developing new drug therapies and treatment strategies for colorectal cancer, and he has tapped the vast resources of Memorial Sloan Kettering — from various clinical departments to the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program, the Sloan Kettering Institute, and The Rockefeller University — to create an integrated translational research program. As Chief of the Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology Service, he looks forward to expanding this program even more in the years to come. 

In addition to his role as Service Chief, he is Chair of the hospital’s Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee and co-leader of the Colorectal Disease Management Team. He is also a Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. Nationally, I serve on the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Rectal and Anal Cancer Task Force and am co-leader of the Alliance NCI Cooperative Research Group efforts in colon and rectal cancers. Dr. Saltz serves on three National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines committees: colorectal cancers, neuroendocrine cancers, and unknown primary cancers.

Since 1990 he has authored or co-authored more than 150 peer-reviewed journal articles on the development of new treatments for colorectal and other gastrointestinal cancers. Dr. Saltz has also written numerous books, book chapters, monographs, and reviews on current and future treatment strategies for these diseases.

Jonas de Souza, MD, MBA - Member-at Large

Dr. de Souza is an executive physician at Humana. In his role, Dr. de Souza is responsible for infusing clinical knowledge and leadership in traditional business units, such as strategy, marketing, and innovation. Dr. de Souza is a board-certified internist and medical oncologist, trained at The University of Chicago, where he served as faculty from 2011 to 2017. While in academia, Dr. de Souza’s research focused on the value and cost of healthcare from a consumer’s perspective, with about 65 peer-reviewed presentations/publications. As a faculty, he was a winner of the Teaching Value and Choosing Wisely® Challenge in 2015, promoted by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation. Dr. de Souza also obtained a MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2016, with concentrations in entrepreneurship and managerial & organizational behavior. Dr. de Souza has been an early advocate for and writer about value-based reimbursement models and personalized value in oncology. He developed the only validated patient-reported outcome to assess financial toxicity in cancer patients and was the creator of the www.costofcancercare.org portal. He has several peer-reviewed articles and his work has been widely mentioned in the media.

Michael Stebbins, PhD - Member-at Large

Michael Stebbins is a geneticist and former Vice President of Science and Technology at the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. He previously served as Assistant Director for Biotechnology, at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. At the White House, Stebbins was responsible for developing and driving initiatives in life sciences research, including the Administration’s efforts focused on improving veterans’ mental health, combating antibiotic resistance, increasing access to federally funded scientific research results, restoring pollinator health, and reforming the regulatory system for biotechnology products.

Michael previously served as a science advisor to the Obama Campaign and on the Obama Presidential Transition Team. He is the former director of biology policy for the Federation of American Scientists and the former president of Scientists and Engineers for America Action Fund. He also co-founded and served on the board of directors for Scientists and Engineers for America, and is a former adjunct professor of bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, Michael worked as a legislative fellow for U.S. Senator Harry Reid and a public policy fellow for the National Human Genome Research Institute. Before coming to Washington, he was a senior editor at Nature Genetics. He received his B.S. in biology at SUNY Stony Brook and his Ph.D. in genetics while working at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

David A. Hyman, MD, JD - Member-at Large

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David A. Hyman is a Professor of Law at Georgetown University. A doctor as well as a lawyer, he focuses his research on the regulation and financing of health care and has taught insurance, medical malpractice, civil procedure, law and economics, consumer protection, professional responsibility and tax policy. Hyman served as special counsel on the Federal Trade Commission, where he organized and led hearings on health care and competition - leading to the first joint report issued by the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice, “Improving Health Care: A Dose of Competition.” He is the co-author of Overcharged: Why Americans Pay Too Much For Health Care (2018).  He has been a visiting law professor at the University of Texas and George Washington University, a law professor at the University of Illinois and the University of Maryland and a lecturer at the University of Chicago. Hyman earned his BA, JD and MD degrees from the University of Chicago.