Dr. Garnet Anderson leads the Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutch, which identifies strategies that aim to reduce the incidence and mortality of cancer and other diseases primarily through studies of etiology, prevention and early detection.

Her expertise is in chronic disease prevention, women’s health and clinical trial design. She is a leader in the design and analysis of the Women’s Health Initiative, a landmark NIH-funded project that enrolled more than 160,000 women across the U.S. to find ways to prevent cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and cancer.

In 2002, Dr. Anderson and her WHI colleagues reported that hormone-replacement therapy using estrogen plus progestin increases a woman’s risk of breast cancer, stroke and heart disease and, in women over 65, doubles the risk of dementia. These findings led to a rapid drop in the use of these hormones and a noteworthy reduction in breast cancer incidence in the US and many other countries.

Subsequent analyses estimated these changes prevented 126,000 breast cancer diagnoses and saved approximately $35.2 billion in direct medical expenses over the decade since their release in the U.S. alone. 

As principal investigator of the WHI Clinical Coordinating Center, Anderson oversees the integration of many different studies within this large program. Examples include Life and Longevity After Cancer (LILAC), a program to examine late- and long-term effects of cancer and its treatment among aging cancer survivors, and the Cocoa Supplements and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS), a randomized trial of cocoa extracts and multivitamins for the prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Her awards and honors include holding the Fred Hutch 40th Anniversary Endowed Chair. In 2020 she was named a Fellow of the American Statistical Association.

Dr. Fred Appelbaum studies the biology and treatment of leukemias, lymphomas and other blood cancers and sees patients with these disorders. He has made numerous landmark contributions to his field. Notably, he helped develop Fred Hutch’s renowned program in blood stem cell transplantation. He also participated in Fred Hutch’s pioneering work to develop targeted antibody-based cancer therapies. Beyond his own research, Dr. Appelbaum has been a national leader in the conduct of clinical trials. In his current leadership role at Fred Hutch, Dr. Appelbaum sets the vision and standards for clinical research across the Fred Hutch/University of Washington/Seattle Children's Cancer Consortium and oversees faculty affairs.

Dr. Appelbaum was the lead author of the first paper to describe the successful use of autologous bone marrow transplantation, a therapy now used in more than 30,000 patients annually. He was also a key contributor to the discovery and development of gemtuzumab ozogamicin, known commercially as Mylotarg, the first antibody-drug conjugate approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Dr. Bruce Clurman is the executive vice president, chief scientific officer and deputy director of Fred Hutch. He studies the cell cycle, the molecular pathways that drive cells to multiply. This work includes understanding how protein destruction by the ubiquitin–proteasome system controls the cell cycle in normal and cancer cells. His ultimate goal is to understand how these fundamental regulatory pathways shape cancer development and progression, and use this understanding to design new cancer therapies that target these pathways. For example, his group is developing a treatment strategy to capitalize on mutations in key growth-accelerating genes called CDKs. This strategy would push cancer cells toward an unsustainable level of DNA damage without killing healthy cells. Dr. Clurman’s team also is studying how mutations in the gene for Fbw7, a component of the system that regulates destruction of a network of tumor-driving proteins, can cause cancer. The team is designing a drug to restore the function of the mutant Fbw7 in cancers and thus rein in tumor growth.

Dr. Eric Holland earned a doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Chicago and a medical degree from Stanford University. He completed a neurosurgery residency at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine and a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD. His postdoctoral training included work with two Nobel laureates: Dr. Paul Berg, who pioneered recombinant DNA technology at Stanford, and Dr. Harold Varmus, director of the National Cancer Institute.

 Dr. Holland was recruited to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, where he directed the Brain Tumor Center and built one of the nation’s most successful research and clinical programs. As a neurosurgeon and physician–scientist, he addresses the molecular basis of brain tumors to develop new, more precise approaches to their treatment. He specializes in glioblastoma, the most common brain cancer in adults, has developed mouse versions of brain cancer that mimic how tumors behave in humans, and has identified tumor cells that are resistant to standard therapies. These research findings have led to clinical trials for new drugs and drug combinations. At Fred Hutch, Dr. Holland and his colleagues will help usher in an era of precision treatment for cancer patients.

Dr. Holland has received the American Brain Tumor Association Research Award, among other honors. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, the Washington Academy of Sciences, and a member of the editorial boards of Virology, Molecular Cancer Research, the Journal of Molecular Medicine and Neoplasia. 

Dr. Wendy Law trained at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center as a graduate student and postdoc before taking on a science policy position with then-Fred Hutch President and Nobel Laureate Dr. Lee Hartwell to help the National Cancer Institute (NCI) develop their Proteomic Initiative. She then joined the Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer Research as their Director of Scientific Programs and Operations. Dr. Law returned to Fred Hutch in 2016 to serve in her current role as the Associate Director of Administration for the Fred Hutch/University of Washington/Seattle Children’s Cancer Consortium with over 670 faculty members who hold over $240 million in cancer-focused research grants across Fred Hutch, University of Washington, and Seattle Children’s. The Consortium is nearing its 50th year of comprehensive cancer center designation from NCI.

