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Advisory Board
Professor Kathy Pritchard-Jones
United Kingdom & Europe
Professor Kathy Pritchard-Jones is Professor of Paediatric Oncology at University College London (UCL) Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London, UK and past President of International Society of Pediatric Oncology (SIOP) 2021-2022, is an internationally recognised expert in childhood kidney cancers and is preminant in the area of Wilms and Wilms research.with a particular emphasis on Wilms, where she has extensive experience of running multi-centre and international clinical trials and translational research. She also works with epidemiologists and healthcare data scientists for international benchmarking and outcomes research. She has a track record of enabling partnership working to deliver quality improvement in complex care and to accelerate research across both adult and childhood cancer services. Throughout her career she has been an active member of the work of the national Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG), the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP) and SIOP Europe. She has published over 250 articles in the field of childhood cancer.
Professor Paul Grundy
North America
Professor Paul Grundy has been on the faculty of the the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Alberta, Canada since 1988 and is currently an Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics and Oncology. His research career has focussed on Wilms tumour of the kidney, spanning the spectrum from basic molecular biology, to translational research to clinical trials. A legacy of his research program is the childhood renal tumours tissue bank which now harbors a variety of specimens from over 6000 patients and is available to researchers worldwide. He has served as the Chair of the National Wilms Tumour Study Group and subsequently as Chair of the Children’s Oncology Group Renal Tumors Committee. As Chair, he facilitated closer interactions with European-based colleagues in SIOP which led to collaborative studies. He was Director of the Division of Pedaitric Hematology and Oncology at the University of Alberta from 1999 to 2010. In this role, he was one of the founding members of C17, and served as the first Director of the C17 Research Committee. He subsequently served as Chair from 2006-2011. C17 now sponsors international clinical trials, develops and publishes evidence based guidelines for care and has overseen the development of communities of practice within childhood cancer for pharmacy, clinical research associates and nursing. From 2010 to 2015, Paul was Chief Program Officer and Senior Medical Director of CancerControl Alberta, Alberta Health Services.
Professor Guillermo L Chantada
Central & South America
Professor Guillermo L Chantada, MD, PhD Is the current President of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology 2023-2025. He is an associate member of the Oncology Service of the Hospital Saint Joan de Deu, Barcelona Spain, the Principal Researcher of the National Council of Research in Argentina (CONICET) and the Scientific Director at the Pediatric Hemato-Oncology Service of the Hospital Universitario Austral, Argentina and at the Hemato-oncology service of the Hospital Pereira Rossell in Montevideo, Uruguay. His major contributions are in the area of translational research in retinoblastoma where he worked in the identification of innovative treatments, the characteristics of this tumor in developing countries and in depicting its mechanisms of molecular dissemination. He leads the Latin American treatment protocol at the Grupo de America Latina de Oncologia Pediatrica (GALOP) where he is a member of the Board. He serves as Coordinator of the European Retinoblastoma Group (EURbG). He leads the development of an anti-idiotype vaccine for neuroblastoma in a Latin American protocol. Other areas of interest include pediatric lymphomas and histiocytosis. He is a member of the St. Jude Global Pediatric Medicine Department where he is Editor-in-Chief of Oncopedia at the Cure4Kids portal. He is a member of the board at the Latin American Society of Pediatric Oncology (SLAOP).
Professor James Geller M.D.
North America
Professor James I. Geller, MD, is a member of the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) Renal Tumor (RTC), Liver Tumor, Retinoblastoma and Central Nervous System Committees; He functions as vice chair for the RTC and liaison to the COG Developmental Therapeutics Committee (DVL) and Pediatric Preclinical Testing Program as well as chair both the RTC Developmental Therapeutics Working Group and the COG High Risk Renal Tumors Protocols including AREN1721 (focused on immunotherapy and anti-angiogenic therapy for TFE Renal Cell Carcinoma), AREN1921 (focused on relapsed and anaplastic Wilms tumor), and has drafted the next concept for study of epigenetic therapy plus chemotherapy for treatment of rhabdoid tumor. He also serves as co-chair of the COG liver tumor protocol, the Pediatric Hepatic International Tumor Trial (PHITT); AHEP1531. It is his goal to help facilitate the development of novel therapy for young patients affected with solid tumors. Current areas of expansion include the establishment of the Translational RCC Research Initiatives including a registry for TFE RCC, and development of data harmonization and treatment optimization for relapsed pediatric liver cancers. Integration of cellular and immunotherapy, as well as novel interventional therapeutics, remains a priority.
