Suresh G. Nair, MD, Chair
Dr. Nair is the Physician-in-Chief of the Lehigh Valley Cancer Institute (LVCI) in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and leads the health network’s academic programs. Dr. Nair is the Medical Director of the LVCI membership in the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Alliance and has practiced oncology in the community setting for 27 years. He is the initial holder of The Auxiliary of Lehigh Valley Hospital Endowed Chair in Cancer.
With clinical expertise in melanoma, kidney cancer, and immunotherapy, Dr. Nair’s focus is to provide the highest-quality cancer care, including standard and research treatments. He leads a variety of clinical trials at Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) to provide leading-edge options to patients. He leads the high dose interleukin-2 program at LVHN for advanced melanoma and kidney cancer. Dr. Nair started the hematology/oncology fellowship at LVHN and served as the initial Program Director.
Dr. Nair has been a site Principal Investigator in the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cooperative Group Program for over 25 years and was the first Chair of the NCI Early Phase Central Institutional Review Board. He has been a site Principal Investigator of over 40 T-cell checkpoint inhibitor trials at the LVCI.
Dr. Nair received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He completed his residency at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania, and his fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.
As of May 2024, Dr. Nair reported the following external relationships:
Funding for clinical trial support accrual, paid to Lehigh Valley Health Network, from the following companies:
- Bristol-Myers Squibb, for Phase II and Phase III immuno-oncology clinical trials
- Eisai, for Immuno-Oncology clinical trials
- Merck, for Immuno-Oncology clinical trials
- Mirati, for Immuno-Oncology clinical trials
- Strata, for genomics testing and clinical trials
Linda S. Ahn, MSN
Ms. Ahn is a Clinical Trials Nurse Practitioner in the Thoracic Medicine Program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City. She has worked at MSKCC for 14 years, starting as a new graduate registered nurse on the Genitourinary/Head &Neck inpatient service. She then worked as an office practice nurse in the Gastrointestinal/Sarcoma program in the outpatient setting.
After receiving a master's degree in Adult Primary Care in 2008, she took a position as a Clinical Trials Nurse Practitioner in the Sarcoma Program. She briefly left MSKCC for a position as Nurse Practitioner overseeing sarcoma patients in the outpatient setting at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
Ms. Ahn earned her bachelor's degree in nursing from SUNY Binghamton and master's degree in adult primary care from New York University.
As of April 2024, Ms. Ahn reported no external relationships.
Elizabeth S. Ellent, MD
Dr. Ellent is a triple-board certified internist, hematologist and medical oncologist at West Jefferson Medical Center in Marrero, Louisiana, and Assistant Program Director and Site Director for the Louisiana State University (LSU) Hematology and Oncology Fellowship. She is the primary investigator for several clinical trials in the LSU-LCMC Health Cancer Center and passionate about providing clinical trial options for her patients in the community setting, allowing them to get access to cutting edge treatments without having to leave their support system.
Dr. Ellent received her medical degree at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans. She completed a residency at Ochsner Clinic Foundation (Ochsner Medical Center) in New Orleans, where she was also Chief Resident. She completed a fellowship at Louisiana State University in New Orleans, where she was also Chief Fellow.
As of May 2024, Dr. Ellent reported the no ongoing external relationships.
William J. Gradishar, MD
Dr. Gradishar is Deputy Director for the Clinical Network of the Lurie Cancer Center and oversees the coordination of clinical cancer services within Lurie Cancer Center’s affiliated network, working closely with the medical director for Oncology Services in the different regions of Northwestern Medicine. Dr. Gradishar is chief of the Division of Hematology and Oncology in the Department of Medicine and Betsy Bramsen Professor of Breast Oncology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He is also director of Lurie Cancer Center’s Maggie Daley Center for Women’s Cancer Care, where he develops and implements clinical trials of new therapeutic approaches for breast cancer.
Dr. Gradishar has served as chair of the Lurie Cancer Center’s Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Symposium, a nationally recognized, four-day meeting for the practicing clinician, since its inception in 1998. His research focuses on the development of adjuvant therapies and novel therapeutics for the treatment of breast cancer.
