Waldemar Priebe is a Co-founder of and a founding scientist at Moleculin and serves as head of our Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Priebe is a Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the Department of Experimental Therapeutics at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Priebe led the discovery of the molecules that form the basis for our lead drug candidates.

As a Founder or Founding Scientist at a number of successful biotechnology firms such as CNS Pharmaceuticals, Aronex Pharmaceuticals, Houston Pharmaceuticals, Reata Pharmaceuticals, and IntertechBio. Dr. Priebe has been integral in advancing several drugs through the pipeline, four of which are currently in clinical development. He has also developed several new small molecule compounds that have been licensed as potential drugs.

Dr. Von Hoff currently serves as the Distinguished Professor at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) in Phoenix, Arizona and City of Hope. He holds the Virginia G. Piper Distinguished Chair for Innovative Cancer Research at HonorHealth Clinical Research Institute. He is also Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ. Over the course of his career, Dr. Von Hoff has focused primarily on the development of new anticancer agents, both in the clinic and in the laboratory. He and his colleagues were involved in the beginning of the development of many FDA approved agents now used routinely, including: mitoxantrone, fludarabine, paclitaxel, docetaxel, gemcitabine, irinotecan, nelarabine, capecitabine, lapatinib, vismodegib, nab-paclitaxel, nal-IRI, pexidartinib and others. These agents have improved survival for multiple indications from leukemia to colon cancer to breast cancer and prostate cancer. Dr. Von Hoff’s clinical trial work has led to the approval of 3 of the 4 drugs approved by the FDA for treatment of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

Over the course of his career, Dr. Von Hoff has published more than 790 papers, 143 book chapters and over 1190 abstracts. He is the recipient of the 2010 David A. Karnofsky Memorial Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology for his outstanding contributions to cancer research leading to significant improvement in patient care and he received the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Distinguished Public Service Award in recognition of his extraordinary clinical research career and leadership in establishing the AACR/ASCO Methods in Clinical Cancer Research Workshop to educate and train young clinical investigators. He is also the recipient of the Gold Medal from Columbia University for his outstanding contributions to cancer research leading to significant improvements to patient care.

Dr. Von Hoff was appointed to President Bush’s National Cancer Advisory Board in 2004-2010. Dr. Von Hoff is the past President of the AACR, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and a member and past board member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He is a founder of ILEX™ Oncology, Inc. (acquired by Genzyme after Ilex had 2 agents, alemtuzumab and clofarabine approved by the FDA for patients with leukemia). Dr. Von Hoff is Founder and the Editor Emeritus of Investigational New Drugs – The Journal of New Anticancer Agents; and past Editor-in-Chief of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. He is a Co-Founder of the AACR/ASCO Methods in Clinical Trial Cancer Research Workshop, which has graduated more than 3,000 clinical trial physicians.

Dr. Andreeff currently serves as the Professor of Medicine, Department of Leukemia, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He has been a pioneer in flow cytometry since 1971, when he established the first flow cytometry laboratory at the University of Heidelberg and organized the first European conference on flow cytometry. In 1977 he joined Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY, became head of the Leukemia Cell Biology and Hematopathology Flow Cytometry Laboratory, organized the first Clinical Cytometry Conference in 1986 and the first Molecular Cytogenetics Conference in 1990.

For over 30 years, Dr. Andreeff has received uninterrupted funding from The National Institutes of Health (NIH). He served as Principal Investigator of the P01 grant entitled “The Therapy of AML” for two decades, participated as Principal Investigator in the MD Anderson Cancer Center Leukemia, Lymphoma, Ovarian and Breast Cancer SPORE grants, the CML P01 and held additional R21 and R01 grants. He has published over 750 peer-reviewed publications, H-Index 153, 88,288 citations.

Dr. Andreeff’s group has worked extensively on drug resistance in hematopoietic malignancies and breast cancer and developed or co-developed several new therapeutic agents including the novel triterpenoids CDDO and CDDO-Me and Bcl-2-, XIAP-, surviving-, MEK- and HDM2- inhibitors. Over the last decade, his group has made major contributions to the understanding of micro-environment-mediated drug resistance and developed strategies to exploit the underlying mechanisms for the treatment of hematopoietic and epithelial malignancies. His group reported the role of bone marrow-derived multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) in tumor stroma formation and developed therapeutic strategies based on this discovery.

Cortes is an international leader in clinical research in leukemia who currently serves as the Director of the Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University. Prior to his current role, he served for 27 years in the Department of Leukemia at MD Anderson Cancer Center as Deputy Chair and directed the CML and AML Programs. Dr. Cortes received his medical degree in 1986 from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and completed his medical oncology fellowship at MD Anderson. Dr. Cortes, whose clinical interest focuses on new drug development and the management of patients with myelodysplatic syndromes, acute and chronic leukemias, and myeloproliferative disorders has authored over 1000 peer-reviewed medical publications in top-tier journals including New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Oncology, Lancet Hematology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Leukemia, Blood and many others. He has authored several books and book chapters in prestigious publications such as Cancer Medicine and Harrisonís Principles of Internal Medicine.

Over the course of his career, he has received numerous awards including the Faculty Scholar Award from MD Anderson in 2003, the Annual Celgene Young Investigator Achievement Award for Clinical Research in Hematology in 2005, The Dr. John J. Kenny Award from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in 2007, the Otis W. and Pearl L. Walters Faculty Achievement Award in Clinical Research from MD Anderson in 2007, The Professor David Galton Lecture from the Imperial College of London Hammersmith Hospital in London, UK in 2011, the William Randolph Hearst Foundations Faculty Achievement Award in Education in 2013, and The Gerald P. Bodey Award for Excellence in Education in 2014. He is currently the Cecil F. Whitaker Jr. Georgia Research Academy Eminent Scholar Chair in Cancer.

Prof. Giovanni Martinelli is the Scientific Director of IRST (Scientific Institute of Rome for the Study and Treatment of Tumors). He has a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Verona, subsequently obtaining specializations in General Hematology and Medical Genetics. He maintains a role as Associate Professor in Blood Diseases at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Bologna where he was a Professor at the School of Specialization in Hematology and Head Coordinator of the “Candida Fiorini” Molecular Biology Laboratory of the Institute of Hematology “Lorenzo and Ariosto Seràgnoli”.

Author of over 800 publications in important journals, Martinelli is among the most recognized Italian oncology researchers. He is a member of multiple scientific societies and national and international working groups and is “editor in chief” and reviewer of numerous journals (including Hematology reports, Leukemia, and Lancet). Martinelli is also a clinical investigator and principal investigator of more than 50 clinical protocols. Among his research activities, great attention is focused on precision medicine and genetics with application of the latest Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies. He is a collaborator of national and international networks and research groups, an organizer of conferences, and a teacher in university courses and specialization schools, in addition to treating patients with lymphoma, multiple myeloma and acute leukemia.

Dr. Tallman is an internationally renowned clinical investigator whose discoveries have fueled the progress of leukemia-targeting therapies, most recently with the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. Prior to his role at Lurie Cancer Center where he focused on the management and development of new treatments for patients with both acute and chronic leukemias, he was at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where he served as chief of the Leukemia Service and Professor of Medicine at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. He was the president of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in 2021, chaired the Leukemia Committee of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) for 16 years, and served as immediate past chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Acute Myeloid Leukemia Panel. Dr. Tallman previously served at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine as Professor of Medicine prior to his appointment at Sloan Kettering.