Introducing our new Scientific Committee members

The Scientific Committee is a pivotal part of the Cancer Grand Challenges community, providing scientific leadership at each step of the funding process. The committee is made up of eminent scientists who each provides a different perspective on how to tackle cancer’s toughest challenges by bringing expertise from their respective fields.  

Mike, Sherene, KJ, Tim and Lillian will enrich the scientific leadership at Cancer Grand Challenges by bringing invaluable experience and knowledge from their respective fields. 

Mike is a Professor at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel in Switzerland. He is a world leader in the fields of TOR signalling and cell growth control, after discovering TOR in 1991 and subsequently elucidating its role in growth and metabolism. Mike’s research group at Biozentrum studies TOR signalling and growth control in various model systems, and the role TOR plays in the development of a variety of disorders, including cancer. Mike works closely with clinicians to translate the group’s findings into the human context. Mike brings his wealth of knowledge on the role of TOR in cell growth, metabolism and cancer development.  

Sherene brings her expertise as a medical oncologist and is specialised in breast cancer treatment. She is recognised internationally as a leading clinician scientist whose work has led to new insights into the breast cancer immunology field. As head of the Translational Breast Cancer Genomics and Therapeutics Laboratory at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Center in Melbourne, Australia, her laboratory uses genomic approaches to analyse breast cancer specimens to understand mechanisms of growth, immune evasion and progression. Sherene has a strong focus on translation and leads international clinical trials in breast cancer immunotherapy. 

KJ read medicine at the University of London, and subsequently trained as a gastroenterologist. He spent his research career until recently at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge. KJ’s research interests lie in the molecular basis of inherited genomic instability and the role it plays in the biology of stem cells, particularly those that make blood. His research has led to important insight into how alcohol exposure damages DNA and causes cancer. As Chief Scientist of Cancer Research UK, Director of the Weatherall Institute for Molecular Medicine, and Director of the MRC Molecular Haematology Unit at the University of Oxford, KJ brings a wealth of expertise and experience to the Cancer Grand Challenges Scientific Committee. 

Tim is the Vincent L. Gregory, Jr. Professor of Cancer Prevention at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He is founding director of the Zhu Family Center for Global Cancer Prevention at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and leads the Cancer Outreach and Engagement activities for the Dana-Farber Harvard Cancer Center. 

He leads molecular epidemiology studies to address problems of cancer etiology, prevention, outcomes, health disparities and global health. His work has led to an understanding of the genetic and environmental causes of breast, prostate, skin, endometrial and ovarian cancers as well as interventions intended to reduce the burden of these cancers in individuals and populations. He founded and continues to lead international cancer consortia that study risk and outcomes in prostate cancer in men of African descent in North America and Africa.

Lillian is a senior medical oncologist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre since 1998, and has been a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto since 2009. She is the Director of the Phase I Program and Co-Director of the Bras and Family Drug Development Program at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, and holds the BMO Chair in Precision Genomics (2016-2026).  She is also the Clinical Lead for the Tumor Immunotherapy Program at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Dr. Siu served on the Board of Directors for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) for a four-year term (2012-2016). She also served as a member of the Nomination Committee for the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (2014-2016). 

Meet the Cancer Grand Challenges Scientific Committee.