Presenter: Ash A. Alizadeh, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine (Oncology)
Stanford School of Medicine
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
About Dr. Alizadeh
Dr. Alizadeh completed his PhD in Biophysics and MD at Stanford in 2003, under mentorship of Pat Brown (Stanford Biochemistry) and Lou Staudt (NCI/NIH). Supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI ) and NIH Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), he built the Lymphochip DNA microarray platform. He and his colleagues used this platform to profile gene expression in diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), and many other tumors. This work led to the discovery of DLBCL subtypes, and a framework for their cell of origin.
Following his clinical subspecialty Hematology and Medical Oncology training at Stanford, he completed his postdoctoral studies with Ron Levy and Irv Weissman. During this time he worked on molecular outcome prediction in DLBCL, developing a statistical framework for identification of small numbers of genes for robust risk stratification and prognosis. Working with Irv Weissman, he identified CD47 expression as an adverse prognostic factor in non-Hodgkin lymphomas, and a therapeutic target of novel monoclonal antibodies that synergize to eradicate tumors.
The Alizadeh lab studies genomic biomarkers of tumors, whether detected through biopsy of primary tissues, or non-invasively through monitoring blood using circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). His group developed Cancer Personalized Profiling by deep Sequencing (CAPP-Seq) as a novel method for ctDNA detection, and developed a novel cell deconvolution framework (CIBERSORT). His group applies such genomic tools for early detection, diagnosis, and monitoring of diverse tumors. In this effort, his group builds and employs tools from functional genomics, computational biology, molecular genetics, and mouse models.
About the Surinder K. Puri Memorial Lecture
Established and endowed by his wife, Mridula Puri, MD (Emory Medical Residency, 79'), in loving memory of her beloved husband, Surinder.
In 1965, Surinder emigrated from India to United States to pursue graduate work in engineering at Michigan State University. After earning his degree, he spent nearly 50 years working on some of country’s largest transit infrastructure megaprojects with the firm of Parsons, Brinkerhoff & Tudor. Surinder was instrumental in shaping Atlanta’s cityscape and infrastructure starting in 1975 when he began as a top engineer on design and construction of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (Marta) system.
Though trained as an engineer, Surinder was a true renaissance man who also had the spirit of a poet and sensibility of an artist. He loved building bridges, literally and metaphorically, between places, people, ideas and disciplines. Extraordinarily modest, Surinder was beloved and admired by many people for his kindness, elegance, and humor and he loved bringing people together over one of his legendary home cooked meals.
In 2004, Surinder was diagnosed with stage IV Mantle Cell Lymphoma. He considered himself fortunate to have the best cutting-edge care through his medical team at Winship Cancer Institute. With that care and fortitude he not only survived, but thrived for next ten years until his relapse in 2014. Surinder profoundly benefitted from great advances in research and clinical care for cancers of B-Cell malignancy variety. With this lectureship, Surinder’s family hopes to accelerate further significant advances in this area, and to extend those benefits to as many others as possible by bringing in top researchers and clinicians to share their work and foster opportunities for multi-institutional collaboration.