Career Development Committee
Liang Deng, MD, PhD (Chair)
Dr. Liang Deng received her B.S. degree from the University of Rochester, and her PhD and MD degrees from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and Weill Cornell Medical College. She is currently an Associate Member and Associate Attending Physician at MSKCC, a lifetime member of CAHON. She is a board-certified dermatologist specializing in melanoma and viral-associated skin malignancies. Her laboratory research has been focused on studying virus-host interaction and the development of vaccinia-based cancer immunotherapeutics and vaccines. Her previous work demonstrated that intratumoral injection of inactivated modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) turns “cold” tumors into “hot” tumors, which results in enhanced responsiveness to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy. Based on these findings, her research program focuses on developing recombinant MVA or vaccinia to elicit strong “in situ vaccination” effects either used alone or in combination with ICB. Her research has been supported by the NIH, the Dermatology Foundation, American Skin Association, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Technology Development Award at MSKCC, and IMVAQ Therapeutics, a biotech company she and her colleagues at MSKCC co-founded. Dr. Deng has served as reviewers for many journals, including Nature Medicine, Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, Frontiers in Immunology, Cancer Immunology Research, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Hematology and Oncology, Journal of Investigative Dermatology, PLOS Pathogens, and Journal of Virology, etc. Dr. Deng is passionate about mentoring the next generation of clinicians and physician-scientists.
Sen Zhuang, MD, PhD (Co-Chair)
Sen Zhuang MD, PhD is currently Vice President, Head of Hematology Development at Janssen Oncology R&D. He oversees the global clinical development of late-stage hematologic assets including ibrutinib, daratumumab, cilta-cel (BCMA-CAR-T), teclistamab, talquetamab and other emerging late-stage hematologic compounds. These programs lead to over 25 global approvals and received 8 US FDA breakthrough designations and 3 EMA PRIME designations. Over half million patients around the world have been treated with these therapies. Sen is a graduate from Sun Yat-Sen University of Medical Sciences in Guangzhou, China. He earned a PhD degree in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology for University of Miami School of Medicine in Miami, Florida. He received his residency training in Internal Medicine from Albert Einstein Medical College Long Island campus (Long Island Jewish Medical Center). He completed his Medical Oncology and Hematology fellowship in National Cancer Institute (NCI) and National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in Bethesda, Maryland. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology, and Hematology.
Michael Liao, MD, PhD (Co-Chair)
Dr. Xinsheng (Michael) Liao has been a private practitioner in hematology/oncology in Seattle area since 2004. He initially was in a group, then as a solo practitioner in his own clinic for 13 years. After medical school at West China University of Medical Sciences, he did a master degree in cell biology, PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, postdoctoral fellow at Stanford, fellowship at University of Washington, and faculty at MD Anderson. He has a strong interest in applying new treatments in patient care. His clinic is named Partner Oncology for his belief that collaboration between patients and physicians is key to success of cancer treatment. Dr. Liao received numerous praises from patients and many awards for patient care. In addition, he has helped a few of his colleagues to establish new cancer treatment clinics.
Heng Xie, MD, PhD
Before his 18 years of public service at the NCI/NIH, Dr. Xie was an orthopedic surgeon in China. Then, he moved to the United States, where he obtained a Ph.D. in molecular and cellular pathology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1997 and a M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University in 1999. He also has received the certification from the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates. Dr. Xie finished his postdoctoral training at the NCI in 2001, focusing on epidemiology, biostatistics and clinical trials. His research and publications specialized in cell signal transduction, EGFR-mediated mechanisms of tumor metastasis, and genetic molecular epidemiology.