APPENDIX A
WORKSHOP PLANNING COMMITTEE BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
John Quackenbush (Co-Chair) is professor of biostatistics and computational biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and professor of computational biology and bioinformatics at the Harvard School of Public Health. Until early 2005, he was an Investigator at the Institute for Genomic Research in Rockville, MD. His primary research areas are functional genomics and bioinformatics, and his work has focused on the integration of diverse data types to provide insight into biological systems. He and his group have been investigating gene expression patterns in animal models with the goal of identifying mechanisms underlying a range of human diseases. They have also used microarrays to look for diagnostic and prognostic expression fingerprints in human breast and colon cancer, and he has been active in using plant models to develop methods for integrating functional genomics and metabolomics approaches. Dr. Quackenbush has a Ph.D. in theoretical particle physics from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Kenneth S. Ramos (Co-Chair) is professor and chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Louisville Health Sciences Center. He also serves as director of the Center for Genetics and Molecular Medicine. His research focuses on the study of molecular mechanisms of environmental disease and redox-regulated transcriptional control. He is the editor of the NIEHS journal Environmental Health Perspectives: Toxicogenomics. Dr. Ramos has served on numerous NRC committees including the Committee on Emerging Issues and Data on Environmental Contaminants, Committee for a Review of Evidence Regarding Link between Exposure to Agent Orange and Diabetes, Committee to Review the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to Herbicides: Second Biennial Update, HHMI Predoctoral Fellowships Panel on Neurosciences and Physiology, and Committee to Review
the Health Effects in Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to Herbicides: First Biennial Update. He received a Ph.D. in biochemical pharmacology and toxicology from the University of Texas at Austin.
Cynthia A. Afshari is the associate director of the Toxicology Department at Amgen, Inc. Her expertise is in the areas of molecular toxicology, functional genomics/toxicogenomics, in vitro models, and carcinogenesis. At Amgen she leads the Investigative and In Vitro Screening Toxicology groups and conducts research in new predictive toxicity assays. She is also responsible for guiding preclinical safety assessment work for several therapeutic project teams at Amgen. Previously, she was an adjunct professor of toxicology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and was the director of basic research applications at the NIEHS Microarray Center for 4 years. At NIEHS she headed an interdisciplinary group of biologists, engineers, and computer scientists investigating applications of new genomics technologies to mechanistic toxicology. Dr. Afshari serves as the chair of the Steering Committee of the Subcommittee on Application of Genomics and Proteomics to Mechanism-based Risk Assessment organized by the Health and Environmental Science Institute (HESI) of the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) and was chair of the nephrotoxicity and database working groups of the same ILSI-HESI subcommittee for 2 years. She is also a member of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Genomics Subcommittee and is an associate editor of Toxicologic Pathology, Toxicological Sciences, and a reviewing editor for Environmental Health Perspectives. She earned her Ph.D. in toxicology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and is a board-certified toxicologist.
Linda E. Greer is senior scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the director of its health program. She received a Ph.D. in environmental toxicology from the University of Maryland. Dr. Greer’s primary focus concerns toxic chemical pollution regulatory issues and risk assessment. She is currently focusing particularly on mercury pollution. Dr. Greer has served on numerous NRC committees, including the Committee on Industrial Competitiveness and Environmental Protection, the Committee on Ground Water Cleanup Alternatives, and the Committee on Hazardous Wastes in Highway Rights-of-Way. Dr. Greer also was a member of the NRC’s Board on Life Sciences until 2004.
Casimir A. Kulikowski is Board of Governors Professor of Computer Science at Rutgers University. He earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Hawaii. His research interests include bioinformatics, medical informatics, and artificial intelligence. In bioinformatics, he is working on pattern recognition and clustering methods for genomics and proteomics, and consensus classification methods for comparative genomic analysis and annotation. Dr. Kulikowski is also working on models for clinical guidelines, on methods of medical decision support, biomedical imaging, and predictive data mining. He has served on the NRC Committee to Address “Information Infrastructure for Health and Health Care” and the Committee to Review the Social Security Administration’s System Modernization and Strategic Plan. Dr. Kulikowski was elected to the Institute of Medicine in 1988.
George Orphanides is head of investigative toxicology and Stage 1 toxicology at Syngenta in the United Kingdom. Previously he has held roles as head of receptor biology and genomics at Syngenta and group leader for toxicogenomics at AstraZeneca. His research interests in the area of toxicogenomics include gene expression profiling, proteomics, mechanisms of gene regulation, transcription factors, nuclear receptors, chromatin dynamics, estrogenic compounds, and bioinformatics. He currently serves on several committees, including vice-chair of the ILSI-HESI Committee on the Application of Genomics in Risk Assessment; the ECVAM (European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Test Methods) Committee on the Validation of Toxicogenomics-Based Alternative Methods; and the IPCS (International Programme on Chemical Safety) Committee on Toxicogenomics and the Risk Assessment of Chemicals in the Protection of Human Health, where he is co-chair of the Subcommittee on Human Susceptibility and Exposure. He currently serves on the editorial board of the journal Biomarkers. Dr. Orphanides received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Leicester, United Kingdom.
Lawrence M. Sung holds the appointment of law school professor and director of the Intellectual Property Law Program at the University of Maryland Law School. He is also a partner with the Washington, DC intellectual property law firm of Schwartz, Sung & Webster. His area of expertise is in patent and technology transfer issues concerning the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device industries. He has previously taught at the law schools of George Washington University, American University, Lewis & Clark College, and Seattle University.
Following a judicial clerkship at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Dr. Sung was in private practice specializing in biotechnology patent litigation with several international law firms. He received a Ph.D. in microbiology from the U.S. Department of Defense, Uniformed Services University and a J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law. In addition to numerous articles, Dr. Sung is the author of two books: Patent Law Handbook and Patent Infringement Remedies.
Russell D. Wolfinger is director of scientific discovery and genomics at SAS Institute, Inc, one of the top 10 software companies in the world. He earned a Ph.D. in statistics from North Carolina State in 1989 and has been at SAS ever since. His first 10 years were devoted to developing statistical procedures in the areas of linear and nonlinear mixed models, multiple testing, and density estimation. In 2000, he started the Scientific Discovery department at SAS and since then has been leading a team in research and development of software solutions in the areas of genetics, transcriptomics, and proteomics/metabalomics. Dr. Wolfinger is an adjunct faculty member at North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and University of Missouri.