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Simplifying Oncology Care
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Scientific Advisors

Dr. Steve Sonis, D.M.D., D.M.Sc.
Dr. Rik Derynck, Co-Director UCSF Institute for Regeneration Medicine

Dr. Steve Sonis, D.M.D., D.M.Sc.

  • Professor and Chair, Department of Oral Medicine, Infection and Immunity, Harvard School of Dental Medicine
  • Chief, Division of Oral Medicine, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Dentistry, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
  • Senior Surgeon, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
After receiving his dental degree from Tufts University, Dr. Sonis entered a combined doctorate and clinical specialty training program at Harvard University. He was awarded a Knox Fellowship to study at Oxford University following completion of his doctoral degree and residency. He returned to the United States to accept joint positions at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Sidney Farber Cancer Center, and the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. His research activities focused on laboratory investigation of lymphocyte-neutrophil interactions and the initiation of descriptive clinical studies on the oral complications of cancer therapy.

Dr. Sonis’ research has converged on the biology and clinical significance of cancer regimen-related mucosal toxicities. His studies on the molecular and cellular pathogenesis of mucositis have provided targets for treatment interventions. He has extensive experience in clinical trials for the prevention and treatment of mucosal barrier injury. Currently, he is the Chief of the Division of Oral Medicine, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Dentistry at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Senior Surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; and Professor and Chair of the Department of Oral Medicine, Infection, and Immunity at Harvard. Many of his former students and residents now hold academic and clinical leadership positions.

Dr. Sonis has published extensively on the clinical, biological, and health economic aspects of oral complications of cancer therapy. He is the author of more than 150 original publications, reviews and chapters, and 7 books. He has lectured extensively on the clinical and biological aspects of mucosal barrier injury induced by cancer therapy. Dr. Sonis serves on a number of editorial boards including Oral Oncology.

Dr. Rik Derynck, Co-Director UCSF Institute for Regeneration Medicine

  • Director Program in Craniofacial and Mesenchymal Biology
  • Co-Director UCSF Institute for Regeneration Medecine.
Rik Derynck grew up in Bruges, Belgium. He received his undergraduate education and Lic. Sc. in Zoology at the University of Leuven, Belgium. He then moved to the University of Ghent, Belgium, to pursue his Dr. Sc. training under the mentorship of Dr. Walter Fiers. This was around the time that recombinant DNA technology began to emerge and where restriction enzymes were being purified and exchanged, rather than bought. After purifying some restriction enzymes of his own and developing a 2-D system to separate DNA fragments, he cloned the cDNA for human fibroblast interferon, now known as interferon-beta. Its cDNA cloning and subsequent expression in E.coli, published in 1981, received considerable attention due to its potential as an anti-viral therapeutic. He received his Dr. Sc. degree in 1981.

That same year, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to join Genentech, one of the first biotech companies, founded by Bob Swanson and Herb Boyer. Genentech was at that point a small company with only 30 or so employees, but has since grown to over 5000 employees. As a scientist in the lab of Dr. David Goeddel, he continued his research on interferon, and also initiated a project that led to the molecular characterization of tumor necrosis factor (TNF).

He subsequently initiated research aimed at the molecular characterization of "transforming growth factor" (TGF), whose controversial activity had just been identified in the secreted medium of some tumor cells, where it had the ability to induce reversible transformation of fibroblasts in culture. This research led to the molecular cloning of TGF-alpha and TGF-beta, which were reported in 1984 and 1985, respectively. Both growth factors are now considered as prototypes for their respective families of growth and differentiation factors. Thereafter, the lab continued to focus on defined aspects of the biology of TGF-alpha and TGF-beta.

In 1991, he moved his lab to UCSF. He is currently a Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Cell and Tissue Biology, and Professor in the Department of Anatomy. He is the Director of the Program in Craniofacial and Mesenchymal Biology, and Co-Director of the UCSF Institute for Regeneration Medicine.

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