About Us

Our Story

“In 1998, I was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma, a disease with a dire prognosis. Leading oncologists’ recommendations varied widely, so I set forth on a desperate quest for the treatment that would work best for me. Ultimately, an experimental treatment saved my life.”
—Marty Tenenbaum, PhD, founder of Cancer Commons

While that treatment ultimately failed clinical testing, Marty was among the fortunate few who responded and survived. But that only raised more questions: Why did it work for him and not for others? Could his experience help similar patients find their best-possible treatments?

Known for his work in technology development and artificial intelligence, Marty saw that countless other patients could benefit from a better way to capture and share the world’s collective cancer knowledge. So, he created Cancer Commons—a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides personalized action plans to metastatic cancer patients, while learning from every patient to help others urgently seeking answers.

Marty Tenenbaum, PhD
Our founder shares his vision to integrate research and clinical oncology, and how real-time, patient-centric, virtual clinical trials help everyone

Facing Advanced Cancer

Being diagnosed with metastatic cancer is one of the most devastating experiences one can face. If your or your loved one’s cancer has reached an advanced stage, one of your biggest questions will be, “Is there a cure?”

In some cases, metastatic or advanced cancer can be cured. Most often, treatment does not cure cancer at this stage, but it may slow the growth of the disease. Some people live many months or years with advanced cancer. And there are people like our founder Marty who was diagnosed in 1998 and is still thriving.

People with advanced cancer may feel overwhelmed as they navigate the vast, complex world of treatment information. Or, they’ve already tried several treatments, but nothing seems to work. While facing slim odds, they are asking themselves, “What now?”

Our Commitment

At Cancer Commons, we’re committed to leveraging the latest research and outcomes from patients on innovative treatments. Our unbiased, personalized service eliminates confusion and provides renewed hope that you’ve left no stone unturned.

I am passionate about making advancements in cancer care. Cancer Commons provides crucial resources for patients to help them navigate their care giving them hope during a very hard time in their lives.

Lola Rahib, PhD
Scientist, Cancer Commons
Cancer Commons is an organization with heart. From the top down, personalizing care for people facing cancer is every team member’s focus. Connecting with people going through cancer reminds me daily of how precious life is.

Deb Christensen, MSN, APRN, AG-CNS, AOCNS, OCN
Nurse Navigator, Cancer Commons
Having had personal experience of the devastating effects of cancer in my family—and the rollercoaster of emotions this can bring, knowing that I can perhaps make a difference in even a small way is something I am very proud of.

Matthew Warner, PhD
Scientist, Cancer Commons
Cancer Commons allows me to support people in an immediate and impactful way. I’m able to quickly operationalize patient feedback because I am heard by a supportive, small team.

Lauren Levine, MA
Patient Support Specialist, Cancer Commons
I am driven by compassion and the desire to put my years of studying cancer in the lab into something more immediately tangible—helping cancer patients find new treatments.

Emma Shtivelman, PhD
Chief Scientist, Cancer Commons
I am grateful for the deep satisfaction I get when I help cancer patients identify and explore new possibilities for themselves.

Kaumudi Bhawe, PhD
Scientist, Cancer Commons

Meet the Team that Cares

The Cancer Commons team brings decades of experience in oncology, medical technology, patient advocacy, artificial intelligence, and clinical research to every patient we help.

Marty Tenenbaum, PhD
Founder & Chairman of the Board

Marty Tenenbaum is a renowned computer scientist, Internet entrepreneur and cancer survivor. He founded Cancer Commons and CollabRx (NASD: CRLX) to help each cancer patient obtain the best possible outcome. He is an Internet commerce pioneer and visionary, having founded EIT (1990) and CommerceNet (1994) to accelerate business use of the Internet, and later, was an officer and director of Commerce One, Webify Solutions (sold to IBM in 2006), and Medstory (sold to Microsoft in 2007). He currently serves on the boards of Efficient Finance, Patients Like Me, and the Public Library of Science (PLoS).

Dr. Tenenbaum is a fellow and former board member of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), and a former consulting professor of Computer Science at Stanford. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT, and a Ph.D. from Stanford.

