The Scientific Advisory Committee of the Rita Allen Foundation consists of leading scientists and clinicians from the finest institutions in the world. Augmented by their collective experiences in medical discovery and development within academia and industry, members of the Committee are critical advisors to the Rita Allen Foundation Board of Directors on matters involving our Scholars program and other grant proposals.
Dr. Kathleen M. Foley, Rita Allen Foundation Medical Advisor
Dr. Foley is an Attending Neurologist in the Pain and Palliative Care Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City. She is Professor of Neurology, Neuroscience and Clinical Pharmacology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, and holds the Chair of the Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Pain Research. Dr. Foley was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science for her national and international efforts in the treatment of patients with cancer pain.
Dr. Douglas T. Fearon
Dr. Fearon is the Emeritus Sheila Joan Smith Professor of Immunology at the University of Cambridge, where he is also Senior Group Leader of the CRUK Cambridge Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre. He received his B.A. from Williams College and his M.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He was Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and at Johns Hopkins before joining Cambridge. Dr. Fearon has been elected as a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, and as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Society.
Dr. Charles D. Gilbert
Dr. Gilbert received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School, where he held an academic appointment until he joined Rockefeller University in 1983 as an assistant professor and also head of the Laboratory of Neurobiology. He subsequently became associate professor and professor, and in 2004 was named Arthur and Janet Ross Professor at Rockefeller. A member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he has received numerous awards, including the W. Alden Spencer Award from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Dr. Gregory J. Hannon
Dr. Hannon is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and a Professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he chairs the Bioinformatics and Genetics Program. He obtained a B.A. in biochemistry from Case Western Reserve University and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the same institution. His work focuses on the roles of smallRNAs, the biology of cancer cells, and the mammalian genome as revealed through next-generation sequencing. Dr. Hannon received the 2007 National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology and the 2007 Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in May 2012.
Dr. Jeffrey D. Macklis
Dr. Macklis is Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard University, and Director of the newly founded Massachusetts General Hospital-Harvard Medical School Center for Nervous System Repair. He is also Program Head, Neuroscience/Nervous System Diseases at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and Co-Director for the Regeneration and Repair Program of the Harvard Center for Neurodegeneration and Repair. Dr. Macklis graduated from the Harvard Medical School and the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology with an M.D. and a Ph.D.
Dr. Carl F. Nathan
Dr. Nathan is R.A. Rees Pritchett Professor and Chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College and co-chair of the Program in Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis at Weill Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, he trained in internal medicine and oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital, the National Cancer Institute and Yale before joining the faculty of The Rockefeller University.
Dr. Joan A. Steitz
Dr. Steitz is a Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale School of Medicine. In 1963, Dr. Steitz became the sole woman in a class of ten to begin graduate studies in biochemistry and molecular biology at Harvard University. Today, Dr. Steitz is best known for discovering and defining the function of small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs), which occur only in higher cells and organisms. She is married to Thomas Steitz, Nobel Laureate and also a Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, and Professor of Chemistry at Yale University.
Emeritus Members
Dr. Maurice S. Fox
Dr. Irving H. Goldberg
Dr. Howard H. Hiatt
Dr. Thomas M. Jessell
Dr. Arnold J. Levine
Dr. James D. Watson
Dr. Torsten N. Wiesel