Our Team

Physicians

• James H. Doroshow, MD, is the Deputy Director for Clinical and Translational Research of the National Cancer Institute and the Director of NCI’s Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis. He is the author of over 400 full-length publications in the areas of molecular pharmacology, the role of oxidant stress in tumor cell signal transduction, and novel therapeutic approaches to solid tumors; he is also the Associate Editor for Oncology of the 25th Edition of the Cecil Textbook of Medicine. Following an Internal Medicine residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital, he completed a fellowship in Medical Oncology at the Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology Branches of the National Cancer Institute, NIH.
• Alice Chen, MD, has wide-ranging experience in medical oncology over a 30+ year career. In 2015, she became the Head of the Early Clinical Trials Development Program and the Developmental Therapeutics Clinic. Her clinical experience of almost three decades includes over ~25 years as a clinical researcher participating both as primary and associate investigator of many early phase trials, including the first ever phase 0 trial performed under the FDA’s Exploratory IND as well as "first in man" phase 1 trials. During her time in private practice in Corpus Christi, TX, she was voted Super Doctor by Texas Magazine in 2004 and 2005. She had been the primary investigator for the Molecular Profiling-based Assignment of Cancer Therapy (MPACT) and co-primary investigator for the nationwide Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice (MATCH) trial, both part of the NCI Precision Medicine Initiative. She has co-authored over 180 peer-reviewed publications. Recently, she led a trial testing atezolizumab in alveolar soft part sarcoma which led to secondary approval of atezolizumab in ASPS and first in pediatrics and reported in NEJM. She is the recipient of 12 NIH/NCI Awards of Merit for her contribution to international relationships, adverse event reporting, CTCAE, PRO-CTCAE, and the Precision Medicine Initiative.
• Naoko Takebe, MD, PhD, joined the Developmental Therapeutics Clinic as an Associate Chief, Translational Science Section Head of the Early Clinical Trials Development Program in June 2017. Prior to this, she was at the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) for nearly 10 years, where she implemented early clinical trials under CRADA with pharmaceutical and bio-venture companies. Prior to joining NCI, she was a faculty member in the Department of Medicine and Pathology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Blood and Stem Cell Transplant Program, conducted clinical trials, and worked as a laboratory principal investigator (PI). Dr. Takebe received her M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Hirosaki University School of Medicine, Japan. She completed internal medicine residency programs (U.S. Naval Hospital in Yokosuka, Keio University Hospital in Tokyo and California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco) and medical and post-doctoral fellowships (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center). Currently, she is also a Translational Science PI for the NCI Exceptional Responder Initiative, a NCI co-investigator for NCI-MATCH and Pediatric MATCH, and a member of the NCI Provocative Question team and Cancer Moonshot Initiatives. She is board certified in Hematology and Medical Oncology.
• Jibran Ahmed, MD, joined the Developmental Therapeutics Clinic (DTC) as a Staff Clinician in July 2023. He received his medical degree from King Edward Medical University, Pakistan. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Cook County Hospital in Chicago and his fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at Westchester Medical Center. He worked as an Assistant Professor in gastrointestinal oncology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences prior to pursuing further fellowship training in Investigational Cancer Therapeutics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.
• Sarah Shin MD, MPH, joined the Developmental Therapeutics Clinic (DTC) as a Staff Clinician after completing the Advanced Developmental Therapeutics Training Program in June 2023. She received her medical degree and MPH from the University of Miami. She completed her residency in internal medicine at the University at Buffalo and her fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and the University at Buffalo.
• Brian Ko, MD, joined the Advanced Developmental Therapeutics Training Program in July 2022. He received his medical degree from the University of Illinois and completed both his residency in internal medicine and his fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
• Andre De Souza, MD, joined the Advanced Developmental Therapeutics Training Program in July 2023. He received his medical degree from Universidade Federal da Bahia in Brazil. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Metrowest Medical Center and his fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at Roger Williams Medical Center. He was a faculty member of Brown University from 2018 to 2023 where he was co-investigator or principal investigator in early phase and genitourinary oncology clinical trials and was a member of the Brown University Genitourinary Oncology Translational Research Disease Group.