Emma Shtivelman, PhD
Chief Scientist

Emma Shtivelman is a molecular and cell biologist with extensive experience in cancer biology. She has in-depth understanding of cancer signal transduction and metabolism, cancer models in vitro and in vivo, target and drug discovery and validation, assay development, and preclinical research. She has technical expertise in numerous modern methodologies employed to understand the molecular basis of human malignancies and advance preclinical and clinical research.

Emma received her PhD in molecular biology from the Weizmann Institute of Science where she identified the fused transcript between two cellular genes, BCR and ABL in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), the first demonstration of an oncogenic gene product derived from a chromosomal translocation. As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), she characterized the molecular consequences of chromosomal translocations in Burkitt lymphoma and identified gene products relevant to the pathogenesis of neuroblastoma. She worked at SyStemix on establishing a novel SCID-hu metastasis model to enable the in vivo analysis of human tumor metastasis. She continued her research activity at the UCSF Cancer Center analyzing deregulation of signal transduction pathways in human cancer and the molecular underpinnings of metastatic progression. Before joining Cancer Commons, Emma worked at BioNovo, Inc., researching new drugs that selectively disrupt metabolism of breast and pancreatic cancers by targeting their metabolic preferences.

Adrienne Nugent, PhD
Director of Scientific and Clinical Operations & Senior Scientist

Adrienne Nugent, PhD Cancer Commons Scientist

Adrienne Nugent, PhD
Director of Scientific and Clinical Operations & Senior Scientist

Adrienne Nugent is a research scientist with expertise in functional, translational, and clinical oncology. She earned her PhD in genetics and genomics at Duke University, where she used cell cultures, mouse models, and patient tissues to identify and characterize the oncogenic role of genetic alterations in lymphoma. She completed fellowships at the National Institutes of Health, where she used CRISPR screening to investigate the functional underpinnings of multiple sclerosis, and Hampton University, where she explored the biases in next generation sequencing diagnostics and their role in exacerbating cancer health disparities. More recently, she was Associate Director of Somatic Oncology Development at Invitae, where she worked to develop a semi-quantitative somatic variant and biomarker interpretation platform.

Throughout her career, Adrienne has focused on understanding the genetic complexity of cancer in order to identify avenues for targeting cancer biomarkers with novel therapeutics. Much of her scientific career has focused on developing interpretation systems to integrate genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic data in solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Her work has been published in numerous journals and has led to a better understanding of the role of genetics in disease pathology and treatment outcomes. Adrienne is passionate about improving the treatment of cancer patients by leveraging clinical and functional genomic information in a manner that is evidence-based and prioritizes the human patient rather than simply the tumor profile.

Glenn Sabin
Director of Strategy & Business Development

Glenn Sabin is founder of FON Consulting, a strategy and business development firm focused on integrative health, regenerative medicine, and integrative and personalized oncology.

He is a 30 year cancer thriver and author of n of 1: One Man’s Harvard-Documented Remission of Incurable Cancer Using Only Natural Methods. Mr. Sabin is also a faculty member at Duke University’s Leadership Program in Health and Well-Being, where he presents a course on Health and Well-being Thought Leadership.

Lauren Levine, MA
Director of Patient Services

As Director of Patient Services, Lauren focuses on ensuring patients and caregivers have support and personalized care the moment they connect with Cancer Commons. Lauren oversees logistical processes and operationalizes patient feedback.

Prior to joining Cancer Commons, she supported patients at a renowned healthcare facility and was a social worker for children with disabilities. Those roles were informed by more than ten years of client-facing work.

Lauren holds a Master of Arts in Criminal Justice and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from U.C. Santa Barbara, and is a commercial flight instructor.

George Lundberg, MD
Editor in Chief

A 1995 “pioneer” of the medical Internet, Dr. Lundberg was born in Florida in 1933, grew up in lower Alabama, and holds earned and honorary degrees from North Park College; Baylor University; the University of Alabama (Birmingham and Tuscaloosa); the State University of New York, Syracuse; Thomas Jefferson University; and the Medical College of Ohio.

