Stat Team
BRCA Foundation
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY ADVISORY TEAM (STAT)
Our advisory team reflects our Silicon Valley roots and combines visionary technology experts and world-renowned scientists to form our SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ADVISORY TEAM (STAT). This distinctive composition of STAT members uniquely positions the BRCA Foundation for groundbreaking leadership.
Alan Ashworth, PhD, FRS
Alan Ashworth, Ph.D., F.R.S., is currently President of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, San Francisco, and co-leader of the UCSF Center for BRCA Research. He was previously Chief Executive of the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London, United Kingdom.
A translational biologist and laboratory researcher, Dr. Ashworth’s research focuses on understanding breast cancer genetics and applying what he learns to change the way patients are treated. He was a key part of the team that identified the BRCA2 breast cancer susceptibility gene, which is linked to an increased risk of some types of cancer. Ten years later, Dr. Ashworth found a way to kill off BRCA1- and 2-related tumor cells by treating them with PARP inhibitors, which amplifies the damage caused by the broken DNA repair machinery in those cells.
Helmy Eltoukhy, PhD
Helmy Eltoukhy, PhD, is Guardant Health's chief executive officer and co-founder.
After receiving his PhD, MS and BS degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University, he joined the Stanford Genome Technology Center (SGTC) as a post-doctoral fellow in 2006 to work on low-cost DNA sequencing technologies. During his doctoral studies and at the SGTC, he developed the first semiconductor sequencing platform and first base-calling algorithm for next-generation sequencing under several NHGRI grants. In 2007, he co-founded Avantome to commercialize semiconductor sequencing to help speed up the democratization of high throughput DNA sequencing. At Illumina, Helmy was Senior Director of Advanced Technology Research, where he developed novel chemistries, hardware and informatics for genetic analysis systems.
James Ford, MD
Director, Stanford Clinical Cancer Genetics & Genomics Programs;Associate Professor, Medicine (Oncology), Genetics and of Pediatrics
Dr. Ford is a medical oncologist and geneticist at Stanford, devoted to studying the genetic basis of breast and GI cancer development, treatment and prevention. Dr. Ford's research goals are to understand the role of genetic changes in cancer genes in the risk and development of common cancers. He studies the role of the BRCA1, BRCA2, p53 and CDH1 tumor suppressor genes in DNA repair, and uses techniques for high-throughput genomic analyses of cancer to identify molecular signatures for targeted therapies. Recently, his team has identified biomarker signatures of timor DNA repair deficiencies and used these to predict patient responses in clinical trials at Stanford and nationally using "PARP inhibitors" for the treatment of women with "triple-negative" breast cancer. Dr. Ford is employing Next-Generation Sequencing to identify novel inherited germline DNA mutations in families with a predisposition to cancer. He runs the Stanford Cancer Genetics Clinic, that sees patients for genetic counseling and testing of hereditary cancer syndromes, and enters patients on clinical research protocols for prevention and early diagnosis of cancer.
Othman Laraki
Othman Laraki is among the youngest people and perhaps the only Silicon Valley entrepreneur to have been knighted by the King of Morocco. His career as an entrepreneur and technologist started when he moved from his native Casablanca to study at Stanford and later at MIT. Othman quickly became a fixture of the Silicon Valley startup world, helping dozens of companies get off the ground as an advisor and investor, while simultaneously building his own startups. He would found four companies as well as occupy senior roles at two of the valley's iconic companies - Google and Twitter.
He had spent several years at Google, where he worked on Google’s performance infrastructure and client-side software, including the Google Chrome browser. Following Google, he co-founded MixerLabs, which was acquired by Twitter in 2009. Shortly after joining Twitter, Othman became Vice President of Product and lead the growth of Twitter's user base from 50M users to over 200M. In 2003, he pivoted his career to help people get access to medical-grade genetic information and co-founded Color Genomics. Othman is a long-time investor and advisor to leading companies such as Pinterest, AngelList, Slack, Instacart and others.
David Livingston, MD
Deputy Director, Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center; Chief, Charles A. Dana Division of Human Cancer Genetics; Emil Frei Professor of Genetics and Medicine at Harvard Medical School
From 1996 to 2000, he served as Chairman of the Executive Committee for Research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, leading the senior faculty group that oversees all aspects of the Institute's research program. He reassumed that post in 2005 and has been in it since that time. Dr. Livingston has been a Harvard faculty member continuously since 1973. Dr. Livingston is an internationally recognized expert on the genes that regulate cell growth in the body. Through his research, Dr. Livingston has uncovered detailed biochemical steps required to initiate and maintain the transformation of these cells into tumor cells. In recent years, his work has centered on those key molecular steps that trigger the development of breast and ovarian cancer.
Edith A. Perez, MD
Edith A. Perez is a cancer specialist and an internationally known translational researcher who holds positions at both Genentech and Mayo Clinic. She is the Director of the Mayo Clinic Breast Cancer Translational Genomics Program started in 2009 and a Professor of Medicine at Mayo Medical School. In August 2015, Dr. Perez joined Genentech US Medical Affairs (USMA) as Vice President and Head of the BioOncology Medical Unit. In her new role, she will provide leadership for all BioOncology Medical Affairs activities in the United States.
Throughout her career, Dr. Perez has developed a wide range of clinical trials exploring the use of new therapeutic agents for the treatment and prevention of breast cancer. This has led her into her present work, leading and helping develop basic research studies to evaluate the role of genetic markers in the development and aggressiveness of breast cancer. Dr. Perez has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed articles and is invited frequently to lecture at national and international meetings. She has also held positions within Mayo Clinic, AACR, ASCO, and the NCI. She earned her medical degree from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine in San Juan and completed her residency in internal medicine at the Loma Linda University Medical Center in California. She served as general internist in the Division of National Health Services Corps, Los Angeles, and as a fellow in Hematology/Oncology at Martinez Veterans’ Administration Medical Center at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine. Dr. Perez is board certified in internal medicine, internal medicine – medical oncology and internal medicine – hematology. Dr. Perez is also a cofounder of the 26.2 mile National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer, which is dedicated to breast cancer research and care. It is the only marathon in the U.S. devoted solely to raising funds to end breast cancer.