University of Washington
Scientific and Medical Director
Mary L. (Nora) Disis, MD is the Associate Dean for Translational Health Sciences in the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine, Professor of Medicine and Adjunct Professor of Pathology and Obstetrics and Gynecology at UW and a Member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC). She is the Director of both the Institute of Translational Health Science and the Center for Translational Medicine in Women’s Health at UW. Dr. Disis is an expert in breast and ovarian cancer immunology and translational research. Her research interest is in the discovery of new molecular targets in breast and ovarian cancer for the development of vaccine and cellular therapy for the treatment of those malignancies. She holds several patents in the field of targeted cancer therapy and has published over 100 scientific papers. Dr. Disis is a member of both Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society and the American Society of Clinical Investigation. She is the Deputy Editor for Translational Oncology for the Journal of Clinical Oncology, a member of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Cancer Immunology Working Group and Science Policy and Legislative Affairs Committee as well as a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Translational Research Task Force and Advancing Research in Cancer Task Force. Dr. Disis is a past member of the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Integration Panel and past Chair of the National Cancer Institute Clinical Oncology Study Section. She is also an Associate Program Head for the Gynecologic Malignancy Program at the FHCRC. Dr. Disis was elected as a Fellow in the American College of Physicians in 2008.
The Rivkin Center strives for excellence in our scientific programming. Our Scientific Advisory board guides the work we do and helps shape our vision for the future of ovarian cancer research. The Board is led by Dr. Mary L. (Nora) Disis, MD, our Scientific and Medical Director, and consists of nationally recognized experts in ovarian cancer research.