Kim Lyerly, MD, FACS
Duke University School of Medicine
Dr. Lyerly serves as a Professor in the Department of Surgery, Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Immunology at Duke University Medical Center. He serves as the George Barth Geller Professor for Research in Cancer and is an experienced surgical oncologist. He is also a Co-Leader of the Breast and Ovarian Oncology Research Program of Duke and Principal Investigator of the Duke Specialized Program in Research Excellence (SPORE) grant in breast cancer. He has been Director of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center since 2003. Dr. Lyerly serves as a Consultant and Advisory Board Member to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and various biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. He co-directs the NCI-sponsored workshop of cancer clinical trials and is the scientific chair of the Southwest Oncology Group Molecular Therapeutics Committee. He serves on the Editorial Boards of several peer-reviewed journals, including Cancer Investigation, Clinical Cancer Research, and Cancer Gene Therapy. Dr. Lyerly has published nearly 200 papers and book chapters, and has edited or co-edited seven books. He is on the editorial board of several publications, including Surgery, Annals of Surgery, and Clinical Cancer Research. He was trained in surgery at Duke University Medical Center, from 1984 to 1985, and 1987 to 1990, and in research at Duke University Medical Center, 1985 to 1987. Dr. Lyerly received his medical degree, the University of California, Los Angeles.
Paul M. Ness, MD
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Dr. Ness is a professor of Pathology, Medicine and Oncology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His area of clinical expertise includes transfusion support of hematology and oncology patients, and autoimmune hematologic disorders. Dr. Ness serves as the director of the Division of Transfusion Medicine and was program director of the Blood Banking/Transfusion Medicine Fellowship Program in the Department of Pathology for many years. He has an extensive background in clinical transfusion medicine and research activities related to blood safety. He was a co-investigator with Dr. Kenrad Nelson on the FACTS study, which followed cardiac surgery patients to determine their risk of seroconversion to viral agents such as HIV and hepatitis. Dr. Ness is a consultant on the REDS III program for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Along with Dr. Hua Shan, he is Principal Investigator of the China project for the international REDS III program. He has also conducted a major study documenting the risk of bacterial contamination of platelets, and was the Principal Investigator for The Johns Hopkins clinical site for the Transfusion Medicine Hemostasis Clinical Trial Network of the National Institutes of Health’s NHLBI. Dr. Ness received his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He earned his MD from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He completed his residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital and performed a fellowship in oncology at the University of California, San Francisco.
