Personnel
Eric Topol, MD
Program Director
Eric Topol, MD is the Director of STSI and will serve as Program Director of the CTSA. Dr. Topol has extensive experience to lead the CTSA. As a translational investigator, he was the first physician to administer recombinant t-PA to a patient in 1984 and ultimately followed up with designing and executing the largest clinical trial ever performed in acute myocardial infarction known as GUSTO. This trial enrolled 41,021 patients in 20 countries throughout the world and was the precursor to 4 other GUSTO trials. Dr. Topol also led the bench to bedside efforts for platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors (abciximab, eptifibatide), P2Y12 inhibition (clopidogrel) and direct thrombin inhibitors (recombinant hirudin and bivalirudin). In the past decade, Dr. Topol’s research efforts shifted to genetics and genomics of coronary artery disease. He set up the first large cardiovascular biobank of 10,000 patients and performed the first high-throughput SNP testing for myocardial infarction. He was Program Director for a NIH flagship Specialized Center for Clinically Oriented Research (SCCOR) P50 grant from 2004-2006 focused on molecular determinants of coronary artery disease. He was also PI for the genomic determinants of response to anti-platelet agents project in another SCCOR Program on Thrombosis during the same time period.
As Chief Academic Officer of Cleveland Clinic and Provost/Founder of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University between 2001 and 2006, he formed the Division of Clinical Research, organized the 32 disease-oriented programs, and initiated the strategies and oversight for successful new Roadmap K-12 and GCRC awards to Cleveland Clinic and Case Western. He served on the Executive Committee of the K-12 Clinician Scholar program and is well suited to be the STSI K12 Program Director. The Medical School he founded was the first in the country dedicated to training of clinical investigators, and Dr. Topol was involved in its curriculum development and recruitment of the first two classes of students. He has been elected to the Institute of Medicine, the American Association of Physicians, the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars. Dr. Topol is a proven architect and change agent of highly complex academic organizations, including leading multi-disciplinary NIH grants, multi-national large clinical trial networks, innovative educational programs and medical schools, and the integration of basic and clinical science across health systems.
Gerald Joyce, MD, PhD
Co-Program Director
STSI Director for Translational Science
Gerald Joyce, MD, PhD, Co-Program Director, STSI Director for Translational Science, is Dean of the Faculty of TSRI and Professor in the Departments of Chemistry and Molecular Biology at TSRI, is the STSI Director for Translational Science. As Dean of the Faculty, Dr. Joyce oversees 221 faculty members and 108 staff scientists appointed within 13 departments. He is responsible for all faculty appointments and promotions at TSRI, and for coordinating research initiatives both within TSRI and between TSRI and various external organizations. Dr. Joyce also maintains a vigorous academic research program in the area of nucleic acid biochemistry. His research concerns the development of novel RNA and DNA enzymes, using methods of in vitro evolution that his laboratory helped pioneer. These methods are widely used in macromolecular chemistry and enzymology, and have had broad applications in clinical diagnostics and therapeutics. The anti-VEGF compound pegaptanib, for example, is an in vitro evolved RNA molecule that has been approved for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration. Dr. Joyce’s laboratory developed the first and several subsequent examples of DNA enzymes. Once such DNA molecule, the 10-23 motif, provides the basis for the DzyNA-PCR method of quantitative nucleic acid amplification. Dr. Joyce has published over 100 scientific papers and is the inventor of 11 issued patents. He has received numerous honors, including election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2001. Dr Joyce also maintains an active medical license. Although he no longer has direct patient contact, he is well aware of clinical training and how it relates to basic scientific research. As both an accomplished medical scientist and the chief academic officer of a premier biomedical research institute he is highly qualified for the role of STSI Director for Translational Science.
Nicholas Schork, PhD
Co-Program Director
STSI Director of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics
Nicholas Schork, PhD, Co-Program Director, is the STSI Director of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, Dr. Schork is Director of Research, Scripps Genomic Medicine and Professor, Molecular and Experimental Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute. Dr. Schork is also on the Executive Oversight Committee of the San Diego Supercomputer Center. Dr. Schork has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles in the area of the genetic dissection of complex phenotypes, which include both methodological and applied work and has extensive experience in large-scale collaborative projects, as he is Director of the Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Core of the NIA-sponsored Longevity Consortium , the Director of statistical genetics for the NIMH-sponsored Consortium on the Genetics of Schizophrenia , a statistical geneticist for the NHLBI-sponsored Family Blood Pressure Program (, the Director of Statistical Genetics for the NIMH-sponsored Bipolar Consortium, and a member of the GAIN data analysis oversight committee. Dr. Schork will oversee the entire biomedical informatics component of the Scripps Translational Sciences Institute.