Nurse Practitioners

• Lamin Juwara is a Nurse Practitioner on the Developmental Therapeutics Team. Lamin received his Doctor of Nursing Practice degree at George Washington University and his Nurse Practitioner certification at the University of Maryland. Lamin has been at NIH since 2001.
• Jessica Mukherjee, MS, CRNP is a Nurse Practitioner in the Developmental Therapeutics Clinic. She received her BS in Biology from the University of Virginia and her BSN in Nursing and MS in Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner from Columbia University. Prior to joining the DTC, she worked as a nurse practitioner in outpatient oncology and hematology. She is a member of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. She also previously worked as a research specialist conducting laboratory-based infectious disease research, as well as a research technician working with patients with ALS.
• Ning Ma, MS, CRNP, is a Nurse Practitioner in the Developmental Therapeutics Clinic. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in nursing from Peking Union Medical College and her MS in Family Nurse Practitioner from the University of Maryland. Ning has been working as an oncology nurse practitioner since 2013 and joined the Developmental Therapeutics Clinic team in 2020.

Research Nurses

• Ashley Bruns, RN, MSN, received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in nursing from the University of South Alabama in Mobile AL. Ashley has been a nurse since 2004 and an oncology research nurse since 2011.
• Nancy Moore RN, MSN, is a Clinical Research Nurse on the Developmental Therapeutics Team. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Villanova University, PA and her graduate degree from Adelphi University in Long Island NY. She has been practicing in the area of clinical research trials for 20+ years.
• Jennifer Zlott, RN, OCN is an oncology certified nurse. Her experience prior to joining the Developmental Therapeutics team includes working with intermediate cardiac care patients, as well as hematopoietic stem cell transplant and hematology/oncology patients.
• Murielle Hogu, RN, MSN, received her BS from Post University and Master’s degree in Nursing from Walden University. Murielle has been an oncology nurse in the inpatient setting since 2010 and joined the Developmental Therapeutics Team in 2018.
• Brooke Augustine, RN, BSN, received her Bachelor’s degree in nursing from Stevenson University in Maryland. Brooke has been an oncology nurse in the inpatient setting since 2014 and a research nurse since 2017 with a focus on phase I clinical trials.

Referral Coordinators

• Theodore Crowder has been at the NIH for 13 years. He worked for more than 10 years on one of the in-patient units as a Program Support Assistant and won several awards in customer service. In November 2017, he joined the Early-Phase Developmental Therapeutics team at NCI.
• Tanaya Allen joined the Early Phase Developmental Therapeutics team at NCI in May 2019. She has worked at NIH for 11 years as a Research Support Assistant on one of the busiest inpatient units in the hospital. Tanaya has won several awards, including those that recognize her continuous outstanding work in customer service.

Research Associates

• Amisha Shah is a Clinical Protocol Coordinator with the Developmental Therapeutics Team, assisting with audit preparation and helping to ensure protocol compliance. She received her master’s degree in biomedical sciences from the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey. Prior to joining the DTC team, she worked as a clinical research associate.
• Ali Brown-Flannery is a Research Associate in the Developmental Therapeutics Clinic PK/PD Specimen Laboratory assisting with specimen collection and processing. She received her bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Colorado State University and is completing her master’s degree in bioinformatics and computational biology from George Mason University.
• Neway Guade is a Research associate II for the PK/PD Specimen laboratory for DTC. Prior to joining the DTC team, Neway worked as a laboratory technician at the Environmental Autoimmunity Group (EAG), NIEHS, He received his bachelor's degree in Applied Biology from Hawassa University, Ethiopia and his graduate degree in Medical Physiology from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. Neway has been working on basic science research, clinical laboratory practice, and clinical trials since 2005.
• Emily Lu is a Research Associate for the PK/PD Support Laboratory for the DTC. Emily received her Biology B.S. and Environmental Science M.S. from The Ohio State University.