Selwyn Vickers, M.D.
An accomplished surgeon with an active research program focused on pancreatic cancer, Dr. Vickers is a nationally renowned leader in pancreatic cancer research. His research interests include gene therapy for treating pancreatobiliary tumors and the role of growth factors and receptors in pancreatic cancer. He is the co-principal investigator on a $4.5 million Pancreatic Cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) P20 grant from the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Vickers joined the University of Minnesota in July 2006 as the Jay Phillips Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery. Prior to moving to Minnesota, Dr. Vickers had been a member of the faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham since 1994, advancing to professor in its Department of Surgery and chief of its Gastrointestinal Surgery Section. He received the John H. Blue Chair in Surgery and was a senior scientist in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is the immediate past president of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons and a member of the American Surgical Association. At Johns Hopkins University, he earned his B.A. in 1982 and his M.D. in 1986; completed his residency in 1993; and then served as an instructor and surgical oncology fellow.

Daniel Von Hoff, MD
Daniel D. Von Hoff, M.D., is currently Professor of Medicine, Pathology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Director of the Arizona Health Sciences Center's Cancer Therapeutics Program, Executive Vice President, Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), Director, TGen's Translational Drug Development Division and Head, Pancreatic Cancer Research Program. He is also Chief Scientific Officer for US Oncology.

Dr. Von Hoff's major interest is in the development of new anticancer agents, both in the clinic and in the laboratory. He and his colleagues were involved in the beginning of the development of many of the agents we now use routinely, including: mitoxantrone, fludarabine, paclitaxel, docetaxel, gemcitabine, CPT-11, and others. At present, he and his colleagues are concentrating on the development of molecularly targeted therapies.

Dr. Von Hoff's laboratory interests and contributions have been in the area of in vitro drug sensitivity testing to individualize treatment for the patient. He and his laboratory are now concentrating on discovery of new targets in pancreatic cancer. Dr. Von Hoff has published more than 515 papers, 127 book chapters, and more than 850 abstracts.

Dr. Von Hoff was appointed to President Bush's National Cancer Advisory Board in June 2004 - March 2010. Dr. Von Hoff is the past President of the American Association for Cancer Research, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and a member and past board member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He is a founder of ILEX^TM Oncology, Inc. (recently acquired by Genzyme). He is founder and the Editor Emeritus of Investigational New Drugs - The Journal of New Anticancer Agents; and, Editor-in-Chief of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. He is also proud to have been a mentor and teacher for multiple medical students, medical oncology fellows, graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows.

Colin Weekes, M.D.
Dr. Weekes initially trained at the University of Nebraska Medical Center where he completed a combined M.D., Ph.D program. His graduate training was in cell biology and focused on lymphoma cell chemotherapy resistance. Following completion of medical school, he matriculated through a internal medicine residency at the University of Alabama Birmingham. Dr. Weekes focused on the translational research in the development of novel therapies for pancreatic cancer during my medical oncology fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Dr. Weekes is a junior faculty member of the Developmental Therapeutics and Gastro-Intestinal Malignancies Programs. Clinically, he has an active clinic focused on the management of all gastrointestinal malignancies and early phase clinical studies as part of the developmental therapeutics clinic. In addition, he directs a translational research laboratory focused on developing therapies targeting the tumor microenvironment for the treatment GI malignancies. Dr Weekes is an active member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) as well as the Pancreatic Cancer Research Team.

Herbert J. Zeh, III, M.D.
Herbert Zeh, MD, graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1989 with his B.S. in biology and philosophy. He then moved on to the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine where he received his MD in 1994. His post-graduate education consists of an internship and a Jr. assistant surgery residency at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, a surgery oncology fellowship at the National Cancer Institute, and a senior and chief residency and a Society of Surgical Oncology fellowship once again at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Zeh has been appointed to Instructor at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and is presently a Surgeon - Lieutenant Commander in the United Stated Naval Reserve. He has received both the Anthony Imbembo Resident Teaching Award and the Outstanding Fourth Year Resident Award in the Department of Surgery at The John Hopkins Hospital. He has also received the Eli Goldstein, MD Award for Highest Honors in first three years of medical school, and has been a member of ASCO and the Society of Surgical Oncology since 2001. Dr. Zeh also has numerous referred articles, reviews, invited published papers, proceedings of conference and symposia, monographs, books, and book chapters during his tenures.