The Oral Cancer Foundation announced that Dr. Niven R. Narain has joined its Scientific Advisory Board

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., March 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Niven Narain is co-founder, president and CEO of BERG, a Boston-based biopharma firm driving next generation drug development by combining patient-driven biology and Bayesian artificial intelligence. He has been recognized as a pioneer in technology development at the intersection of biology and artificial intelligence (AI), and is inventor of the Interrogative Biology® platform. Under his leadership, BERG has fueled a deep pipeline of assets in oncology, metabolic, rare, immune, and CNS diseases. His discoveries are covered by over 650 issued and pending US and international patents. 

"We are very pleased to have Dr. Narain become a member of our OCF Science Advisory Board," said Brian Hill, Oral Cancer Foundation Founder and Executive Director. "Dr. Narain's formidable expertise as a cancer systems biologist and his deep involvement with oncology research will be of great benefit to our Foundation and ultimately to the audience we serve."

Dr. Narain is a member of the NASA/Gene Lab Steering Committee and an advisor to US Department of Defense leadership on breast and prostate cancer. He also serves on the Advisory Board of Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School and the Healthy Aging Initiative Commission at No. 10 for the UK prime minister. He has been featured on CNN, BBC, CNBC, FORBES, Fox Business, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, among other media. 

Dr. Narain obtained a B.S. in Biological sciences/philosophy from St. John's University, NY and a Ph.D. in clinical biochemistry with a focus on cancer biology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, where he later served as director of cutaneous oncology research. He has been published in Nature Medicine, Science Translational Medicine, and Cell with leading collaborators from academia, NIH, and the DOD. Dr. Narain is most passionate about improving patient care and enabling increased access to innovative medicines towards improved health care outcomes.

"It is an honor to be selected to serve on the Oral Cancer Foundation's Science Advisory Board and to assist in the outstanding work the Foundation does to support oral cancer patients and oral cancer research," said Dr. Narain. "I look forward to working with the team and bringing to bear my more than 20 years of experience in cancer systems biology and AI."

The Science Advisory Board plays a valuable role in ensuring that the Foundation's science-based direction is appropriate when considering both public health issues and information which we disseminate in the patient and treatment arenas. Their oversight monitors the Foundation's web and print based content to make sure it is scientifically accurate and contemporaneous. They also are consulted when the Foundation issues its research grants.

About the Oral Cancer Foundation

For the past 23 years, the Oral Cancer Foundation's mission has been to reduce the incidence of oral and oropharyngeal cancers in the US population, reduce treatment related burdens, support those who are currently or have been impacted by the disease, and fund research that furthers these goals. The Foundation's website (www.oralcancerfoundation.org) provides the most current and vetted scientific information about the oral cancer, with hundreds of pages of regularly reviewed pages on the disease, treatments, research, and more. This information can be accessed free of charge by anyone, and is regularly used by patients, students, doctors, researchers, and the general public interested in the disease. The Foundation is also the home of the world's largest patient support groups for this disease. Located online, it currently has about 13,000 registered members, who are able to interact with each other and with professionals who monitor the forum in an anonymous manner. Besides direct interaction, the forum provides over 250,000 threads of conversation that can be searched for relevant answers to the problems patients have experienced. The Foundation regularly receives high ratings from leading nonprofit industry oversite organizations.

Brian Hill
Executive Director
[email protected]

SOURCE The Oral Cancer Foundation