The National Canine Cancer Foundation

• 1: Home
• 2: About
  • 2.1: Our Mission
  • 2.2: Organization Staff
  • 2.3: Advisory Board
  • 2.4: Scientific Advisory Board
  • 2.5: Research Grants We Have Approved to Fund
  • 2.6: Affiliations
• 3: Donate
  • 3.1: Donate Now
  • 3.2: Suni Fund
  • 3.3: Become a CORE Member
    • 3.3.1: List of Core Members
  • 3.5: Affiliate Companies
  • 3.6: Memorials
• 4: Shop
• 5: Resources
  • 5.1: Facts on Canine Cancer
  • 5.2: The Road from Despair to Hope
  • 5.3: Ask the Doctor
• 6: Grants
  • 6.1: Grant Information
  • 6.2: Pre Proposal
  • 6.3: Full Proposal
• 7: Blog
• 8: Podcast
• 9: Contact

Scientific Advisory Board

The Scientific Advisory Board is made up of individuals holding a D.V.M, M.D., or Ph.D. They are all successful and highly regarded researchers in a variety of disciplines including, but not limite,d to veterinary researchers, geneticists, and molecular and other biological scientists.

Chairman
Andrei Thomas-Tikhonenko, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Pathology
Department of Pathobiology
University of Pennsylvania

Dr Andrei Thomas-Tikhonenko has 18 years of professional experience in biomedical research dating back to 1988, when he obtained his Ph.D. in Experimental Oncology. He was since employed as a Staff Scientist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, WA. Currently, Dr. Thomas-Tikhonenko is a tenured faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania where he holds an Associate Professor position.

In the past, he has held the positions of the Elizabeth & William Whitney Clark Developmental Chair in Oncology, a Special Fellow of the Leukemia Society of America, and a fellow of the International Union Against Cancer (Geneva, Switzerland). Currently, he is an Honorary Member of the Phi Zeta Honor Society of Veterinary Medicine and an Active Member of the American Association for Cancer Research. Dr. Thomas-Tikhonenko serves on the Editorial Board of Cancer Biology & Therapy and the Advisory Board of the National Library of Medicine-funded "My Cancer Gene" bioinformatics hubsite. He serves as an ad hoc reviewer for the Ohio Cancer Research Associates, Italian Association for Cancer Research, SPARKS Foundation (London, UK), and the Oncological Sciences Fellowship/AREA Grant Study Section of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Thomas-Tikhonenko also serves as an ad hoc manuscript reviewer for Cancer Letters, European Journal of Biochemistry, Cancer Research, Oncogene, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Neoplasia, Blood, Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Journal of Immunology, BMC Biochemistry, Nucleic Acids Research, Leukemia and Lymphoma, and Journal of Cellular Biochemistry. His research is currently funded by grants from the National Cancer Institute and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In the past, Dr. Thomas-Tikhonenko had research support from the American Cancer Society, Leukemia Society of America, Swiss Cancer League, and EntreMed, Inc. He is the 2005 recipient of the Pfizer Award for Research Excellence.

Board Member
Matthew Breen PhD CBiol MIBiol
Associate Professor of Genomics
Dept.of Molecular Biomedical Sciences
College of Veterinary Medicine
North Carolina State University

Dr. Matthew Breen graduated with honors in Genetics from the University of Liverpool, U.K. in 1987. He completed his PhD, working on cytogenetics of the Equidae in 1990. Dr. Breen was employed as a Post Doctoral research scientist in Molecular Genetics at the U.K. Medical Research Council's Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he was responsible for developing improved fluorescence in situ hybridization techniques as part of the Human Genome Mapping Project. Dr. Breen then spent four years working for the Australian Thoroughbred industry, based at the University of Queensland, Brisbane Australia. In 1996 Dr. Breen returned to the U.K. where his laboratory developed molecular cytogenetics reagents, resources and techniques for application to canine and equine genome mapping, comparative cytogenetics and cancer cancer studies. In 1998 Dr. Breen was awarded membership of the Institute of Biology and the title of Chartered Biologist.

In 2002 Dr. Breen relocated his laboratory to NCSU's College of Veterinary Medicine as part of their Genomics initiative. His research interests continue to focus on genomics, genome mapping and the comparative aspects of canine cancer

Board Member
Dr. Larry Glickman
Professor of Epidemiology & Environmental Medicine and
Head, Section of Clinical Epidemiology and
Senior Director of Clinical Research DataSavant
Department of Veterinary Pathobiology
School of Veterinary Medicine
Purdue University

