David Modrak, Ph.D.
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Qualifications Summary:
- Documents: publication planning and editing, slide decks, CME monographs, first author peer-reviewed research publications, grants, article summaries, book chapters, meeting presentations and patents
- Fields and disciplines: oncology, dermatology, general/internal medicine, ophthalmology
Positions and Appointments:
Scientific Medical Writer
Owner, Sofia Adventures, LLC, 12/10 - present
Established contacts at organizations in need of medical writing services; developed and edited content while adhering to specified timeframes, styles and budgets
Promotional medical education:
Medical Writer, BIG Communications (Ferndale, MI)
· (12/11) Provided expert opinion and scientific writing for marketing pitch to a leading biotechnology company for sales force education curriculum development
Associate Medical Director, Flashpoint Medica (NYC)
· (6/11 - 7/11) Provided expert opinion and scientific guidance for marketing pitch to a leading biotechnology company for the pre- and post-launch educational activities surrounding a compound for ovarian cancer; participated in advertorial design process
Continuing medical education:
Medical Writer/Editor, HealthStream (Nashville, TN, 1/12 - present)
· Regulatory and patient safety library course development, CME content and other projects
Medical Writer/Editor, RBH Associates (NYC, 12/11 - present)
· "Skin Conditions Through the Ages" (in press)
Medical Writer/Editor, Medscape (NYC, 1/12 - present)
· (10/11) "Managing Neurological Manifestations of Tuberous Sclerosis Complex" http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/754184
· (9/11) "Hedgehog Pathway Inhibitors: An Emerging Strategy for Cancer Therapy" http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/750440
· (6/11) "Updates in Neuro-oncology from ASCO 2011" http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/746525
Medical Writer, Vindico Medical Education
· (2/11 - 4/11) Composed needs assessments in AML and CML; composed and edited ocular allergy monograph
Scientific writing services:
· (11/11 - present) Science Author: Publication planning and editing manuscripts, report editing, and other projects
· (4/11 - 5/11) Advocate Health: Publication planning and editing manuscripts
Tutor:
· (9/10 - pres) Tutored students in biology and chemistry at high school and college levels
Research Scientist
Senior Research Scientist, Garden State Cancer Center, 2/97 - 3/10
· Prepare documents – grants, manuscripts, meeting posters and presentations, reports and presentations to management, patents, SOPs, laboratory and pre-clinical experimental procedures
· Gather, process and interpret data; work with statisticians to provide robust statistical analyses
· Work with biological agents and biomarkers
· Oncology indications: pancreatic, colorectal and breast cancers, melanoma, glioblastoma
· Responsible for budgets and personnel management
· Collaborated with other teams and colleagues to provide medical writing expertise during manuscript and grant preparation
· Liaison for contract research organizations
Post-doctoral Fellow, Tufts Univ. School of Medicine and New England Medical Center, 12/92 - 2/97
· Prepare documents – grants, manuscripts, meeting posters and presentations, reports and presentations to management, patents, SOPs, laboratory procedures
· Gather, process and interpret data; work with statisticians to provide robust statistical analyses
· Oncology indication: leukemia
· Collaborated with other teams and colleagues to provide medical writing expertise during manuscript and grant preparation
Internal Review Boards
Member, GSCC IRB 4/03 - 3/04
· Reviewed proposed patient protocols for FDA compliance and scientific integrity
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Rutgers University-Newark, 7/05 - 12/06
· Physiology (Nursing majors)
Montclair State University, 1/01 - 8/05
· Physiology (Nutrition majors)
· Advanced molecular biology laboratory techniques (biology majors)
Massachusetts Bay Community College, 8/94 - 12/94
· General Chemistry
Education:
Ph.D. Biochemistry Indiana University, Bloomington 1993
M.S. Chemistry University of South Carolina, Columbia 1986
B.S. Chemistry Mary Washington College, Fredericksburg, VA 1984
Publications: (*as principal investigator)
Modrak*, D.E., Mattei, K., Gold, D.V. and Goldenberg, D.M. "Sphingomyelin improves chemotherapeutic efficacy and survival in models of human pancreatic adenocarcinoma." Oncology Reports, in press.