Dr. Lundberg received his MD in 1957 and has split the ensuing 62 work years across 4 key domains:

- First Quarter: government service; U.S. Army Medical Corps, Vietnam Era, LTC, and Los Angeles County (Laboratory Director).
- Second Quarter: full time academia; USC (Professor of Pathology) and UC Davis (Professor and Chair of Pathology).
- Third Quarter: not-for-profit publishing (Editor in Chief JAMA and VP for all scientific publishing AMA)
- Fourth Quarter: for-profit entrepreneurialism (Medscape, WebMD, MedPage Today, Everyday Health, CollabRx, Self Care Catalysts, PotentiaMetrics, Cureus) and not for profit (Cancer Commons, Harvard, Stanford, Northwestern,The Lundberg Institute).

Dr. Lundberg has worked in tropical medicine and forensic medicine in multiple countries. He is past president of the American Society for Clinical Pathology. A frequent lecturer and webcasting guest and host and a member of the National Academy of Medicine, in 2000, The Industry Standard dubbed Dr. Lundberg “Online Healthcare’s Medicine Man.”

Shan Fowler
Director of Communications & Philanthropy

Shan brings her passion for health equity and medical research to her work at Cancer Commons after having served American Cancer Society for twelve years in multiple capacities, from operations and regional director to grant writer for fourteen western US states, the Pacific Rim (Guam), and Africa (Kenya).

She has raised significant funding for patient navigation, community healthcare, patient transportation and patient/caregiver lodging during treatment, healthcare systems change, and medical research. Outside of the cancer space, her fundraising work has focused on responses to environmental and systemic racism.

Prior to moving into the development field, Shan studied music and worked in journalism at the University of California, Irvine. She has been the conductor of University Synagogue Choir for over twenty years and sings professionally for organizations of several different faith traditions.

Masako DuBois
Chief of Staff

As Chief of Staff, Masako takes care of critical logistics so that Cancer Commons Chairman Marty Tenenbaum can focus on the vision of Cancer Commons and make it a reality. She serves as a trusted liaison between Marty and the Cancer Commons team and ensures efficient, productive, and up-to-date communications.

Prior to joining Cancer Commons, Masako worked in a variety of sectors, including venture capital, real estate, academia, and technology. With 15 years of experience supporting C-level executives, she aspires to apply all her knowledge and assist the team to achieve the best resolutions. As a non-smoker lung cancer survivor, she is committed to increasing awareness of the stigma surrounding this particular form of cancer.

Masako, a native of Japan, has a B.A. and M.A. in music and teaches piano and voice. She also appears with a 17-instrument big band in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has directed programs to benefit Cancer Commons and performed music by George Gershwin, who is believed to have succumbed to glioblastoma.

Martha Dehnow
Manager, Accounting & Contracts

As Manager of Accounting & Contracts, Martha Dehnow handles all aspects of finance and accounting for Cancer Commons. Her specialty is helping startups and small companies grow to their fullest potential by allowing founders to focus on their core business. Prior to Cancer Commons, Martha worked for CommerceNet and BDNA Corporation. She has also worked for early stage startups, such as EIT and Veo Systems, which were later acquired by VeriFone, Hewlett-Packard, and CommerceOne.

Sarah Stanley
Science Writer

At Cancer Commons, Sarah Stanley prepares actionable, reader-friendly content for people dealing with cancer. She has also written for Stanford Medicine, PLOS, the University of Washington, Kaiser Permanente, the American Geophysical Union, and more. Sarah studied microbiology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Filipe Dinis
Designer

Filipe is responsible for all things related to the visual styling of the Cancer Commons brand. Based in sunny Lisbon, Portugal, he has a degree in graphic design and a passion—and obsession—for coherently beautiful designs in all of Cancer Commons’ touch points and marketing efforts.

Beyond Cancer Commons, Filipe has collaborated with companies of all sizes across three continents and produced designs in eight different languages. His mission is to contribute towards a prettier world, and he hopes to see Comic Sans banned from every computer someday.

Distinguished Advisors

Cancer Commons advisors include leaders from the worlds of oncology, technology, artificial intelligence, commerce, finance, and philanthropy.