Brian Issell, MD
STSI Director of Clinical Research
Brian Issell, MD, Co-Program Director, Vice-President of Scripps Health for Clinical Research, is the STSI Director of Clinical Research. He is exceptionally well qualified for his role on this CTSA proposal. A clinical and translational investigator, administrator and practicing medical oncologist for over 29 years, he led the preclinical to clinical transition of several notable anticancer drugs in the U.S. including cisplatin, carboplatin and etoposide, while working at Bristol Myers (now Bristol Myers Squibb) from 1978-1983, and he then led the initial generation of monoclonal antibody products and the preclinical and clinical development of both monoclonal antibody products and cytokines (including IL-2) while working at Cetus Corporation (now Novartis) from 1983-1988. In 1988 Dr. Issell was recruited to be director of the University of Hawaii’s Cancer Research Center. In this role he led the development of new programs in natural products drug discovery, prevention and control and clinical science and the acquisition of first an NCI P20 Cancer Center Planning Grant and then a P30 Cancer Center Support (Core) Grant. He has been PI on multiple clinical research projects (including Phase I studies) funded by R01, R21, U01 and U10 mechanisms. Especially relevant to this application is Dr. Issell’s previous role as Program Director of a K12 award for training clinical investigators and his participation in T32 and R25 training awards held by the Cancer Center. In December 2006, Dr. Issell was appointed Corporate Vice President of Clinical Research at Scripps Health. His charge in this role is to lead the expansion of clinical research throughout Scripps Health multi-hospital system and to take it to a new level of excellence through intra- and inter-institutional collaborations and the training and support of outstanding clinical investigators.
Jamie Williamson, PhD
STSI Director of Education
Jamie Williamson is Dean of the Kellogg Graduate School of TRSI and Director of Education for STSI. Dr. Williamson was a tenured Associate Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Department of Chemistry before joining the Scripps Research Institute as Professor of Molecular Biology and a member of the Skaggs Institute of Chemical Biology in 1998. After serving as the Associate Dean since 2001, he assumed the position of Dean of Graduate and Postgraduate Studies in 2008. His research focuses on the structure of RNA and its interactions with RNA binding proteins that regulate RNA function, using a wide range of biochemical and biophysical techniques. Areas of focus include ribosome assembly, ribonucleoprotein complexes that regulate translation of mRNAs, and nuclear transport by the HIV Rev protein. Dr. Williamson has mentored over 40 Ph.D. and postdoctoral students, many of whom have gone on to academic positions at Stanford, Brown, U. Massachusetts, U. Colorado, U. Maryland, Indiana U., and the Max Planck Institute. He has published over 100 original scientific articles, including papers in Science, Nature, and Cell. His teaching duties include lectures in Biophysics, Structural Biology, and Molecular Biology.
Athena Philis-Tsimikas, MD
STSI Director of Community Engagement
Athena Philis-Tsimikas MD as named as the executive director of The Whittier Institute for Diabetes in 2004 and continues her role as the Chief Medical Officer. Prior to joining The Whittier Institute Philis-Tsimikas served as a clinical endocrinologist on the staff of the Scripps Clinic Medical Group for 7 years in the Division of Diabetes and Endocrinology. She has also served as an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Diego for the past 11 years in the Division of Endocrinology/Diabetes and Metabolism. In 1997, she assisted in establishing the community wide, nationally recognized diabetes program, Project Dulce as its medical director. She subsequently joined The Whittier Institute full time in 2001 as its chief medical director and Executive Vice President of Clinical Programs. Dr. Tsimikas received her medical degree from the University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece in 1988 and later completed dual research and clinical fellowships in Diabetes and Endocrinology from the University of California, San Diego, and Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation. She is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in the subspecialty of Diabetes and Endocrinology. Philis-Tsimikas has served as the principal investigator in numerous clinical research trials both sponsor and investigator initiated over the last 8 years. She has dedicated her career to furthering diabetes care, research and education and will guide the organization’s strategic direction and clinical focus, which includes: patient care and education provided by the Scripps Whittier Diabetes Program and Project Dulce; diabetes research; clinical trials; diabetes training programs for professionals; and diabetes prevention programs for children and their parents.
Douglas Bingham, Esq.
STSI Director of Industry Collaborations
Douglas Bingham is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. He is responsible for the management and supervision of a broad range of programs, departments and services within the organization, including finance, facilities, sponsored programs, legal, human resources, research services and business development. Mr. Bingham plays a key role in managing and implementing institutional policy and strategy. As the former Chief Patent Counsel, he not only managed the Institute’s patent portfolio, but also helped to develop a successful licensing program for the organization’s extensive array of scientific discoveries and negotiated numerous licensing agreements. Mr. Bingham is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the American Intellectual Property Law Association, San Diego Intellectual Property Association, American Bar Association, San Diego County Bar Association, American Corporate Counsel Association and the Licensing Executive Society. In addition, he is a Member of the Bar of the State of California, U.S. Court of Appeals for Federal Circuit, U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Joel Diamant, MD
Co-Program Director K12 Clinician Scholar Program
Joel C. Diamant, MD, FACP is an internist who has had a long and highly productive career as a medical educator, mentor, and administrator. He has been the Scripps Clinic & Green Hospital Internal Medicine Residency Program Director for the last 9 years, serving as teacher, mentor, and role model for over 80 Internal Medicine residents, and having received numerous teaching awards from Scripps to recognize his remarkable commitment and talent as an outstanding clinician educator. He has been the Head of the Division of Hospital Medicine at Scripps Green Hospital for the last 8 years where he has directed a clinical division comprised of 12 in-patient physicians. He has mentored over 16 Internal Medicine residents in part or in whole in their conduct of clinical trials, health care economic reviews, and health outcomes studies which is a required component of the IM residency curriculum. Dr. Diamant has been the Head of the Medical Ethics Committee at Scripps Clinic & Green Hospital for the last 11 years. He lectures annually to the residents and clinic faculty on issues of clinical ethics and research ethics to both clinical and scientific faculty.
