Scientific Advisors

Patrick E. Fields, Ph.D.
has served as our Chief Science Officer since July 2011 and as the Chief Science Officer of TVAX LLC from January 2010 to July 2011. Dr. Fields is a cancer immunologist and an expert in T cell activation. Since October, 2004, he has been a research scientist in the Cancer Division, Department of Pathology at the University of Kansas Medical Center since October 2004. Dr. Fields is extensively published in the area of T cell biology, having over thirty peer-reviewed scientific publications. He has a B.A. from Louisiana State University, a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and post-doctoral training from the University of Chicago and Yale University.

G. Yancey Gillespie III, Ph.D.
Cancer immunologist. Professor of Surgery, Microbiology and Cell Biology/Anatomy, University of Alabama at Birmingham. Director of the Brain Tumor Research Laboratories in the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Comprehensive Cancer Research Center.  Author of over 120 journal articles and book chapters on brain cancer and cancer immunology. Member, scientific advisory boards of Novapharm Biotech, Ltd, NeuroVir Therapeutics Inc./Medigene, Inc., Targepeutics, Inc., Ceregene, Inc. and SunBiochem,  Inc. [Ph.D., M.S., B.A., University of Mississippi].

Barbara Lukert, M.D., F.A.C.P.
Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Genetics, Department of Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center. Lukert was the director of the Osteoporosis Clinic at KUMC for 17 years. Her area of research is metabolic bone disease and she has been the principle investigator in numerous Phase III clinical trials for drugs to treat osteoporosis, Paget’s disease of bone, and steroid-induced bone loss. Lukert served on the FDA Endocrine Advisory Committee 1999-2002, on the Osteoporosis Foundation Scientific Advisory Board 1994-2010 and on the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research Council 2001-2004. Lukert has reviewed grants for the National Institutes of Health, most recently reviewing grant applications for the 2009 stimulus package.

Barry S. Skikne, M.D.
has served as a director since December 2011. Dr. Skikne has served as the Executive Director of Clinical Research at Celgene Pharmaceuticals since April, 2008. At Celgene, Dr. Skikne oversees several large international Phase III clinical trials. Prior to joining Celgene, Dr. Skikne was a Full Professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at the University of Kansas Medical Center from July, 1978 to April, 2008. From July, 1993 to July, 2007, he was the Director of the Bone Marrow Transplantation Program at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Dr. Skikne is the author of more than ninety journal articles and book chapters. He has a B.S. (M.B.B.Ch.,) from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, SA and an M.D. and residency in Hematology and Oncology from the College of Physicians of South Africa.

Andrew E. Sloan M.D., F.A.C.S.
Neurosurgeon. Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery, Case Western Reserve University.   Dr. Sloan was the Principal Investigator of the most recent phase II brain cancer clinical trial of TVAX Immunotherapy.  [Neurosurgical Oncology Fellowship, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center; Neurosurgical Residency, UCLA; M.D., Harvard; B.S., Yale].

Lowell Tilzer, M.D., Ph.D. 
is a co-founder and has served as a director since December 2011. Dr. Tilzer has served as the Medical Director of the Clinical Laboratories at the University of Kansas Medical Center since 2004. In May 2009, Dr. Tilzer became Interim Chairperson of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center, and became the Chairperson in November 2009. Dr. Tilzer is a board-certified clinical pathologist, and is an expert in blood processing. Prior to May 2009, Dr. Tilzer held a series of senior management positions within the Blood Services division of the American Red Cross, including service as Chief Executive Officer of the American Red Cross Southwest Region. Dr. Tilzer received his B.A. from the University of Kansas and his M.D., Ph.D. and Pathology Residency from the University of Kansas Medical Center.