C.V
Bernard A. Fox, Ph.D.
Dr. Bernard A. Fox received his Ph.D. from Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. His
postgraduate training was with Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg, NCI, NIH. Prior to coming to Portland he
was on the faculty at the University of Michigan Medical School. Since 1994 he has been Chief,
Laboratory of Molecular and Tumor Immunology, at the Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center,
Earle A. Chiles Research Institute, Providence Cancer Center, Providence Portland Medical Center,
Portland, Oregon. He is an Associate Professor, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology,
Oregon Health and Science University and co-leader of the Tumor Immunology Focus Panel for
the Knight Cancer Institute. Dr. Fox’s research efforts are divided between preclinical animal
models, the development, performance and monitoring of immunotherapy trials for patients
with cancer and the training of the next generation of translational investigators. He is currently
involved with translational immunotherapy trials for patients with melanoma, prostate, breast
and non-small cell lung cancer. He has served as a member of review committees for the NIH,
FDA, philanthropic and governmental organizations in the USA, Europe and Asia, is on the
editorial boards of six scientific journals, lectures widely, consults for the biotechnology/pharma
sector and is an internationally recognized expert on cancer immunotherapy. A founding
member of the Tumor Vaccine and Cell Therapy Working Group, Dr. Fox has coordinated their
International meetings for the past 16 years. Dr. Fox is the Immediate Past President of the
International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer / Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer
(iSBTc / SITC), serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Biological Development Association
(Europe); The Hollings Cancer Center, Medical University of South Carolina; the Vaccine Branch,
NCI, NIH; and is a co-founder of UbiVac, a biotech with novel cancer vaccine technology.
Douglas McNeel, Ph.D.
Douglas McNeel is Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of
Hematology/Oncology, at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. Dr. McNeel
received his Ph.D. in 1992 and M.D. in 1994 from the University of Chicago. He then completed
Internal Medicine residency and Medical Oncology fellowship training at the University of
Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. He has been
on faculty at the University of Wisconsin since 2001. He is a genitourinary oncologist with a
clinical research focus on prostate cancer, particularly immune-based therapies for prostate
cancer, and serves as co-leader of the Experimental Therapeutics program of the University of
Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center. He is also program director of an NCI grant training physicians
as translational scientists in laboratory-oriented cancer research. Dr. McNeel’s own laboratory
research program is focused on prostate cancer immunology with the goal of developing
anti-tumor vaccines as treatments for prostate cancer. Current efforts seek to identify
immunologically recognized proteins of the prostate, characterize these as tumor antigens,
evaluate anti-tumor DNA vaccines targeting these antigens in appropriate rodent models, and
translate these findings to early phase human clinical trials.
Wenru Song, MD, PhD
Dr. Song is a medical director at Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company who works in
oncology drug clinical development as well as supporting Millennium/Takeda’s oncology drug
development in Asia. Prior to join Millennium, Dr. Song was a medical director/clinical lead at
Pfizer Oncology where he led a number of biologic compounds in the cancer
immunotherapeutics and antibody-drug conjugate programs. Before joining the pharma-industry,
he was an associate investigator at Baylor Institute of Immunology Research and an attending
oncologist physician at Texas Oncology/Baylor Sammons Cancer Center in Dallas. He studied
Medicine in China before coming to the US for his PhDstudy in Immunology. He then did his
postdoctoral fellowship in cancer gene/immune therapy with Dr. Ronald Crystal at Cornell
University Medical Center, his medical residency at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein
College of Medicine, and at Stanford University for his clinical oncology fellowship and research
in cancer immunotherapy with Drs. Ronald Levy and Edgar Engleman. Dr. Song is board-certified
in medical oncology and internal medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine.
Dr. Song’s clinical interest is on medical oncology, especially lymphoma, and his own lab research
had been focused on the development of effective cancer immunotherapy. He was among the
first to demonstrate that genetically modified dendritic cells (DCs) expressing tumor antigens
could serve as effective therapeutic cancer vaccines. He further demonstrated for the first time
that intratumoral DC vaccination following conventional cancer therapy could serve as more
effective and practical cancer immunotherapy, which has also been confirmed by other
investigators. With the approval of three Investigational New Drug applications from the US FDA,
he started to translate his lab research findings by initiating phase I/II human clinical trials in
patients with colon or pancreatic cancer at Stanford University and in patients with lymphoma at
Baylor Sammons Cancer Center in Dallas. Dr. Song has broad experience and deep expertise in
translational and clinical research in oncology drug development in a variety of hematological
and solid tumor types.
Dr. Song has actively participated in community services and professional & scientific
organizations, including as the VP of Shandong University Overseas Alumni Association
(2004-2006), a founding board member (since 06/2005) and ex-board chair (2009-2010) as well
as the ex-president (2006-07) of the Chinese American Hematologist and Oncologist Network, a
member of Ad Hoc Committee in International Outreach at American Society of Hematology
(06/2006-07/2007), an overseas member in the Executive Committee of Chinese Society of
Clinical Oncology (since 09/2007), a member of the Development Committee and the Committee
of Public Relations, Communication and Publication as well as the International Outreach
Taskforce at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC; since 11/2008), a member of Career
Development Committee at American Society of Clinical Oncology (since 06/2009), a member of
the NCI's Immune Response Modifier Pathway Prioritization Working Group(09/2009), a member
of the SITC-FDA-NCI Taskforce on Immunotherapy Biomarkers(since 10/2009), and most recently
as a member of World Immunotherapy Council (since10/2010).