We gratefully acknowledge their generous contributions of time and expertise.

Artificial Intelligence

Josh Tenenbaum, PhD
Professor of Computational Cognitive Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Dr. Tenenbaum is Professor of Computational Cognitive Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is known for contributions to mathematical psychology and Bayesian cognitive science. According to the MacArthur Foundation, which named him a MacArthur Fellow in 2019, “Tenenbaum is one of the first to develop and apply probabilistic and statistical modeling to the study of human learning, reasoning, and perception, and to show how these models can explain a fundamental challenge of cognition: how our minds understand so much from so little, so quickly.

Allan Schiffman, MS
President & Co-Founder, CommerceNet

Mr. Schiffman’s engineering career spans system modeling, processor architecture, programming languages, software development tools, internet applications, and communications security. His current interests include secure distributed systems, user-centric authentication, privacy, and electronic commerce. Mr. Schiffman is sometimes called to be an expert witness and consultant in IP litigation cases.

Prior to CommerceNet, Mr. Schiffman was founder and chief technology officer of Terisa Systems, a pioneer in Web security. Earlier, Mr. Schiffman was chief technology officer at Enterprise Integration Technologies, a leader in the development of Internet electronic commerce and the creator of CommerceNet. He played a significant role in creating many innovative systems that paved the way for electronic commerce, including Mastercard/Visa’s payment card protocol (SET), the first Web security protocol (S-HTTP), and the first secure Web browser (Secure Mosaic, deployed by CommerceNet in 1994).

Earlier in his career, Mr. Schiffman led the development of a family of high-performance Smalltalk implementations that gained both academic recognition and commercial success. These systems included several innovations now widely adopted, such as the “just-in-time compilation” technique universally used by Java virtual machines.

Mr. Schiffman holds an M.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University.

Neil Hunt, PhD
Chief Product Officer, Vibrant Planet

Neil was Chief Product Officer for Netflix from 1999 to 2018, responsible for the design, implementation and operation of the technology at Netflix. Prior to Netflix, Neil had engineering leadership roles at Rational Software and Pure Atria. In 2018, he was cofounder at Curai, a venture-backed health tech company applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to primary care medicine. Neil serves on the boards of directors of Logitech, Roku, Sony, and Vibrant Planet.

Development & Philanthropy

Norman Friedland, Esq
Founder, FullSky Partners

Norman Friedland, Esq
Founder, FullSky Partners

Mr. Friedland is co-founder (with Sheryl WuDunn) of FullSky Partners, an impact investment advisory firm focusing on return-on-mission (ROM) capital for enterprises with important solutions in areas that include education, the environment and domestic and global healthcare. Working with The 90/10 Institute and inspired by his counsel to Nobel Prize winner Dr. Luc Montagnier on the challenges of funding drug development for diseases that are ignored by Wall Street/VC investors, the FullSky Model™ utilizes Program Related Investments for at-scale ROM funding to enterprises with patient-centric Dx/Rx life science solutions. Mr. Friedland is also co-founder of ESGHealthMetrics which provides institutional asset owners (pension funds, endowments, etc.) and wealth managers with the gold-standard of trusted, conflict-free workforce health data as a material investment metric in the context of ESG assessments.

Mr. Friedland is a Root-Tilden Scholar, New York University School of Law, who began his legal career at Cravath, Swaine and Moore. As General Counsel to New York State’s Economic Development Agency, Mr. Friedland had the benefit of mentoring by Dr. George Low (President of RPI) and Dr. John Marberger, President of Stony Brook University and Presidential Science Advisor, on technology transfer of R&D from bench to bedside.

Magdalena Yesil, MS
Entrepreneur, Venture Capitalist, & Author

Ms. Yesil is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, author, and board member at many of the world’s top technology companies. She was the first investor and founding board member at Salesforce and the founder of Broadway Angels, a female group of angel investors. A technology pioneer, Yesil founded three companies dedicated to commercializing Internet access, e-commerce infrastructure, and electronic payments. She was chosen Entrepreneur of the Year by the Red Herring magazine for her successful exits, two IPOs and acquisition. Her investing career started at US Venture Partners. Today, Magdalena is the executive chair of Informed, a Robotic Process Automation company changing the way the financial industry processes consumer applications. She also serves on the boards of SoFi, Smartsheet and Zuora. Magdalena is the author of Power UP! How Smart Women Win in the New Economy.

