October 23

Chief, Hematology, and Oncology

Professor of Medicine and Oncology

Director, Otto J Ruesch Center for the Cure of Gastrointestinal Cancers

Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center

Georgetown University

Dr. Marshall received his training at Duke University, the University of Louisville, and Georgetown University. Dr. Marshall is an internationally recognized expert in new drug development for GI cancer, with expertise in phase I, II, and III trial design, and has served as Principal Investigator for more than one hundred clinical trials. While he has an interest in many areas of cancer research, his primary focus has been on the development of vaccines to treat cancer. Dr. Marshall has become an outspoken advocate for GI cancer patients and the importance of clinical research participation. In 2009, he established the Otto J Ruesch Center for the Cure of GI Cancers, an organization solely focused on improving the lives of GI cancer patients through innovative research, personalized medicine, and focused advocacy. In 2015, Dr. Marshall both established and directs the Precision Oncology Alliance, a national alliance established to study the impact of molecular profiling on cancer research, value and outcomes.

Chief, Hematology, and Oncology

Professor of Medicine and Oncology

Director, Otto J Ruesch Center for the Cure of Gastrointestinal Cancers

Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center

Georgetown University

Dr. Marshall is an internationally recognized expert in new drug development for GI cancer, with expertise in phase I, II, and III trial design, and has served as Principal Investigator for more than one hundred clinical trials. While he has an interest in many areas of cancer research, his primary focus has been on the development of vaccines to treat cancer.

B.S. Wake Forest, Ph.D. Johns Hopkins, Postdoc MIT

Current position - Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Oncology of Georgetown University Medical Center.

Throughout my research career, I have consistently been drawn to questions of cell fate. Over time, my research has focused on many aspects of cell fate, from the maintenance of pluripotency and germ cell fate to growth control and overgrowth phenotypes; from autophagy as a survival mechanism to autophagic, and apoptotic cell death programs. Cancer biology encompasses all of these areas, in essence, tumorigenesis is simply an altered cell fate decision. With almost 30 years basic research experience focused on cell fate decisions in a variety of experimental systems, I currently serve as Co-Director for the Histopathology and Tissue Shared Resource (HTSR) at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. As HTSR Co-Director, I oversee a wide variety of cancer research projects submitted to the facility ranging from pre-clinical animal model systems to biomarker discovery and validation studies on human patient samples all with the goal of improving cancer patient diagnosis, care, treatment and hopefully cure.

B.S. Wake Forest, Ph.D. Johns Hopkins, Postdoc MIT

Current position - Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Oncology of Georgetown University Medical Center.

I graduated from Gilman in 2012 and went to Tulane University in New Orleans. I received a B.S. in Cell & Molecular Biology in 2016 and an M.S. in Cell & Molecular Biology in 2017. After a year working for a nonprofit in New Orleans through AmeriCorps, I moved back to Maryland and started working as a Research Fellow at the National Cancer Institute at the NIH. I am currently working on drug development for treating prostate cancer as well as multiple myeloma. In the future, I am planning on applying to graduate school to get my Ph.D. in either cell or molecular biology.

Liza Marshall is a graduate of T.C. Williams High School, Duke University and the University of Virginia School of Law. She practiced communications law with several Washington law firms until 2004 when she retired to be a full-time mother and community volunteer. She has served on the Alexandria Country Day School Board of Trustees and was the President from 2008 to 2010. She also served on the founding Board of Hope Connections for Cancer Support, an organization that provides support, education and mindfulness programs free of charge to cancer patients and their caregivers in the Washington, DC area and was Board Chair in 2015 and 2016. She has served as an Elder at Georgetown Presbyterian Church and is currently the Clerk of Session. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2006 and is grateful to have made it to today. She is the wife of John Marshall, EHS ’79, and the mother of Charlie Marshall, EHS ’11, as well as the mother of a daughter, Emma, Sidwell Friends ’14.

Victoria Sardi-Brown, Ph.D., LPC

Peter J. Brown, MBA

Victoria Sardi-Brown and Peter Brown are the co-founders of the Mattie Miracle Cancer Foundation, a 501(3)(c) public charity headquartered in Washington, DC, that was created in the memory of the Brown's seven-year-old son Mattie. Mattie died from Osteosarcoma in 2009, at the tender age of 7.

The Mattie Miracle Cancer Foundation's mission is to address the psychological, social, and emotional needs of children and families living with childhood cancer. In addition to delivering locally-based support, the Foundation funded a three-year-long international project to develop evidence-based psychosocial standards of care, which were published in a special supplement of Pediatric Blood & Cancer in December 2015. The Standards Project involved over 85 researchers and clinicians, from the US, Canada, and the Netherlands, representing the fields of Psychology, Psychiatry, Hematology/Oncology, Nursing, Social Work, Child Life, Educational Specialists, and parent advocates. Mattie Miracle's vision is for all children and families to have access to quality psychosocial care from the time of diagnosis, through survivorship or end-of-life and bereavement care.

Math Teacher - Episcopal High School

In the summer of 2014, my 34-year-old husband began having pain in his leg that was initially attributed to an old sports injury. When surgery for the injury did not help, and the pain grew worse, more tests were conducted and doctors discovered a tumor in his femur. The mass was biopsied that October and he was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a very rare cancer that usually presents in soft tissue in children. Since there was no prototype for the treatment of that cancer in bones in adults, his doctors were in somewhat uncharted territory trying to come up with a treatment plan. Over the next several months he had in-patient chemotherapy, radiation and a radical amputation surgery called rotationplasty after the tumor spontaneously broke his leg. Despite these efforts, cancer quickly spread to his lungs, brain, spine and bone marrow and he died that April when our children were 2,5 and 8. I know talking about these topics can feel uncomfortable or awkward, but I hope you will ask lots of questions; we need the next generation of researchers and doctors to work on these cases with innovation and compassion!

Maureen Colburn, Executive Director of JTI

JUST TRYAN IT seeks to positively impact the lives of families whose children have been diagnosed with cancer by providing them with financial assistance. We strive to instill the importance of philanthropy and service, promote wellness, & inspire tomorrow’s leaders to make a difference in their communities.

Families fighting cancer are overwhelmed by lost income and increased out-of-pocket costs associated with treatment. As a result, they face higher mortality rates, the inability to adhere to their treatment plans and bankruptcy.

We work directly with pediatric oncology social workers at our area hospitals to provide hundreds of families in cancer treatment with critical financial assistance, education, and navigation. Our grants are paid directly to a family’s vendor (the mortgage company, landlord, utility, etc) within a 24-48 hour period of time. Since 2018, and in addition to our direct financial assistance, JTI has collaborated with Family Reach to provide our patient’s family education about CRFT (cancer-related financial toxicity), resource navigation, and financial planning services.