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 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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, 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, 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 Cancer Commons Scientist

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.

Lauren Levine, MA
Director of Patient Services

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

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 Philanthropy & Communications

Shan Fowler
Director of Philanthropy & Communications

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

Masako DuBois
Chief of Staff

Masako DuBois

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

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

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 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. 

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.