Top Cancer Physician-Scientist Named New Head of the Prostate Cancer Foundation
Jonathan Simons, MD, to lead the largest prostate cancer philanthropy

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — October 20, 2006 — One of the nation’s leading prostate cancer researchers has been named Chief Executive Officer and President of the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF), the world’s largest philanthropic source of support for prostate cancer research.

The appointment of Jonathan W. Simons, MD, a nationally recognized physician-scientist and oncologist, was announced today in Scottsdale, Ariz. at the PCF Scientific Retreat, an annual conference during which leading prostate cancer scientists and clinical investigators from around the world present the latest findings and study results. Dr. Simons succeeds Mr. Leslie D. Michelson who recently announced his intention to return to the private sector after leading the PCF for nearly five years.

Dr. Simons is currently Distinguished Professor of Hematology and Oncology at the Emory University School of Medicine and Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Materials Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is the Founding Director of the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University in Atlanta and Co-Director of the National Cancer Institute Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence at Emory and Georgia Tech.

"Jonathan is uniquely qualified to lead the Prostate Cancer Foundation because he brings a broad scientific perspective and untold expertise to such a central part of the job – finding innovative solutions for the treatment of and eventual cure for prostate cancer," said Michael Milken, founder and chairman of the PCF. "He has a clear vision for the future of our organization with the leadership skills to help create it."

Dr. Simons has been affiliated with the PCF since 1995 when, as a young assistant professor, he received his first research award from the PCF Competitive Awards Program for his research in genetic therapy for advanced prostate cancer. He received a Competitive Award again in 1996, 1997 and 1998 and was co-leader of the Johns Hopkins site in the PCF Therapy Consortium. He has served as a reviewer for both the 2005 Competitive Awards Program and the 2006 Donald S. Coffey Career Development Program. Simons himself was also a recipient of the PCF Donald S. Coffey Award for Physician-Scientists.

"The PCF has transformed the world of prostate cancer research by attracting talented researchers to the field, drawing more funds for research, and promoting collaboration," said Dr. Simons. "As one whose career and research was impacted profoundly by the support of the PCF, I am privileged to have the opportunity to lead this organization."

An internationally acclaimed investigator in translational cancer research, Dr. Simons previously was director of the Prostate Cancer Genetic Therapy Laboratory at The Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center and The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is internationally recognized as a widely published and cited leader in molecular oncology of prostate cancer therapeutics. With the PCF’s support, Simons’s group at Johns Hopkins was the first to translate laboratory work to clinical trials in human gene therapy for the immunotherapy of advanced prostate cancer. Genetically engineered prostate cancer vaccines from this approach have generated clinically measurable immune responses against metastatic prostate cancer using vaccines. Derivations of this biotechnology are now in global clinical trials leveraged by PCF awards for enabling molecular studies in the treated patients themselves.

Over a decade, young investigators in Dr. Simons' Johns Hopkins, Emory, and Georgia Tech laboratories have identified four new candidate genetic targets for therapy and concomitantly therapeutic modalities and molecules for the treatment of prostate cancer – and other common human malignancies sharing those targets. All four targeting approaches have entered human clinical trials in the United States after FDA review, and all had preliminary data generated with support of PCF research awards that were leveraging from National Cancer Institute peer-reviewed funding.

Recruited in 2000 to Emory and Georgia Tech to develop the state's Georgia Cancer Coalition using the state's tobacco settlement funds to develop the first NCI cancer center for Georgia by Governor Roy Barnes, Simons was the founding director of the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. During his tenure, with the support of the Woodruff Foundation, American Cancer Society, and Georgia Institute of Technology, Simons led the design and construction of a new $80 million research and clinical care building and led the recruitment of 41 new cancer research faculty to Emory University. Emory University’s National Cancer Institute’s funding increased by 240% from 2000-2006. In 2003, Emory University received a five-year NCI Cancer Center P-20 Planning Grant.

Also in 2003, Dr. Simons organized and led a group of former PCF award recipients and collaborators at 10 other research institutions in the U.S. that could be project-managed by web based video-conferencing technologies. In a national peer-reviewed competition, they received a prestigious $10 million "Manhattan Project for Prostate Cancer 2003-2007" grant from the Department of Defense entitled  "Synergy Consortium Targeting the Lethal Phenotypes of Human Prostate Cancer."

In 2005, Simons and Professor Shuming Nie received a $19 million, five-year grant as one of eight new National Cancer Institute Centers for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence at the Winship Cancer Institute and Georgia Institute of Technology. The NCI CCNE has created a cross-disciplinary research program in cancer nanotechnology to develop new classes of nanoparticles and nanoscale biosensors for molecular and cellular imaging, matching targeted therapy to patient biopsy, and personalized and predictive oncology. The center draws upon faculty expertise in cancer genomics, molecular biology, material sciences engineering and biomedical engineering in a single joint Department of Biomedical Engineering shared by Georgia Tech and Emory. Simons currently serves with Professor Chad Mirkin at Northwestern University as the Co-Chairman of the NCI Steering Committee of the Cancer Nanotechnology Alliance. He is also a member of the National Board of Directors of the American Cancer Society and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Jimmy V Foundation.

A native of Ithaca, NY, Dr. Simons received a bachelor's degree from Princeton University and a medical degree from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Before entering medical school he was a Rotary International Postgraduate Fellow in the Humanities at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England, and a Nuffield Foundation Fellow in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Simons completed his residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard Medical School. He began his career in cancer research as a fellow in the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics of Dr. Bert Vogelstein at The Johns Hopkins Oncology Center and was appointed to the Brady Urological Institute and Johns Hopkins Oncology Center faculty in 1991 by Dr. Donald S. Coffey. Simons is married to Plum Simons, a breast cancer survivor, and has two sons.

Dr. Simons will join the PCF in January.

About the Prostate Cancer Foundation
The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) is the world's largest philanthropic source of support for prostate cancer research. The PCF has a single, yet urgent goal: to find better treatments and a cure for prostate cancer. A 501(c)(3) organization, the PCF pursues its mission by reaching out to individuals, corporations and others to harness society’s resources – financial and human – to fight this deadly disease.

Founded in 1993, the PCF has raised more than $260 million and provided funding to more than 1,200 researchers at 100 institutions worldwide. The PCF has been a pioneer in the grant-making process, simplifying paperwork for grantees, leaving more time for researchers to conduct needed scientific research. The PCF also advocates for higher levels of funding for prostate cancer research, and has helped produce a 20-fold increase in government funding for prostate cancer.

For more information, visit www.prostatecancerfoundation.org.

Contacts:

Sarah Evans
(310) 633-3012
(310) 570-4705
sevans@prostatecancerfoundation.org

Katie Lambe
(310) 570-4713
klambe@prostatecancerfoundation.org