A fellow of the American College of Physicians and a fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Dr. Gradishar is also a member of the American Association for Cancer Research and the American Federation for Clinical Research. He has held numerous leadership positions in ASCO, been a member of numerous study sections for funding agencies including the Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health, Komen Foundation and American Cancer Society. He has served as a consultant to the FDA Oncology Drug Advisory Committee. He is a member of the Breast Cancer Core Committee of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group. Gradishar is chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Breast Cancer Guideline Panel and a member of the Breast Cancer Prevention Panel. He was recently appointed chair of the Breast Cancer Working Group for the Moonshot 2020 Initiative, which will spearhead the development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of breast cancer.
Dr. Gradishar is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Clinical Breast Cancer, Current Treatment Options in Cancer, European Journal of Medical Oncology, Oncology and editor-in-chief of NEJM Journal Watch: Oncology and Hematology.
Dr. Gradishar received his medical degree from the University of Illinois, Chicago. He completed his residency at Michael Reese Medical Center and his fellowship at University of Chicago Hospitals.
As of August 2023, Dr. Gradishar reported the following external relationships:
Funding for clinical trial expenses and staff, paid to Northwestern, from the following companies:
- Gilead
Service on data and safety monitoring boards for the following companies, with honoraria:
- Genentech
- Seattle Genetics
Service on a research-related expert panel or advisory board for the following companies, with honoraria:
- AstraZeneca
- CVS
- Eli Lilly & Company
- Daiichi Sankyo
- Humana
- McKesson
- Merck
- Physicians Education Resource
Consulting on design of new drugs or devices, clinical trials, the use of specific agents or other research-related activities for the following companies, with honoraria:
- AbbVie
Industry-supported continuing medical education supported by the following, with compensation for travel expenses and honoraria:
- Genentech, receiving honoraria reimbursement for travel expenses
- Pfizer, receiving honoraria reimbursement for travel expenses
Ann S. LaCasce, MD
Since 2003, Dr. LaCasce has been a member of the Lymphoma Program at Dana-Farber where she performs clinical research. She has a longstanding interest in medical education, and in 2011, she assumed the role of Program Director of the Dana-Farber/Partners Cancer Care Fellowship which is the largest hematology/oncology training program in the country. She is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and is board certified in medical oncology.
She serves as a member of the American Board of Internal Medicine Medical Oncology Board; and she also serves as a member of the American Society of Hematology Committee on Training and is chair, American Society of Clinical Oncology Training Program Committee. In addition, she is a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network's Lymphoma Guideline Panel and serves on the Lymphoma Research Foundation's Scientific Advisory Board.
Dr. LaCasce graduated from Bowdoin College with a degree in Biochemistry and earned her medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine. She completed training in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, where she later served as a Chief Medical Resident. After her fellowship in medical oncology at Dana-Farber/Partners Cancer Care where she pursued formal training in clinical investigation, she earned a master in medical science from Harvard/Massachusetts Institute of Technology Division of Health Sciences and Technology.
As of April 2024, Dr. LaCasce reported the following external relationships:
Industry-supported continuing medical education supported by the following, with compensation for travel expenses and honoraria:
- Research to Practice, for a lymphoma panel
Work as an author or editor for the following companies, with compensation as listed:
- UpToDate, receiving compensation as an editor and author
Dr. LaCasce serves in significant roles with the following organizations, receiving reimbursement or compensation as listed:
- Lymphoma Research Foundation, scientific advisory board member, receiving reimbursement for travel expenses
Michael G. Martin, MD
Dr. Martin is a board certified medical oncologist at the West Cancer Center and Research Institute in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. Martin is interested in international medical education and has worked with the US State Department, volunteer missions, and the Fulbright Specialist Program on international projects. Currently, he is Visiting Professor of the Department of Oncology and Medical Radiology, Tashkent State Dental Institute, Uzbekistan; Visiting Professor of Internal Medicine at B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dhuran, Nepal; and Volunteer Associate Professor of Medicine, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis.
After graduating from the University of Tennessee, Dr. Martin completed his internship and residency at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina and trained in medical oncology at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
As of June 2024, Dr. Martin reported no ongoing external relationships.
Olatoyosi Odenike, MD
Dr. Odenike, a board-certified medical oncologist, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago. Dr. Odenike's clinical research and medical practice is focused on myeloid malignancies, including acute and chronic leukemias, myelodysplastic syndromes and chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms. She has a particular interest in new drug development in these diseases.
Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Chicago, Dr. Odenike worked as an Attending Physician at Roseland Community hospital, a medically underserved community on the South Side of Chicago.
Dr. Odenike currently serves as member of the American Board of Internal Medicine Medical Oncology Board Exam Committee and Medical Oncology Specialty Board. She is co-Director of the University of Chicago Phase II Consortium and is a member of the Alliance Leukemia Core Committee. Additionally, she has served on various professional committees including American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Scientific Program Committee for which she also served as a Track Leader, ASCO Cancer Communications Committee and the Best of ASCO Program Committee, and she has served as Chair of Educational Programs for both ASCO and the American Society of Hematology (ASH). She is also a member of the ASH Consult a Colleague Program. She has served in various editorial capacities and review committees including the Conquer Cancer Foundation of ASCO grant review committee, ASCO International Innovation Grant review subcommittee and currently serves as Vice Chair of the Aplastic Anemia/MDS International Foundation Medical Advisory Board. In addition, Dr. Odenike has served on the Molecular and Cellular Hematology National Institutes of Health Study Section. She is the recipient of an ASCO Career Development Award and is listed in Best Doctors in America as well as Castle Connolly's Top Doctors.
Dr. Odenike received her pre-medical training at the University of Ife, Nigeria, and her medical degree from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. She completed her residency training in internal medicine and pediatrics at the University of Illinois and her fellowship training in hematology/oncology at the University of Chicago.
As of August 2023, Dr. Odenike reported the following external relationships:
Funding for clinical trial expenses and staff, paid to the University of Chicago, from the following companies:
- AbbVie
- Agios
- Astex
- AstraZeneca
- Incyte
- Loxo
- NS-Pharma
- Oncotherapy Sciences
Service on data and safety monitoring boards for the following company, with compensation for travel expenses and honoraria:
- Threadwell Therapeutics
Service on a research-related advisory board for the following companies, with compensation for travel expenses and honoraria:
- Blueprint Medicines
- Bristol-Myers Squibb
- Rigel
- Servier Laboratories
Work as an author or editor for the following companies, with compensation as listed:
- The American Society of Hematology, for serving as associate editor of Blood Advances
- Elsevier, for serving as section editor of Advances in Oncology
Desirée A. H. Walker
Diagnosed with breast cancer at 38 and again at 47, Ms. Walker became a dedicated patient advocate, health educator and health equity activist, striving to be a voice for the voiceless and empowering diverse communities worldwide.
Ms. Walker serves as President of the Young Survival Coalition Board of Directors and Co-Chair of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center's Patient Family Advisory Council. Her committee memberships include the National Children’s Cancer Society Cancer Policy Advocacy Training Steering Committee, the Society of Integrative Oncology's Patient Advocate and Health Equity Committees and the Recruitment and Retention and Patient Advocate Committees of the National Cancer Institute’s SWOG [Southwest Oncology Group]. She facilitates support groups for women of African heritage with breast, ovarian or uterine cancer. Through SHARE Cancer Support's Side by Side Program, Ms. Walker trains medical students and doctors on delivering difficult news, emphasizing patient-doctor communication.
An accomplished speaker, Ms. Walker has been a moderator, panelist and discussant at numerous scientific conferences. She has appeared on ABC World News, NBC's TODAY Show, The Good Fight, Here and Now, and The Breakfast Club. Ms. Walker and her daughter, Shayna, were featured in SHAPE Magazine's "Breast Cancer: A Family Affair."
A graduate of the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) Project LEAD®, Ms. Walker has participated in NBCC Hill Days and reviewed research for the U.S. Department of Defense's Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program’s Breast Cancer Research Program and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. She collaborates with cancer researchers at Columbia University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and History Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Recognized for her volunteerism, community leadership and advocacy, Ms. Walker also enjoys spending time with family, baking gourmet bread pudding, traveling, the performing arts and sporting events.
As of May 2024, Ms. Walker reported the following external relationships:
Service on a research-related expert panel or advisory board for the following companies, with honoraria:
- Bayer, for service on an advisory board.
Ms. Walker serves in significant roles with the following organizations, receiving reimbursement or compensation as listed:
- The Young Survivor Coalition, Board President, without compensation.