OCRF Welcomes New Scientific Advisory Committee Members

08/09/2011
Earlier this year, OCRF welcomed two new members to its Scientific Advisory Committee: Ronny I. Drapkin, MD, PhD and Sandra Orsulic, PhD.  Both Drs. Drapkin and Orsulic are experts in ovarian cancer research, and bring valuable additional experience to our now thirteen-member Scientific Advisory Committee.  In addition, both are past recipients of OCRF grants.

Ronny I. Drapkin, MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, an Associate Pathologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a Principle Investigator at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.  Research in Dr. Drapkin laboratory focuses on understanding the pathogenesis and genetic alterations involved in women’s cancers, with a specific interest in ovarian cancer. A major goal is to translate these important biological principles into clinically useful diagnostic and therapeutic tools.

Sandra Orsulic, PhD, is an Associate Professor, and Director of Women’s Cancer Biology at the Women’s Cancer Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Her primary research interests include mouse models of ovarian cancer, the molecular characterization of ovarian cancer, and pathway-targeted therapy.

“Drs. Drapkin and Orsulic bring a wealth of expertise and experience to the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) with respect to the pathogenesis, modeling, and molecular biology of ovarian cancer,” said Jeff Boyd, PhD, chair of the OCRF SAC.  “Their presence on the SAC increases substantially our committee knowledge base in basic and translational science, which will serve our constituents well.  The SAC is indeed fortunate to be represented by a group with such depth and breadth in basic, translational, and clinical research related to ovarian cancer.”