This list may change
Dr. Stephen Alder
Utah
Associate Director, Public Health Program
Dr. Alder currently serves as a member of the Master of Statistics: Biostatistics Track faculty. He is an assistant professor of Family and Preventive Medicine and holds adjunct appointments in Internal Medicine and Health Promotion and Education. Dr. Alder started with the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine in 1995 as a founding member of the Health Research Center. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Environment and Behavior and Family Ecology, with emphases in statistics and research methods. He completed his doctoral degree in Health Promotion and Education with a focus on Community Health in 2001. Dr. Alder currently teaches coursework in biostatistics and global health. His primary academic focus is in global health with a focus on health disparities. He has several active projects, among American Indian communities in the Intermountain West (with the Huntsman Cancer Institute and the Sletten Cancer Center), with the Barekuma Collaborative Community Development Project in Kumasi, Ghana (with the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Sciences and Technology) and as part of the Community Engagement Core of the Center for Clinical Translational Sciences. Dr. Alder is a member of the Salt Lake County Board of Health.
Dr. Carol Bruggers
Utah
Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Huntsman Cancer Institute
Carol Bruggers, MD, is a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Utah, and a Huntsman Cancer Institute Investigator.
Her primary research involves clinical trials of pediatric patients. She also has a special interest in tumors of the central nervous system. Bruggers is board-certified with the American Academy of Pediatrics and Pediatric Hematology Oncology. She received a master’s degree at Stanford University, California, and a medical degree from Michigan State University School of Medicine, East Lansing.
Dr. Michel Daher
Lebanon
President of the Lebanese Cancer Society
Clinical professor of surgery and director of medical ethics, University of Balamand, Lebanon. His main professional interests are colorectal surgery and proctology , cancer surgery, hernia surgery,
medical ethics, medical and surgical education, palliative care, and cancer control. Dr. Daher graduated from Paul Sabatier University, in Toulouse, France in December of 1972, and got his surgical training at the Department of Surgery at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire in France.
Dr. Mohamed Salama
Utah
Assistant Professor of Pathology, University of Utah
Assistant Medical Director, Hematopathology, ARUP Reference Laboratory
Dr. Salama earned his Doctor of Medicine and Surgeryand his Diploma of Hospital administration and Health care management from Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University. From 2005 to 2006 Dr. Hany Hussein was a fellow in Hematopathology at the University of New Mexico. From 2004 to 2005 he served as a fellow of Surgical Pathology at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. From 2003 to 2004 he was Chief Resident in Combined Anatomical and Surgical Pathology in the Department of Pathology at Henry Ford Hospital.
Dr. Paul Shami
Utah
Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine
Paul Shami, MD, is associate professor of oncology in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Utah and a staff physician at the Salt Lake City VA Medical Center, where he was chief of the Hematology/Oncology Section from 2002 to 2005. He is also an investigator and member of the Imaging, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics Program at Huntsman Cancer Institute.
As a specialist in adult hematology and oncology, Shami's main areas of interest include acute and chronic leukemias, lymphomas, and multiple myeloma. Over the past several years, Shami and investigators at the National Cancer Institute have studied ways to treat acute myeloid leukemia (AML) using nitric oxide-delivering agents with hopes to develop a new class of chemotherapeutic drugs for the treatment of this and other malignant diseases.
After receiving his doctorate from the American University of Beirut Faculty of Medicine in Beirut, Lebanon, Shami completed his residency with the Department of Internal Medicine at Duke University Medical Center. He then completed a fellowship with the Division of Hematology/Oncology at Duke University Medical Center and a research fellowship in the laboratory of hematopoietic cell biology at Duke University and the Durham VA Medical Centers under the mentorship of J. Brice Weinberg, MD.
Shami serves on numerous panels and committees, including the Acute Myeloid Leukemia panel and Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia panel of the National Cancer Center Network, the Leukemia Committee of the Southwest Oncology Group, and as chairman of the Patient Services Committee for the Utah chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He has published papers, book chapters, reviews, and abstracts related to his research, and has served as a grant reviewer and panelist for different medical journals. Shami has been with Huntsman Cancer Institute since 1998.
Dr. Steve Lessnick
Utah
Pediatric Hematologist / Oncologist
Stephen Lessnick, MD, PhD, is a Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) investigator. He is an associate professor in the Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Pediatrics at the University of Utah School of Medicine and an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Oncological Sciences. He is a co-leader of the Nuclear Control of Cell Growth and Differentiation Program at HCI. He holds a Jon and Karen Huntsman Presidential Professorship in Cancer Research.
The Lessnick Lab studies Ewing’s sarcoma as a model for pediatric tumor development. Ewing’s sarcoma is a prototypical tumor that has a peak incidence in the teenage years. A chromosomal translocation (an abnormality that occurs when chromosomes break and the fragments rejoin to other chromosomes) characterizes Ewing’s sarcoma. Learning details of how the cancer-causing protein created by this translocation functions could help resolve questions about the differences between pediatric and adult tumors, and between sarcomas and other forms of cancer. Additionally, the Lessnick Lab is interested in developing new therapeutic interventions for children with cancer.
Lessnick earned his bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University followed by MD and PhD degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as part of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP). He conducted his internship and residency at Children’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, followed by a fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital. His fellowship/postdoctoral research was performed in the Pediatric Oncology Department at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Lessnick joined Huntsman Cancer Institute in January 2004.
Dr. John Ward
Utah
Professor of Internal Medicine
Chief, Oncology Division, Department of Internal Medicine
John Ward, MD, is professor of medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine and chief of the Oncology Division in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine. Ward is also an investigator at Huntsman Cancer Institute and member of the Imaging, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics Program.
Ward sees patients with a variety of malignant diseases, with an emphasis on breast cancer. He is principal investigator for the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) site at Huntsman Cancer Institute and heads participation in breast cancer prevention trials. He is also principal investigator for the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) site at the University of Utah. These cooperative groups provide access to national clinical trials for a wide variety of malignancies. Ward represents Huntsman Cancer Institute on the breast cancer treatment guidelines panel of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.
A graduate of the University of Utah School of Medicine, Ward completed an internal medicine residency at Duke University where he received the Haskel Schiff award as the outstanding resident. He completed a fellowship in hematology/oncology at the University of Utah School of Medicine and has been on the faculty since 1982. Ward is board certified in internal medicine, medical oncology, and hematology. He has received numerous accolades for his teaching excellence, including the 2002 James L. Parkin, MD, award for outstanding clinical teaching at the University of Utah School of Medicine.