Gold, D.V., Goggins, M., Modrak, D.E., Newsome, G., Liu, M., Shi, C., Hruban, R.H., Goldenberg, D.M. "Detection of early-stage pancreatic adenocarcinoma." Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. 19, 2786-94, 2010. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20810605
Modrak*, D.E., Leon, E., Gold, D.V. and Goldenberg, D.M. "Ceramide regulates gemcitabine-induced senescence and apoptosis in human pancreatic cancer cell lines" Molec. Cancer Res. 7, 890-6, 2009. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19531570
Gold, D.V., Karanjawala, Z., Modrak, D.E., Goldenberg, D.M. and Hruban, H.R. "PAM4-reactive MUC1 is a biomarker for pancreatic adenocarcinoma." Clin. Cancer Research 13, 7380-7, 2007. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18094420
Modrak*, D.E., Gold, D.V. and Goldenberg, D.M. "Sphingolipid targets in cancer therapy." Molec. Cancer Therapeutics 5, 200-208, 2006. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16505092
Gold, D.V., Modrak, D.E., Ying, Z., Cardillo, T.M., Sharkey, R.M. and Goldenberg, D.M. "A new MUC1 serum immunoassay differentiates pancreatic cancer from pancreatitis." J. Clin. Oncol. 2, 252-8, 2006. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16344318
Modrak*, D.E., Jones, G. and Draper, M.P. "Genomic instability and the microenvironment in the evolution of drug resistance in cancer." (2005) "Frontiers in Antibiotic Resistance," eds.: White, D.G., Alekshun, M.N. and McDermott, P.F. Chpt. 37, pg 500-13. American Society for Microbiology Press, Washington, D.C. http://www.davidmodrak.com/chpt37%202005.htm
Draper, M.P., Jones, G., Gould, C.J. and Modrak, D.E. "Overview of the mechanisms of resistance to anticancer agents." (2005) "Frontiers in Antibiotic Resistance," eds.: White, D.G., Alekshun, M.N. and McDermott, P.F. Chpt. 36, pg 473-99. American Society for Microbiology Press, Washington, D.C.
Modrak*, D.E., Karacay, H., Cardillo, T.M., Newsome, G., Goldenberg, D.M. and Gold, D.V. "Identification of a Mu-9 (anti-colon-specific antigen-p)-reactive peptide having homology to CA125 (MUC16)." Int. J. Oncol.. 26 1591-6, 2005. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/ 15870874
Modrak*, D.E. "Measurement of ceramide and sphingolipid metabolism in tumors: Potential modulation of chemotherapy." in Methods in Molecular Medicine, Blumenthal, R.D., ed., (2005) vol. 2, pgs 183-96, Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. http://www.davidmodrak.com/MMM%202005.htm
Modrak*, D.E., Cardillo, T.M., Newsome, G., Goldenberg, D.M. and Gold, D.V. "Synergistic interaction between sphingomyelin and gemcitabine potentiates ceramide-mediated apoptosis in pancreatic cancer." Cancer Research 64, 8405-10, 2004. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/ 15548711
Cardillo, T.M., Karacay, H., Goldenberg, D.M., Yeldell, D., Chang, C.-H., Modrak, D.E., Sharkey, R.M. and Gold, D.V. "Improved targeting of pancreatic cancer: experimental studies of a new bispecific antibody, pretargeting enhancement system for immunoscintigraphy." Clin. Cancer Research, 10, 3552-61, 2004.
Gold, D.V., Modrak, D.E., Schutsky, K. and Cardillo, T.M. "Combined 90Yittrium-DOTA-labeled PAM4 antibody radioimmunotherapy and gemcitabine radiosensitization for the treatment of a human pancreatic cancer xenograft." Int. J. Cancer 109, 618-26, 2004.
Modrak*, D.E., Gold, D.V., Goldenberg, D.M. and Blumenthal, R. "Colonic tumor CEA, CSAp and MUC-1 expression following radioimmunotherapy or chemotherapy." Tumor Biol. 24, 32-39, 2003. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12743424
Blumenthal, R., Leone, E., Goldenberg, D.M., Rodriguez, M. and Modrak, D.E. "An in vitro model system to optimize dose scheduling of multimodal radioimmunotherapy and chemotherapy: Effects of p53." Int. J. Cancer 108, 293-300, 2003.
Gold, D.V., Schutsky, K., Modrak, D.E. and Cardillo, T.M. "Low-dose radioimmunotherapy (90Y-PAM4) combined with gemcitabine for the treatment of experimental pancreatic cancer." Clin. Cancer Research 9, 3929s-37s, 2003.
