Alex Adjei

My career has been spent in drug development, focusing on evaluating mechanisms of drug action and synergistic drug combinations in the laboratory, while performing phase I clinical trials in the clinic. As the PI on over 70 phase I trials, I have performed important studies of multiple agents including sorafenib, bortezomib, antisense oligonucleotides, PI3-kinase inhibitors, MEK inhibitors and oncolytic viruses. In addition, I have applied my expertise in cancer pharmacology and drug development specifically to treating lung cancer, focusing on phase II developmental trials, biomarkers and pharmacogenetics. I have built research teams to translate in vitro and in vivo preclinical findings utilizing cell lines and in vivo models including PDXs to define drug combinations and biomarkers that are then tested in the clinic. I have taken promising preclinical molecules, overseen their preclinical IND-enabling studies, arranged and attended FDA pre-IND meetings, helped write INDs, and performed initial first-in-human studies. I have been involved in conducting and overseeing a number of multi-institutional clinical trials and have been active in the ETCTN. As a former Group Vice-Chair and the Lung Program Chair of the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG), I have had experience and involvement in coordinating and strategizing for lung cancer research nationally. As PI of several co-operative studies, I have expertise in running national multi-institutional studies. I have also previously overseen all aspects of clinical trials at Roswell Park Cancer Institute- as the senior vice-president for clinical research, setting strategic goals, facilitating development, implementation and conduct of all trials I continue in my national senior leadership role in lung cancer as co-Chair for the NCI Thoracic Malignancies Steering Committee and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology. In addition to directing the early cancer therapeutics program at Mayo Clinic, I also lead the lung cancer program and also co-lead the Experimental Therapeutics Program at Mayo Clinic Cancer Center. Finally, I have been active in working to increase the representation of ethnic minorities in clinical trials as a means of reducing Health Disparities. I obtained industry funding to run a clinical trials workshop for minority physicians for 3 straight years and have continued my mentoring activities through AACR and ASCO. I have mentored more than 50 junior colleagues, both nationally and internationally, among whom are three junior faculty on an ACS mentored research scientist award, four colleagues with a K23 and four colleagues with a K08 award. Thirty percent of mentees are ethnic minorities. In recognition of my drug development and mentoring activities, I was the first recipient of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Drug Development Research Professorship (2012-2017).