Our Board Members
CARLA GRANDORI, MD, PhD
President and Scientific Director of Cure First
A former research associate member at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (2009-2014), Dr. Carla Grandori has spent over 25 years studying the functions of cancer-causing genes and researching the vulnerabilities of cancer cells in the pursuit of more targeted and safer treatments for patients.
Dr. Grandori received an MD from the University of Rome, La Sapienza, Italy and a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from the Rockefeller University in New York. After a year at MIT’s Center for Cancer Reseach in Cambridge, MA, she came to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center as a post-doctoral fellow in 1991. In 2006, Dr. Grandori joined Rosetta Inpharmatics, a subsidiary of Merck, to gain expertise in the cancer drug development process. This experience inspired Dr. Grandori to change her path and to begin applying her newly acquired knowledge of breakthrough technologies in functional genomics to"tackle” the MYC oncogene, previously considered “undruggable,” which had been the focus of her studies for several years. Using this approach, Dr. Grandori returned to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (2009-2014) where, in her lab, her team identified novel drug targets based on the concept of synthetic lethality for MYC-driven cancers including neuroblastoma and ovarian cancer. To read more about her published work see list of publications http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=carla+grandori.
In 2009, Dr. Grandori was asked to initiate and lead the Quellos High Throughput Screening (HTS) facility at the University of Washington, which enabled several investigators to adopt functional genomics and high-throughput drug screening in their work. In 2011, Dr. Grandori was recognized as a Presidential Entrepreneurial Fellow of the University of Washington for her work in establishing the HTS facility.
She is a Co-Investigator of the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Target Discovery and Development (CTD2) Network, and CEO of SEngine Precision Medicine.
JEFF LEE, MD
Secretary and Family Physician, Research Fellow, Harvard University, Division on Health Policy and Education
Dr. Jeffrey Lee serves as Secretary and Communications Consultant for Cure First. He is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Medical School. He has practiced family medicine in Seattle since 1986, and is currently the medical director of the Neighborcare Health Rainier Beach Medical Clinic. He writes a monthly column for Seattle’s Child Magazine, and has authored a book on parenting and a novel for young adults.
“In my 27 years as a physician, I’ve seen remarkably little progress in the fight against cancer. We’re still using the same toxic chemotherapies and destructive radiation that we were a quarter century ago, and people are still dying and suffering in the same heart-breaking ways. I believe Cure First has the potential to change all that. This could be a revolution in the way we treat cancer. It is long, long overdue.
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SANDI EVERLOVE
Sandi Everlove is the Chief Learning Officer at Washington STEM. In this role, Everlove leads efforts to generate and share knowledge of innovation in STEM teaching and learning. In addition to working with funded partners to document insights and lessons learned. Prior to joining Washington STEM, Everlove founded TeachFirst where she led the development of innovative multimedia and face-to-face tools and resources to support teacher learning. She is an award-winning high school chemistry teacher with Seattle Public Schools and received the Washington State Golden Apple Award in 1998.
KAREN SPRATT, PhD
Treasurer
Dr. Spratt is a research scientist with extensive knowledge and experience in molecular biology, cellular biology and biochemistry. She investigates signal transduction pathways, tumor microenvironment, and cell-cell interactions with in vitro cell cultures and in vivo animal models. Dr. Spratt has been a Staff Scientist and Postdoctoral Fellow at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Currently Dr. Spratt is Director of Pre-clinical Therapeutic Development at Center for Childhood Cancer, Seattle Children's Research Institute.
DR. PATRICK W. GRAY
Dr. Patrick W. Gray is Chief Scientific Officer of bioMmune Technologies Inc. He has spent 30 years in the biotechnology industry. His significant accomplishments include the first cloning of Hepatitis B surface antigen, multiple Interferon-alpha genes, Interferon-gamma, Lymphotoxin (TNF-beta), Bactericidal Permeability Increasing Protein, LPS Binding Protein, Platelet Activating Factor Acetylhydrolase, CCR5 (subsequently shown to be the HIV co-receptor), and Macrophage Derived Chemokine. He has over 40 US patents on 20 different technologies and more than 100 scientific publications. Dr. Gray received his Ph in chemistry from the University of Colorado and his BS in biology from the University of Oregon.