Abraham D. Sofaer, LLB
Attorney, Jurist, Former Legal Adviser of the US State Department.

Abraham D. Sofaer, LLB
Attorney, Jurist, Former Legal Adviser of the US State Department.

The Honorable Abraham D. Sofaer is the George P. Shultz Distinguished Scholar and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He has served as federal district judge in New York (1979–85) and as Legal Adviser to the U.S. Department of State (1985–90).

Currently, he concentrates on issues related to terrorism, international law, diplomacy, and national security. He has taught periodically as an Adjunct at the Stanford Law School, most recently a course in U.S. Arbitration. He also serves as an arbitrator and mediator in commercial cases, both in the U.S. and abroad. He has served on several public and private commercial boards of directors, and as an advisor on corporate and litigation matters.

Previously, he was a professor of law at Columbia University, where he focused on separation-of-powers issues in the American system of government. While teaching at Columbia, he wrote War, Foreign Affairs & Constitutional Power: The Origins. He has also served as Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York and was a clerk to Judge J. Skelly Wright on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., and to The Honorable William J. Brennan Jr., Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mr. Sofaer has written many articles and books on terrorism, the Middle East peace process, and the use of force in international affairs. Mr. Sofaer received an LLB degree from New York University School of Law, where he was editor in chief of the law review. He holds a B.A. in history from Yeshiva College, where he has been awarded an honorary doctorate.

Mr. Sofaer served for many years as President of the American Friends of the Koret Israel Economic Development Funds. He is a founding trustee and vice chairman of the board of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem.

Management & Strategy

Rob Rodin
CEO & Managing Director, RLH Equity Partners

Mr. Rodin is business executive and author who is best known for transforming Marshall Industries into a pioneering business-to-business e-commerce leader while CEO from 1992 to 1999. Some have referred to him as “visionary” for his early advocacy of commerce on the Internet. He is currently the chairman and CEO of RDN Group, a strategic advisory firm, and Vice Chairman of RLH Equity Partners. He holds board positions with Astound Commerce, Imre, Shift7 Digital, Biorasi, Supplyframe, and Inspirage. He serves on non-profit boards of YPO LA Gold, and ALS Therapy Development.

Mika Newton
Chief Executive Officer, xCures

Mr. Newton has more than 25 years of leadership experience in life sciences, and is the CEO of xCures, a health technology company that has created an AI-enabled, precision oncology platform. Mika is an expert in healthcare data management, with a focus on data completeness and universality. He has a proven track record of bringing transformative technologies to market, driving growth, and fostering innovation.

At xCures, Mika leads a team of talented professionals who collect and integrate detailed medical records from diverse sources, using direct retrieval and natural language processing (NLP) for efficient feature identification. The result is a comprehensive longitudinal patient journey that enables real-time data access, prompt patient engagement, and machine learning algorithm deployment. Mika’s mission is to improve the quality and outcomes of cancer care, by leveraging the power of data and AI.

Patient Advocates

Al Musella, DPM
President, Musella Foundation For Brain Tumor Research & Information, Inc

The Musella Foundation for Brain Tumor Research & Information, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity devoted to empowering brain tumor patients and their families. We provide emotional and financial support, facilitate educational resources, advocate for patients’ needs, and strive to raise funds for groundbreaking brain tumor research. Together, we aim to make a difference in the lives of those affected by brain tumors and contribute to the advancement of effective treatments.

Dr. Musella is a retired podiatrist who worked his way through school as a computer programmer for medical research projects. His interest in brain tumors started when his sister-in-law, Lana, was diagnosed with a GBM in 1992.

