Can-TA founders

Tito Fojo, M.D., Ph.D. 

Dr. Fojo’s oncology training began at the National Cancer Institute and after his fellowship became a Senior Investigator in its adult oncology division, a position he held until 2015 when he moved to Columbia University as a Professor of Medicine. During his years at the National Cancer Institute, he pursued both clinical and laboratory research, trying, when possible, to have both efforts support each other.

The focus of his work involved investigations to understand how cancer cells are able to resist chemotherapy with an emphasis on a class of drug called microtubule-targeting agents. Dr. Fojo has expertise in the management of adrenocortical cancer, thyroid cancer, pheochromocytoma/paraganglioma and neuroendocrine tumors as well as prostate cancer. His current laboratory efforts center around neuroendocrine cancers and pheochromocytomas/paragangliomas.

For more than a decade he has been involved in conducting studies that have assessed the effectiveness of cancer therapies using the methods that underpin the analyses used in this site.

Susan E. Bates, M.D.

Dr. Bates trained as a medical oncologist at the National Cancer Institute subsequently assuming the position of Senior Investigator until moving to Columbia University in 2015 where she is a Professor of Medicine. During her years at the National Cancer Institute, she led highly successful clinical and laboratory programs with an emphasis on coordinating the efforts of both aspects of her research.

The focus of her work included identification of the ways in which cancer cells develop resistance to the treatments administered and the development of a new class of cancer drugs called epigenetic agents. The latter work included both clinical and laboratory components and eventually led to the approval of romiodepsin (Istodax®) as a treatment for lymphomas. At Columbia University her focus is on the treatment of pancreatic and biliary cancers. Additionally, she continues laboratory work to better understand the ways in which epigenetic agents work and how they might be deployed for the treatment of other cancers.

For more than a decade she has been involved in conducting studies that have assessed the effectiveness of cancer therapies using the methods that underpin the analyses used in this site.

Krastan Blagoev, PhD

Dr. Blagoev completed his first MS degree in Nuclear and Elementary Particle Physics at Sofia University in 1990 and a second MS degree at the Physics Department at Florida Atlantic University in 1992. He received a PhD from the Physics Department at Boston College in 1998 and continued his research on superconductivity and magnetism at University of Cambridge in the UK as a postdoctoral fellow. In 1999 he became a Research Fellow at Harvard University Medical School working on mathematical models of ultrasound propagation in the brain. In 2002 he joined the Theoretical Division of Los Alamos National Laboratory as a staff member working on condensed matter physics as well as mathematical models of telomere dynamics and its influence on aging and cancer. Dr. Blagoev moved to the National Science Foundation as a Program Director in the Division of Physics in 2007, where he currently directs the Physics of Living Systems program. Between 2013 and 2015 Dr. Blagoev was also Assistant in Radiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and Instructor at Harvard University Medical School. Since 2015 he is also a Research Scientist at the Department of Biophysics at Johns Hopkins University. In 2022 he became an associate member of the Institute of Molecular Biology in Sofia, Bulgaria and in 2022-2023 he is a visiting scientist at the Curie Institute in Paris, France.

His research interests focus on understanding the mechanisms of tumor growth during cancer progression and analysis of cancer clinical trials. He is also interested in the non-equilibrium statistical physics of mammalian cells and its influence on organismal aging.

William S. Wheeler

Mr. Wheeler has worked with both major corporations as well as emerging growth companies serving in the role of either CFO or Controller. He was the Senior Vice President, Finance of Cable & Wireless USA, a $1.2 billion telecommunications provider. He also served on the Board of Directors of I-trax Health Solutions as the Chairman of the Audit Committee and later he served as the company’s CFO. I-Trax was eventually sold to Walgreens.

Mr. Wheeler earned a B.S. Degree in Accounting from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce. He began his career with General Electric and is a graduate of the GE Financial Management Program. He became a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) while working at GE.