As a graduate student and postdoc, Dr. Law was involved in Fred Hutch’s grassroots diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts including the Coalition for Minority Scientist Recruitment and Retention as the chair, the Student-Postdoc Advisory Committee, and the Community of Employees for Racial Equity (formerly the Diversity Council). She is currently on advisory committees for the Office of Community Outreach & Engagement and for the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.

Dr. Christopher Li is an epidemiologist and his research spans breast and colorectal cancer early detection, screening, etiology and survivorship. His work has identified novel risk factors related to the development of cancer and has evaluated the molecular features of cancer that are associated with poor outcomes. He also investigates the causes of disparities in cancer incidence, treatment, and mortality. Additionally, he co-leads Fred Hutch’s award-winning cancer registry, the Cancer Surveillance System, which tracks cancer incidence and survival in 13 Washington counties. Researchers everywhere use the Fred Hutch registry data to identify and track cancer trends, causes, and adverse outcomes. Dr. Li also co-leads the Coordinating Center for NCI’s Population-based Research to Optimize the Screening Process (PROSPR) consortium focused on improving screening for cervical, colorectal, and lung cancers, and a Clinical Validation Center in NCI’s Early Detection Research Network. This latter project seeks to identify blood-based biomarkers that signal early stages of breast cancer in order to increase the chances of detecting the disease earlier when it is more treatable.

Dr. Jason “Jay” Mendoza is the associate program head of the cancer prevention program in the Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. He is also the associate director of Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) for the Fred Hutch/University of Washington/Seattle Children's Cancer Consortium. The Office of COE uses community-based participatory research approaches to address health inequities and reduce risk of cancer, in partnership with community-based organizations and key community leaders.

Dr. Mendoza’s own research focuses on inequities in physical activity and nutrition outcomes among youth and young adults, with a particular focus on racial/ethnic minorities, those from low socioeconomic backgrounds and cancer survivors. He develops and tests behavioral interventions in schools, communities and clinics to eliminate these inequities. Examples include programs to promote walking and biking to school, promote and track physical activity, reduce food insecurity, and manage screen time. Dr. Mendoza is also a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine and a pediatric attending physician at Harborview Medical Center.

Dr. Mendoza earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago and subsequently attended Rush Medical College where he earned his MD. He received his pediatric residency training at the UW/Seattle Children's Hospital and pursued advanced health services/community-engaged research training through the UW Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, where he also earned a MPH through the UW School of Public Health. He spent his early faculty career at Baylor College of Medicine in the Children's Nutrition Research Center and Academic General Pediatrics. He subsequently returned to the UW/Seattle Children's in 2013.

As associate vice president for Shared Resources, Dr. Gordon Roble oversees the scientific operations of twelve specialized core facilities at Fred Hutch. He has served in this role since 2022, following previous leadership positions as senior director of Translational Shared Resources and director of the Comparative Medicine Shared Resource. Dr. Roble also continues to serve as Fred Hutch's Attending Veterinarian.

Nationally, he is actively involved in collaborative Cancer Center Shared Resource initiatives, including as a founding member of the Shared Resources Management Affinity Group and the National Alliance for Cancer Center Shared Resources. Dr. Roble earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Tufts University and completed postdoctoral training in laboratory animal medicine through the Tri-Institutional Training Program (MSKCC/Weill Cornell/Rockefeller University) in NYC. He also holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business.

Dr. Salama received a BS with high distinction in Honors Biology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1989. She then moved to the University of California Berkeley for her PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology. Her dissertation, conducted with Dr. Randy Schekman and supported by an NSF fellowship, focused on defining the vesicle coat (COPII) that drives movement of secretory protein cargo between the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus. Dr. Salama then became interested in the ability of pathogenic bacteria to manipulate host cells and tissues to create protected niches within the human body. This interest led her to Dr. Stanley Falkow’s laboratory in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in 1995 for a postdoctoral fellowship supported by the Jane Coffin Child Memorial Fund for Medical Research. While Falkow’s group studied many pathogens, Dr. Salama spearheaded the development of genetic and genomic tools as well as an animal model of infection for the study of Helicobacter pylori, the first bacteria to be designated as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization.

In 2001 Dr. Salama was recruited to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center as an Assistant Professor in Human Biology. Now a full professor, her work focuses on the role of genetic variation and cell morphology in chronic stomach colonization by. H. pylori as well as how this organism modifies the stomach tissue environment to simultaneously promote long term bacterial persistence and preneoplastic progression. Dr. Salama prioritizes training and mentoring of the next scientific generation. She was co-Director of the Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Program jointly administered University of Washington and Fred Hutch from 2016-2022 where she spearheaded a number of initiatives to promote recruitment and retention of historically underrepresented groups in STEM with a particular focus on more equitable access and improved mentoring.