Dr. Glickman is currently on the faculty of the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine and is Senior Director of Clinical Research at DataSavant. In addition to a degree in veterinary medicine, he has masters’s and doctoral degrees in public health and a master’s degree in physiology. He is board certified by the American College of Epidemiology. He has published about 250 journal articles, book chapters, and monographs. His research focus is the relationship between human health, animal health, and the environment. Honors include an Award of Recognition in Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine from the Teachers of Veterinary Preventive Medicine and Public Health, the Pfizer Award for Research Excellence, an award from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health as one of 50 major contributors to public health over the past 50 years, an Alumni Award of Merit from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine for advancing animal health, the AKC Award for Excellence in Canine Research, amd a Student Government award for Excellence in Teaching. He has trained 20 PhD students in clinical epidemiology and currently chairs the Section of Clinical Epidemiology at Purdue University. He served as Chairman of the National Academy of Sciences committee that authored Animals as Sentinels of Environmental Heatlh Hazards. Dr. Glickman directed the largest prospective companion animal health study to date, involving 2000 pet dogs that he followed for up to five years to identify causes of gastric torsion and death. He is an advocate for the practice and teaching of evidence-based veterinary preventive medicine and public health.

Board Member
Dr Michael S. Kent
Assistant Professor
Center for Companion Animal Health (CCAH)
Department of Surgical and Radiological Sciences
School of Veterinary Medicine
University of California, Davis

Dr. Michael S. Kent graduated from the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in 1997. He then went on to do a small animal internship at the University of Pennsylvania, where his interest in oncology developed. After working for a year in private practice in Pennsylvania he went on to do residencies in both Medical and Radiation Oncology at the University of California at Davis. Dr. Kent was then hired as an Assistant Professor at the same university. Dr. Kent is board certified diplomate in Medical and Radiation Oncology. To receive further training he enrolled in an NIH sponsored two year Mentored Clinical Research Training Program. He is currently director of the Medical Oncology Residency program at the school. His current research interests include the modulation of the radiosensitivity of melanoma, and innovative therapeutics for lymphoma and Osteaosarcoma.

Board Member
Jaime F. Modiano, V.M.D., Ph.D.
Perlman Professor of Oncology/Comparative Medicine 
University of Minnesota
College of Veterinary Medicine and Masonic Cancer Center

Dr. Jaime F. Modiano is from from Mexico City, where he graduated from the baccalaureate program at Colegio Columbia. He did undergraduate work in Biomedical Sciences at Texas A&M University in College Station, TX for three years before moving on to veterinary school at the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his veterinary training and PhD in Immunology at Penn, followed by a residency in Veterinary Clinical Pathology at Colorado State University, and a post-doctoral fellowship at the National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine. He was appointed to the faculty in the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology at Texas A&M University as Assistant Professor between 1995 and 1999. Dr. Modiano returned to Denver, CO in 1999 where he remains as a Senior Scientist at the AMC Cancer Center, Associate Professor of Immunology, and Full Member of the Cancer Center at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. His research program is supported through federal and private sources. Dr. Modiano has co-authored more than 40 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts, and over 80 abstracts, presentations, and book chapters focused on various aspects of immunology, cancer cell biology, the genetic basis of cancer and applications of gene therapy

Board Member
Douglas H. Thamm, VMD, DACVIM (Oncology)
Assistant Professor, Oncology
The Animal Cancer Center
Colorado State University

Dr. Thamm received his undergraduate and V.M.D. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. After a 1-year internship in Small Animal Medicine and Surgery at Red Bank Veterinary Hospital and Referral Service in Red Bank, NJ, he completed a residency in Medical Oncology at the University of Wisconsin. After 5 additional years doing clinical and laboratory research at the University of Wisconsin, he is now an assistant professor of oncology at the Colorado State University Animal Cancer Center. His clinical interests include novel treatments for canine mast cell tumor and lymphoma, cancer biotherapy, and neoplasia in large animals and special species. His laboratory interests focus on the role of tyrosine kinase growth factor receptors in canine and feline neoplasia, and on novel strategies for cancer vaccination.

Board Member
David M. Vail, DVM
Diplomate ACVIM (Oncology)
Professor of Oncology
Director, Clinical Trials and Translational Research
Animal Cancer Center
Colorado State University

Dr. Vail completed his undergraduate degree (B.Sc. Pathogenic Microbiology) from the University of Alberta, in 1980, his DVM from the University of Saskatchewan in 1984 and an internship at Colorado State University in 1985. He then practiced in his native Edmonton, Canada for 2 years. Returning to CSU in 1987, he completed a residency in Medical Oncology and received an MS (Medical Oncology) in 1990. He went on to join the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he worked at the Veterinary School and the UW Comprehensive Cancer Center for 14 years, achieving the rank of full Professor with tenure and the Head of Clinical Oncology. David is currently returning to the UW-Madison after a 2 year stint at the Animal Cancer Center at Colorado State University. He has authored well over 100 publications in the area of veterinary and translational oncology, is the past Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Morris Animal Foundation and is currently the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine Research Foundation.