Brad Power, MBA
CEO & Co-Founder, Cancer Patient Lab

Mr. Power was diagnosed in 2018 with lymphoma. Building on his experience and his years of consulting about ways to change work processes using technology, he decided to help people with advanced cancer make complex decisions outside standard treatment options. He has run several “hackathons” (crowds convened to find the best next treatment) for patients and serves as an advisor to several startups reinventing cancer care.

In 2022 he launched Cancer Patient Lab with two advanced prostate cancer patients to help them and other patients make complex testing and treatment decisions, to learn, and to accelerate innovation. Brad hopes to make hackathons and other resources available to many more patients who are facing complex testing and treatment decisions.

Mr. Power is a founding member of ennov1; an advisor to 4DPath, Alva10, Consuli, Rabble Health, and Travera; and is an active contributor to the Personalized Medicine Coalition.

Lisa M. Ward, Esq.
President & Co-Founder, Tough2gether Foundation

Ms. Ward is the President and Co-Founder of the Tough2gether Foundation, as well as a dedicated attorney based in Manhattan, KS. Her journey with childhood cancer advocacy began when she received the devastating diagnosis of Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) for her son, Jace Ward, on DIPG Awareness Day, May 17, 2019. Determined to explore every avenue for treatment, she tirelessly sought out trials and connected with experts worldwide during Jace’s 25-month battle. Despite her efforts, Jace passed away on July 3, 2021, at the age of 22. Since then, she has channeled her grief into advocacy, striving to expand the support network for families affected by childhood cancer, particularly DIPG and Diffuse Midline Gliomas (DMG). She spearheads various initiatives, including the Brain Storm Summit annual conference in Washington DC, the DIPG DMG Research Funding Alliance (DDRFA), and the LiveBrave2gether family support network.

Ms. Ward speaks nationally addressing audiences at prestigious events such as the White House Cancer Moonshot Summit and Congressional Briefings on brain cancer. On a local level, she remains deeply involved in supporting childhood cancer families through Tough2gether, providing both emotional and financial assistance. Beyond her professional endeavors, she finds joy in her family life, sharing her love with her husband, Roger Ward, and her children, Brooke and Blake Ward. She treasures every moment spent with her grandchildren, Asher and Grace. Ms. Ward’s unwavering commitment to ending pediatric brain cancer stands as a testament to her courage and compassion. She consistently echos her son Jace in believing “We must make the circle bigger and urgently bring new treatments and cures. She hopes to inspire others to join her in the fight for a brighter future.

Emma Shtivelman is the best—bar none.

Linda King-Byrnes

Partners

We welcome partnerships with other organizations and institutions who share our patient-centric philosophy. Whether you would like to refer patients with challenging cases to us, or offer your services to our patients, we want to hear from you.

Expert Oncology Collaborators

Pancreatic Cancer
Shaalan Beg, MD
Associate Professor,
UT Southwestern Medical Center

Brain Cancer
Nicholas A. Blondin, MD
Neuro-Oncologist,
Yale University

Pancreatic Cancer
Dr. David Chang
Associate Professor Of Surgery,
University of Glasgow

Brain Cancer
Ekokobe Fonkem, DO
Chief of Neuro-Oncology,
Barrow Neurological Institute

Pancreatic Cancer
Davendra Sohal, MD, MPH
Physician,
University of Cincinnati

These experts participate in virtual tumor boards dedicated to collectively reasoning around specific patient cases. This collaborative approach enables us to help patients today, while building and exchanging knowledge to improve treatment for all.

Support Our Services

Thanks to philanthropy, Cancer Commons is able to help people without the stress of a price tag. We are deeply grateful to our generous supporters who enable us to help patients and caregivers through an extremely difficult time.

We invite you to join our family of supporters. If you have benefited from our services, we ask you to please consider paying it forward for the next patient.

Talk to Us

For help with your or your loved one’s cancer treatment plan,
please contact us at [email protected].
Or call our Patient Hotline: 1-877-971-1200

To share an idea on how to support our free services,
please contact Shan at [email protected].

For partnerships and collaboration requests,
contact [email protected].

For public relations and media requests,
please contact Shan at [email protected].

For all other inquiries, please email [email protected].

Mailing address:
650 Castro Street, Suite 120-522
Mountain View, CA 94041