Professor Jeffery Dome
North America
Dr. Jeffrey Dome is Senior Vice President of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders and Chief of the Division of Oncology at the Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC. He is Professor of Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine and the Thomas Willson and Lenore Williams McKnew Professor of Pediatric Oncology. Dr. Dome received his MD degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and PhD degree in Medicine from Erasmus University in Rotterdam. He completed a residency in Pediatrics at Yale-New Haven Hospital and completed a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Johns Hopkins Hospital. After fellowship, Dr. Dome was a faculty member at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital before joining Children’s National in 2006. Dr. Dome is an internationally recognized expert on pediatric solid tumors, with an emphasis on kidney tumors and sarcomas. He chaired the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) Renal Tumor Committee for more than a decade. He is presently on the Scientific Council of the COG, the editorial board of Pediatric Blood and Cancer, and is past-Chair of the American Board of Pediatrics Subboard of Hematology/Oncology. Dr. Dome serves on numerous medical advisory boards for cancer foundations and currently serves as North American President of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP). He has authored more than 200 articles, books, letters, and chapters on pediatric cancer.
Professor M.M van den Heuvel-Eibrink
Europe
Professor M.M. van den Heuvel-Eibrink is a Professor Translational Pediatric Oncology, Pediatric Oncologist, PI. Senior Consultant pediatric oncology and hematology Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital 1997-2014. Working Group leader at the ‘Erasmus MC Postgraduate Molecular Medicine School’ which is recognized by the Dutch Royal Academy of Science and Arts, 2009-2015. Previous chair of the international EWOG-MDS foundation (2007-2016). Chair of the national core group member Dutch Late effects group, and co-PI of the DCOG LATER study (2007-2020). One of the pioneers, since 2015, of the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, where she has established, apart from research regarding the identification of (genetic) determinants of direct and late childhood cancer related toxicity, the national centralized care and translational research, Childhood Comprehensive Cancer program for all Dutch children with renal tumors. Leading the international SIOP-RTSG office trial management team (launched in >25 countries) for the UMBRELLA study, since 2018. Chair of the SIOP-RTSG (2022 onwards), and co-chair of the SIOP-RTSG & COG-RTG consortium (HARMONICA). Professor Transaltional Pediatric Oncology at the University of Utrecht since 2016. Group leader of a research group of 25 PhD & Post-docs, in the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology in Utrecht, Supervisor of > 50 PhD projects (of which >30 already succesfully defended). Dedicated to translational research in pediatric oncology, with a special focus on renal tumors and the (genetic) variation of early and late toxicity of childhood cancer.
Professor Jarno Drost
Europe
Professor Jarno Drost received his PhD from the Erasmus University Rotterdam for his work on the identification of new tumor suppressor genes in the P53 pathway in the research group of Reuven Agami at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam. Subsequently, Jarno joined the group of Hans Clevers at the Hubrecht Institute for his postdoctoral training where he exploited the organoid technology for cancer research. He developed colorectal cancer (CRC) progression models by introducing combinations of the most commonly mutated CRC genes in human small intestinal and colonic organoids using CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing. He used these models to study multistep tumorigenesis. For his work he received an NWO-Veni fellowship and the Dr. Patrick Hanlo Award for best postdoctoral researcher of the Hubrecht Institute. In November 2016, he became a group leader at the Princess Máxima Center for paediatric oncology. His group studies the molecular alterations underlying paediatric solid tumors and uses novel pre-clinical model systems to identify therapeutic targets. His lab pioneered the use of organoid technology for paediatric cancers including Wilms tumors, malignant rhabdoid tumors of the kidney, and renal cell carcinomas. He was granted several awards including a Bas Mulder Young Investigator Award from the Dutch Cancer Society (KWF), the ERC Starting and NWO-Vidi grants, and the AACR St. Baldrick’s career development award for emerging leaders in the field of paediatric oncology.
Dr. Angela Polanco (BSc MRes PhD)
International
Dr Angela Polanco (BSc, MRes, PhD) is a national level leader for public and patient involvement in health research in the United Kingdom. Angela lost her daughter Bethany to Wilms tumour in 2012 aged 8 and has raised funding to support research into high risk and relapsed Wilms through her UK charity Bethany’s Wish. Angela has amplified the parent and child voice within childhood cancer research on a national and international level for over 10 years. This includes membership as a Senior Consumer Representative for the National Cancer Research Institute Children’s Group and as an expert advisor for the World Health Organisation, SIOP, SIOPE, Cancer Research UK, CCLG and many more. She is a leading expert in developing and delivering PPI strategies for large health organisations and founder of the Childhood Cancer Conference UK, bringing together parents and professionals in a first of its kind event in the UK. She has authored a number of seminal international research papers and is regularly chosen as the key PPI expert for international research funding panels and grant award committees. She has extensive experience in assessing research quality, impact, feasibility and conducting peer review of scientific applications for childhood cancer and is a practising medical professional (Midwife). Her recent PhD focused on the communication of risk aimed at health professionals when explaining long-term reproductive consequences of childhood cancer treatments.