Center for Precision Medicine Team

An internationally recognized cancer geneticist and oncologist, Dr. Gruber is a physician-scientist who focuses his clinical practice and research program on precision medicine and the genomics of cancer in order to improve treatment and care for cancer patients and their families.

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Ilana is the Deputy Director, Center for Precision Medicine and a licensed board-certified genetic counselor specializing in cancer genetics. She received her master’s degree in genetic counseling from the Johns Hopkins/National Human Genome Research Institute. Ilana joined the City of Hope Division of Clinical Cancer Genomics in 2013, where she has provided cancer genetics services for patients and families suspected to have a hereditary predisposition to cancer. Since 2019 she has also managed and developed City of Hope’s Precision Medicine Program to provide all City of Hope patients with genomic-driven care.

She has research interests in health care communication and implementation, genetic literacy, and ELSI in genomics. She helped co-develop Helping Oncology Patients Explore (HOPE) Genomics: A patient-directed IT platform for cancer genome sequencing education and return of results. She is faculty for the City of Hope Intensive Course in Genetic Cancer Risk Assessment. She is an active member of the National Society of Genetic Counselors and Southern California Genetic Counselors.

Dr. Gray is the Clinical and Scientific Strategy Director and Vice President of System Strategy at City of Hope. She is a professor and member of the Division of Clinical Cancer Genomics, Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Population Sciences.

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Heather Hampel is the Associate Director of the Division of Clinical Cancer Genomics and a professor in the Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research.

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Xiaoyu Xia, Ph.D., is a program manager of the Center for Precision Medicine who develops and leads industry-sponsored research projects. She manages a team of project managers, clinical research coordinators and data specialists to execute a diverse portfolio of externally funded projects, including prospective clinical studies, biomarker discovery, real-world evidence data projects and an oncology research network.

Dr. Xia earned her bachelor's and Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of California, Los Angeles. She spent her earlier years conducting basic science, laboratory-centric research. Combing her research experience, strong skill sets in project management and business development, and personal interest in translational oncology, she took a role in the precision medicine program at City of Hope in 2016. She supervised a multidisciplinary team to establish the infrastructure of patient recruitment, biospecimen acquisition, longitudinal clinical data collection and follow-up for a national precision oncology network. She also administratively managed multiple grant initiatives at institutional and national levels and facilitated scientific collaboration among clinicians and researchers at City of Hope and its affiliate organizations. In her most recent role as a program manager, she built a sponsored research arm under the Center for Precision Medicine. She has successfully brought on multiple projects and served as co-principal investigator on several active clinical studies.

Jeffrey M. Trent is President and Research Director of the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) in Phoenix.

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Samir Courdy is the Senior Vice President of Informatics at City of Hope, Duarte, CA.

Education

• 2014, Executive Master’s Business Administration, University of Utahaa
• 1987, Bachelor of Science, Computer Science, University of Utah

Professional Experience

• 2020-present, SVP, Informatics, City of Hope, Duarte, CAa
• 2018-2020, VP Research Informatics, City of Hope, Duarte, CAa
• 2014-2018, Chief Research Information Officer, Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah
• 2006-2018, Director, Research Informatics Shared Resource, Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
• 2000-2006, Software Development Manager, Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City, UT

Memberships

• 2013-present, Cancer Informatics for Cancer Centers (CI4CC)
• 2014-2021, Flatiron Executive and Research Committees
• 2014-2018, High Risk Cancer Research Advisory Committee (HRCRAC)
• 2014-2017, CTSA Biorepository Executive Committee

Publications

• Courdy, S., Hulse, M., Nadaf, S., Mao, A., Berger, S., et al. The City of Hope POSEIDON enterprise-wide platform for real-world data and evidence in cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology. May 2021. doi:10.1200/JCO.2021.39.15_suppl.e18813.
• Gray, S., McDonnell, K., Idos, G., Hong, C., Courdy, S., et. al. Prospective genomic testing of unselected cancer patients yields insights about cancer susceptibility and noncancer disease with therapeutic implications. Journal of Clinical Oncology. May 2021. doi:10.1200/JCO.2021.39.15_suppl.10603.
• Tward, J.D., O'Neil, B., Boucher, K., Kokeny, K., Lowrance, W.T., Lloyd, S., Cannon, D., Stephenson, R.A., Agarwal, N., Farr, T., Petragallo, R., Sherar, N.Z., Kunz, I., Hofer, A., Courdy, S., Shrieve, D.C., & Dechet, C. Metastasis, Mortality, and Quality of Life for Men With NCCN High and Very High Risk Localized Prostate Cancer After Surgical and/or Combined Modality Radiotherapy. Clin Genitourin Cancer. 2020 Aug;18(4):274-283.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.clgc.2019.11.023. Epub 2020 Mar 19. PMID: 32335059.
• DeRose, Y.S., Gligorich, K.M., Wang, G., Georgelas, A., Bowman, P., Courdy, S.J., Welm, A.L., & Welm, B.E. (2013) Patient-derived models of human breast cancer: Protocols for in vitro and in vivo applications in tumor biology and translational medicine. Curr Protoc Pharmacol. Chapter 14: Unit 14.23. PMCID: PMC3630511.
• Hurdle, J.F., Haroldsen, S.C., Hammer, A., Spigle, C., Fraser, A.M., Mineau, G.P., & Courdy, S.J. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2013 Jan 1;20(1):164-71. doi: 10.1136/amiajnl-2012-001050. Epub 2012 Oct 11. PMID: 23059733.

Dr. Idos is a board-certified gastroenterologist and trained cancer geneticist, who specializes in the care of patients with Lynch syndrome, FAP (familial adenomatous polyposis) and other inherited syndromes. The goal of his research is to find new ways to prevent cancer and to improve treatment and care for cancer patients.

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Joanne M. Jeter, M.D. is the Chief of the Division of Clinical Cancer Genomics and a Professor in the Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research.

Dr. McDonnell specializes in medical oncology and clinical cancer genetics. Named a Top Cancer Doctor by Los Angeles Magazine, Dr. McDonnell brings more than two decades of expertise to his current role at City of Hope.

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Dr. Park brings a passion for genetics research and a veteran caregiver’s empathy to her position as clinical geneticist at City of Hope.

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Dr. Schmolze is an assistant clinical professor in the Department of Pathology.

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Research Focus 

• Cancer genomics
• DNA damage response pathways
• Mutational signatures

Education

• 2022-present, T32 Training Program DNA Damage Response and Oncogenic Signaling (DNADRS)
• 2018-2021, Hematology and Medical Oncology Fellowship Program, City of Hope, Duarte, CA and Harbor UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA
• 2015-2018, Internal Medicine Residency Program, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 
• 2011-2015, Doctor of Medicine, Houston Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, TX

Awards

• 2017-2018, Excellence in Primary Care Award, Department of Medicine, USC 
• 2015-2016, Intern of the Year, Department of Medicine, USC 
• 2015, Travel Award, Society for Melanoma Research Congress

Memberships

• 2016-present, American College of Physicians
• 2015-present, Society for Melanoma Research
• 2013-present, American Society of Clinical Oncology