Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, M.D., Ph.D., Director

Sanjiv Sam Gambhir is a Professor of Radiology and Bioengineering at Stanford University, where he serves as Chief of the Nuclear Medicine Division and Director of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS). He is a Principal Investigator (PI) for the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence and the NCI In Vivo Cellular & Molecular Imaging Center (ICMIC), and is the Program Director for a post-doctoral fellowship molecular imaging training grant. In 2008, Dr. Gambhir was elected to the U.S. National Academies' Institute of Medicine. In 2006, Dr. Gambhir received the Paul C. Aebersold Award from the Society of Nuclear Medicine, which is given for outstanding achievement in basic nuclear medicine science. Dr. Gambhir also co-hosted a Nobel Symposium in Stockholm in 2007 on Molecular Imaging. His many honors include the Hounsfield Medal from Imperial College London (2005); the Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (2004); the Holst Medal (2003); and the Taplin Award (2002). Dr. Gambhir serves on numerous corporate scientific advisory boards and is a member of the National Cancer Institute scientific advisory board. As an expert in numerous molecular imaging modalities, Dr. Gambhir leads a team of more than 125 scientists in the molecular imaging program and directs a lab of over 25 post-doctoral fellows and graduate students. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). For more information about Dr. Gambhir, please see his bio.

Daniela Starcevic, Ph.D., Deputy Director

Dr. Starcevic received her Ph.D. from the Biological and Biomedical Sciences program at Yale University. While at Yale University, Dr. Starcevic studied the biochemistry of cancer onset and progression; specifically she contributed to our understanding of how mistakes in our genetic material eventually lead to cancer. After completing her Ph.D., she became a Patent Agent registered to practice before the United States Patent Office and worked at an intellectual property law firm helping government, academic and industrial clients define and legally protect their inventions. After a few years of working as a Patent Agent, Dr. Starcevic elected to pursue her postdoctoral research. Her postdoctoral research brought her to Stanford University where she worked on identifying and characterizing biomarkers for squamous cell carcinoma. Most recently Dr. Starcevic led the effort on behalf of a major venture healthcare fund to identify potential start-ups based on cancer diagnostic technologies developed at Stanford. Her interests always close to cancer therapy, diagnostics, prevention, and education, Dr. Starcevic joined the Canary Center at Stanford in November of 2009. She concedes that not all cancers can be prevented-and for that reason, the need for early detection tools is vitally important.

Mark Stolowitz, Ph.D, Director of Proteomics Core Facility

Dr. Stolowitz is a seasoned technical professional with over 20 years experience involving conceptualization and development of life sciences research tools. Recently, his efforts have focused on the development of an immunoaffinity mass spectrometry platform that employs MALDI biochips. This technology will be exploited by the Canary Center at Stanford in support of biomarker verification studies. A prolific innovator, Dr. Stolowitz has been issued 42 United States Patents related to: Protein biochips; SPR biosensors; Bioconjugation; Protein and nucleic acid immobilization; Protein chromatography; and Protein sequencing. Additionally, he was responsible for the development of surface chemistry platforms that provided the technical basis for three startup ventures.

Judy Schwimmer, Pre-Proposal Coordinator

Judy Schwimmer earned her B.S. in Chemistry at Stanford. She then earned an M.B.A. at UCLA and worked as an Educational Consultant in math and science education, later developing and selling the intellectual property rights for an enhanced graph paper design to MeadWestvaco Corporation. She went on to earn an M.A. in Counseling from the Phillips Graduate Institute, working in private practice as a Counselor specializing in cancer patients. In 1997, she started working for Dr. Sam Gambhir, Canary Scientific Program Director, and Director of Canary Center at Stanford. She has co-managed the preparation of numerous large NIH grant applications, for both collaborative oncology research and postdoctoral training in molecular imaging. She also contributes to organizing, writing, and editing textbook (Molecular Imaging: Principles and Practice) and primer (Molecular Imaging Primer for Clinicians and Researchers) materials.

Jean Stevens, Administrative Associate

Jean has been an executive administrator for over 20 years. Her professional experience includes seven years at Affymetrix, Inc.'s Project Management, R&D groups, providing support to various executives. Most recently she supported Dr. Malek Faham, VP Oncology Technology Research, and Dr. Thomas Gingeras, VP Biological Sciences / Transcriptome, Principal Investigator for the NHGRI 2007 Full-scale ENCODE (the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements) grant project to survey the entire human genome, as well as the earlier 2003 Pilot ENCODE project to identify functional elements in 1% of the human DNA. Prior to Affymetrix, Jean joined Calydon, Inc. supporting the CEO Daniel R. Henderson, CFO Christine Gray-Smith and other executive members prior to its 2001 acquisition by Cell Genesys, Inc. Calydon's research focused on development of cancer vaccines and gene therapy, while securing various patents associated with adenovirus vectors. Jean joined Stanford School of Medicine, Radiology, Canary Center group at the end of March 2009.