The NFPTR team is composed of a talented group of pancreatic cancer experts who bring with them enthusiasm and a unique approach to studying pancreatic tumors and their precursors. Here is the team:
Dr. Alison P. Klein is Director of the National Familial Pancreas Tumor Registry. She is a Professor of Oncology and Epidemiology with a joint appointment at The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research focus is to identify the genes and environmental factors that cause pancreatic cancer and translate these findings into improved patient care and risk assessment.
Dr. Ralph Hruban is the Baxley Professor and Director of the Department of Pathology. He also serves as Director of The Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center at Johns Hopkins and is a member of the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. He is also a Professor of Pathology and Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His research focuses on the precursor lesions that give rise to invasive pancreatic cancer. Just as colon polyps can give rise to colon cancer, Dr. Hruban has shown that small precursor lesions in the pancreas can give rise to pancreatic cancer.
Dr. Michael Goggins is a Professor of Pathology and Medicine. His main research focus includes improving the early detection of pancreatic cancer. To this end, he is working to identify new molecular markers for the early detection of pancreatic cancer.
Dr. Jim Eshleman is a Professor of Pathology, Medicine, Oncology and Pathobiology and is the Associate Director, of the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory. He develops new technologies that can be used to detect early pancreatic cancer - with a focus in molecular genetics and translational research. For example in collaboration with colleagues, Dr. Eshleman developed a technique to personalize chemotherapy drug selection for cancer patients using cell lines made from patient’s own tumors. This technique is not yet clinically available.
Dr. Marcia Canto is a Professor of Medicine. Dr. Canto's efforts focus on screening individuals using endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) that have been shown to have a high risk of developing pancreatic cancer.
Dr. Bert Vogelstein is a Professor of Oncology and Pathology, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Director of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetics & Therapeutics. His primary interest is in the molecular genetics of human cancers and probing the functional correlation between mutations and cancer progression.
Dr. Scott Kern is a Professor of Pathology and Oncology. He is interested in fundamental gene discovery and in translating these gene discoveries to better patient care. For example, his current interests include treating pancreatic cancers that arose in patients with BRCA2 gene mutations with a chemotherapeutic agent (mitomycin C) that specifically targets changes caused by BRCA2 gene mutations.
Dr. Daniel Laheru is a Professor of Oncology. He is very active in the clinical treatment of patients with pancreatic cancer, and he also conducts research on new immunological methods (vaccines) to treat pancreatic cancer.
Dr. Elizabeth Jaffee is a Professor of Oncology. She has developed a vaccine for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. This vaccine is made from the cancer cells themselves.
Dr. Nicholas Roberts is an Assistant Professor of Pathology and Oncology. His current research is focused on deciphering the genetic and biological determinants of pancreatic cancer risk and translating these developments into personalized screening, early detection methods, and novel therapies for patients.
Dr. Anne Marie Lennon is an Associate Professor of Gastroenterology She is the founder and Director of the Multidisciplinary Pancreatic Cyst Clinic at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Lennon specializes in caring for patients with pre-cancerous lesions of the pancreas or pancreatic cancer.
Dr. Richard Burkhart is an assistant professor of surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital with a focus on complex minimally-invasive surgery and research for cancers of the pancreas, liver and bile ducts. He has a particular research interest in using personalized models of pancreas cancer, made from each patient’s tumor after surgical resection, to select the best chemotherapy in hopes of increasing survival and rates of cure.
Dr. John Cameron is a Professor of Surgery and an expert in the field of pancreatic cancer surgery. Dr. Cameron has probably performed more Whipple surgeries (removal of the head of the pancreas) than any other surgeon in the world.