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Scientific Advisory Board
About Tvardi
Ron DePinho, M.D.
Co-Founder & Chairman of Scientific Advisory Board, Tvardi
Professor and Past President, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center
Ronald Depinho, M.D. has had a distinguished career in cancer research including his role as President of the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center. During his tenure as MD Anderson’s president, Dr. DePinho conceived and launched the Cancer Moon Shots Program, maintained MD Anderson’s top ranking, dramatically enhanced its research and training excellence, recruited many world class faculty, and expanded its global network to reach one-third of the human population. His research program has made fundamental contributions to our understanding and treatment of cancer, aging and degenerative disorders. He is a member of the National Academy of Science and National Academy of Medicine and recipient of honorary degrees and many awards including the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and knighthood from Portugal. Dr. DePinho has successfully founded and raised capital for numerous biotech companies including publicly traded Aveo and Karyopharm. He was an advisor for biotech firms, Epizyme and Agios as well as Abbott and GSK. He holds an M.D. from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a B.S. from Fordham University.
David Tweardy, M.D.
Co-Founder, Tvardi
Division Head, Internal Medicine, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center
David Tweardy, M.D. is Head of the Division of Internal Medicine at MD Anderson Cancer Center and a physician-scientist recognized for his contributions to our understanding of the biochemistry and molecular and cellular biology of signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 3, as well as its contribution to inflammation, fibrosis, and oncogenesis. His group claims several firsts in the STAT3 field, including the identification, molecular cloning, and full characterization of the β isoform of human STAT3, identifying the contribution of STAT3 to human oncogenesis, and discovering competitive small-molecule inhibitors of STAT3 through targeting its Src homology (SH) 2 domain. He has obtained $15M in non-dilutive funding to support development of small-molecule STAT3 inhibitors from concept to Phase I testing. Dr. Tweardy is the major inventor of all patents licensed to or owned by Tvardi. Dr. Tweardy received his M.D. at Harvard Medical School and an A.B. in Chemistry from Princeton University.
Keith T. Flaherty, M.D
Professor, Medicine, Harvard Medical School & Director of Developmental Therapeutics, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
Dr. Flaherty is the director of the Henri and Belinda Termeer Center for Targeted Therapy, director of Clinical Research at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. As described in the more than 250 peer reviewed primary research reports he has authored or co-authored, Dr. Flaherty and colleagues made several seminal observations recently that have defined the treatment of melanoma when they established the efficacy of BRAF, MEK and combined BRAF/MEK inhibition in patients with metastatic melanoma in a series of New England Journal of Medicine articles for which Dr. Flaherty was the first author.
Dr. Flaherty also has been a leader in assessing and identifying mechanisms of de novo and acquired resistance to BRAF inhibitor therapy and clinically evaluating next generation inhibitors, work that has had implications for resistance to targeted therapy regimens used to treat other malignant diseases. Dr. Flaherty has received extensive NCI funding support with K12, K23, SPORE, RO1, U54 and PO1 grants. He serves as editor-in-chief of Clinical Cancer Research. He is the principal investigator of the NCI MATCH trial, the first NCI-sponsored trial assigning patients to targeted therapy independent of tumor type on the basis of DNA sequencing detection of oncogenes. He has made major commitments to ECOG as chair of the Developmental Therapeutics Committee and in 2013 was appointed as ECOG Deputy Chair for Biomarker Science.
Jeff Swigris, D.O., M.S.
Professor, Medicine, Center for Interstitial Lung Disease & Associate Medical Director, Clinical Research Services, National Jewish Health
Dr. Swigris is a pulmonologist in the Center for Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) at National Jewish Health in Denver, Colorado. He specializes in the evaluation and management of patients with all forms of ILD. His individual research interests include examining how patients live with ILD, how that experience can be quantified, and how quality of life for patients with ILD can be improved. He is regarded as a leading expert on the assessment of quality of life and other patient-reported outcomes in patients with ILD. He has developed several patient-reported outcome measures including the L-PF (Living with Pulmonary Fibrosis questionnaire) and ATAQ-LAM (A Tool to Assess Quality of Life in Lymphangioleiomyomatosis).
Dr. Swigris received his medical degree from Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Athens, Ohio. He completed his internal medicine residency at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio. He received a Master of Science degree in Epidemiology (MS) from Stanford University, where he also completed his fellowship training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. He came to National Jewish Health in 2005 and was Director of the National Jewish ILD program from January 2015 until July 2021.
Michael T. Lewis, Ph.D.
Co-Founder of Tvardi & Professor, Molecular and Cellular Biology and Radiology, Baylor College of Medicine
Dr. Lewis, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Departments of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Radiology, and a member of the Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM). Dr. Lewis has expertise in breast development and breast cancer, with a focus on the identification and regulation of tumor-initiating cells and the goal of identifying new vulnerabilities in these cells that can be targeted therapeutically. As part of this work, he developed one of the largest human breast cancer patient-derived xenograft (PDX) renewable tissue resources available, a resource used worldwide for evaluation of experimental therapeutics in the area of breast oncology. Dr. Lewis also co-founded and is the President and CEO of StemMed, Ltd from which Tvardi Therapeutics was spun out. He studied biology at the College of William and Mary and received his doctoral degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz.