The Board of Directors is made up of members who bring a variety of skills, talents and backgrounds particularly well suited for Cancer Research And Biostatistics. Included are oncologists and biostatisticians with clinical trials and cancer prevention backgrounds , financial experts, and scientists with entrepreneurial and federally backed experience. The Board takes its fiduciary responsibilities to heart: it approves the selection of the financial auditors; and approves the annual budget, the annual audit, tax reports and regularly published financial statement. Beyond its fiduciary role, the Board is primarily advisory in nature. Each member sits on at least one subcommittee: development, renewal, finance and professional conduct. Board members are seated for 3 year, renewable terms.
Laurence Baker, DO
Dr. Baker is Professor of Internal Medicine and Pharmacology, Departments of Internal Medicine and Pharmacology, Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of Michigan Medical School.
He received his medical degree from the University of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery at Des Moines, DesMoines, IA, in 1966. After receiving his degree, he did a medical residency at Detroit Osteopathic Hospital which was followed by an oncology fellowship at Wayne State University. He joined the faculty of the Department of Oncology at Wayne State University upon completion of his fellowship in 1972.
In 1987 Dr. Baker became the Director of the Meyer L. Prentis Comprehensive Cancer Center of Metropolitan Detroit where he remained until his recruitment to the University of Michigan in 1994. He served as the Deputy Director and Director for Clinical Research at the University of Michigan until May, 2004.
Dr. Baker has more than 30 years’ experience in the treatment of sarcoma and design of clinical trials for new sarcoma therapies. In April, 2005, he became Chairman of the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG), one of the largest of the National Cancer Institute-supported cancer clinical trials cooperative groups in the United States after election by the membership. SWOG's primary mission is clinical research in the prevention and cure of cancer. SWOG’s membership lists more than 5,000 of the nation’s leading physicians and scientists at more than 570 institutions in the United States and Canada. Dr. Baker is past Chairman of the Board of Directors of SARC (Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration), a not-for-profit consortium which advocates for sarcoma medical research and for the conduct of clinical trials studying new treatment for sarcoma. He is a scientific consultant to the National Cancer Institute and several universities, a member of many prestigious organizations, and a nationally recognized expert in sarcoma treatment. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed literature and is regularly invited to speak as a guest lecturer both at the national and international level.
M. Patricia Beckmann, PhD
Dr. Beckmann is the Executive Director of the Oregon Translational Research and Drug Development Institute (OTRADI). She is a biochemist with more than 20 years of research and leadership experience in the biomedical industry. The majority of her career was spent at Immunex Corporation (now Amgen) where she discovered TNF receptors (Amgen’s multi-billion dollar drug, Enbrel, marketed for rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis). A Kauffman Fellow, she has worked at Accelerator, Homestead Clinical Corporation and Vulcan Capital in the areas of scientific development, investment, administration and law. Additionally, Dr. Beckmann serves on the boards of The Oregon Bioscience Association, The Oregon Clinical Translational Research Institute, The OHSU Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology, and the non-profit Cancer Research Aand Biostatistics (Seattle, WA). She holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry and pharmacology from the University of Arizona, School of Medicine.
Glenn Chinn, MA
Glenn Chinn applies his financial skills and entrepreneurial background to nonprofit and community development endeavors. He has a keen understanding of finances and administrative infrastructures and provides seasoned executive leadership especially to startup projects. Mr. Chinn is able to mobilize and maximize resources of ethnically diverse work forces. His professional experience includes having him manage finances and administration for international development, housing resource, community and neighborhood, and service projects. Mr. Chinn received his B.A. from Claremont McKenna College and M.A. from University of Washington.
John Crowley, PhD
Dr Crowley has sat on and chaired the Board of Directors since founding CRAB in 1997. Dr Crowley oversees all science conducted at CRAB. as well as all research procedures and operations.John was conferred an M.S. and Ph.D. in Biomathematics from University of Washington and has devoted his career to applying statistics to cancer research. Please see more information in his biography.
Susan Finneran
Susan has been providing banking services to locally owned businesses and their officers since 1977 and at The Commerce Bank of Washington since 1988. She has earned accolades for her work with both middle-market and large national companies. Currently Ms Finneran serves on the non profit Boards of Cancer Research And Biostatistics and the Market Foundation. Previously she was on the Boards of Camp Fire USA (local and national), United Way of King County, Seattle Architectural Foundation and Cancer Lifeline. Ms Finneran graduated from the University of Colorado with a B.S. in Business and has completed graduate studies in Business at NYU and Seattle University.
“The greatest satisfaction I get as a banker comes from truly getting to know my client’s business, and then creatively participating in their financial planning and structuring.” - Susan Finneran
Gary Goodman, MD, MS
The interests of Dr. Goodman dovetail uniquely with those of CRAB. He is an oncologist at Swedish Hospital in Seattle and also holds a joint membership with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He has held prominent positions in SWOG, the most pertinent to CRAB is his Chairmanship of the Chemoprevention Committee. He was the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial (CARET) and Principal Investigator at Swedish for SWOG’s Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT). Dr. Goodman has been an advisor to the SWOG H Pylori Project in South and Central America. The latter two, massive projects have both been coordinated by the Statistical Center of SWOG at CRAB. Dr. Goodman has been a long time supporter of CRAB, serving on its IRB for 10 years. Dr. Goodman received his M.D. and M.S. in Phamacology from the University of Illinois in 1974.
David Gray, PhD, MBA
Dr. Gray has over twenty years of clinical drug development experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries in a variety of positions including overseeing clinical development and statistics. He is currently a senior manager at Seattle Genetics. His current therapeutic focus is oncology product development. Prior therapeutic experience includes infectious, respiratory, and cardiovascular diseases, aerosol drug delivery, and radiopharmaceuticals and he has participated in several successful product registrations and marketing authorizations. Dr. Gray has a PhD in statistics from the University of Kentucky and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania.
Candice McCoy, MD
Dr. McCoy is a Medical Oncologist with over 10 years experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. She completed her Medical Oncology fellowship at the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centerwhere she was an Associate in Clinical Research. She subsequently held Medical Director positions at Immunex, Amgen, Berlex/Schering AG, and Bayer working in both US and global development. As Founder of Phase Plus Consulting, LLC she provided consultation on different aspects of clinical development including US and EU regulatory filings, global clinical development strategy, clinical trial design, and operational aspects of Phase I-IV oncology drug development. She is currently a Senior Director at Dendreon. Dr. McCoy holds a B.S. With Honors from the California Institute of Technology and received her MD from the University of California, San Francisco.
Ross L. Prentice, PhD
Dr. Prentice has been a Senior Vice President and Director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s PHS Division since 1983, and he has served as a Center Faculty Member and Professor of Biostatistics at the UW since 1974. Dr. Prentice received his Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Toronto. He has received various awards recognizing his scientific work including the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (“COPSS”) President’s Award (American Statistical Association, Biometric Society, Institute for Mathematical Statistics and Statistical Society of Canada) (1986), and Fisher Lectureship Award (2008), and the American Association of Cancer Research/ACS Award for Research Excellence in Epidemiology and Prevention (2005). He is a fellow of the American Statistical Association, and a Principal Investigator (1992-2011)of the Clinical Coordinating Center for the NIH-sponsored Women’s Health Initiative, which is based at the Center. Dr. Prentice is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He is the author of 350 scientific articles and four books. He is known for his development of new biostatistical procedures which are motivated by, and are fundamental to, the conduct and interpretation of studies of chronic disease prevention, causation and treatment. He stepped down as Senior Vice President, and Director of PHS Division, in November 2002 and resumed the roles in July 2007.