Modrak*, D.E., Rodriguez, M.D., Blumenthal, R.D., Lew, W., Gizas, L.C. and Goldenberg, D.M. "Sphingomyelin enhances chemotherapy efficacy and increases apoptosis in human colonic tumor xenografts." Int. J. Oncology 20, 379-84, 2002. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11788905
Modrak*, D.E., Lew, W., Goldenberg, D.M. and Blumenthal, R. "Sphingomyelin potentiates chemotherapy of human cancer xenografts." Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 268, 603-6, 2000. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10679250
Modrak, D.E., Draper, M.P. and Levy, S.B. "Emergence and evolution of multidrug resistance in a murine erythroleukemia cell line." Biochemical Pharmacology 54, 1297-1306, 1997.
Fracasso, P.M., Slapak, C.A., Modrak, D.E., Draper, M.P., Nair, S., LeCerf, J.-M. and Levy, S.B. "Differential amplification and overexpression of the mdr gene family in two multidrug resistant murine erythroleukemia cell lines." Oncology Research 9, 183-91, 1997.
Modrak, D.E. and Richardson, J.P. "The RNA-binding domain of transcription termination factor rho: isolation, characterization, and determination of sequence limits." Biochemistry 33, 8292-99, 1994.
Modrak, D.E., Wu, L.N.Y., Alberta, J.A. and Fisher, R.R. "Conformational features of bovine heart mitochondria transhydrogenase." Biochemistry 27, 7665-71, 1988.
Meeting Presentations:
Modrak*, D.E., Blumenthal, R.D. and Goldenberg, D.M. "Inhibition of P-glycoprotein (Pgp) in breast cancer cells with a bispecific antibody." (invited oral presentation at the Ninth Conference on Radioimmunodetection and Radioimmunotherapy of Cancer, October 17-19, 2002)
First author posters presented at the 1996-2008 Annual Meetings of the American Association for Cancer Research, the 1999 and 2001 EORTC Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics Meetings and Lustgarten Foundation sponsored meeting, "Pancreas Cancer 2005: State of the Art" at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, NYC 2005.
Completed Research Support:
1 R21 CA123313-01 (NCI) 01/01/08 - 12/31/09
Chemotherapy of Pancreatic Cancer: Induction of Apoptosis or Senescence
Role: Principal Investigator
1 R01 CA096924-01 (NCI) 09/09/05-06/30/09
Detection and Diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer
Role: Co-Investigator
5 R01 CA98488-03 (NCI) 07/15/03-06/30/06
Radioimmunotherapy of Pancreatic Cancer with Humanized PAM4
Role: Co-Investigator
5 R01 CA92723-04 (NCI) 04/01/02-03/31/06
Monoclonal Antibodies for the Management of Pancreatic Cancer
Role: Co-Investigator
98-26-CCR-00 (NJCCR) 07/01/00 - 06/30/02
Modulation of Chemosensitivity by Sphingomyelin
Role: Principal Investigator
98-26-CCR-00 (NJCCR Supplement) 07/01/01 – 06/30/02
Supplemental funds for NJCCR grant
Role: Principal Investigator
Charles River Laboratory 01/01/99-12/31/00
Enhancement of chemotherapy by sphingomyelin.
Role: Principal Investigator
Patents:
Modrak, David E. and Goldenberg, David M. “Sphingomyelin therapy of autoimmune disease.” US patent # 20080096845 (2008).
Modrak, David “Sphingomyelin containing preparation for the enhancement of tumor therapy and for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.” International patent # EP1666045 (2006)
Modrak, David “Sphingomyelin containing preparation for the enhancement of tumor therapy.” International patent # AU2004242498 (2005)
Modrak, David E. "Sphingomyelin enhancement of tumor therapy." US patent # US2003228257 (2003) (Also published as US7288534, US6541462)
Modrak, David “Sphingomyelin containing preparation for the enhancement of tumor therapy.” International patent # WO0057916 (2000) (Also published as JP2002540172, ES2269121, EP1165137, EP1165137, DE60029762)
Skill set and key words relevant to my experience:
Acrobat, antibodies, apoptosis, biochemistry, biology, biomarker, breast cancer, cancer, cell biology, cell cycle, cell survival, chemistry, circular dichroism spectroscopy, clinical, CME, colorectal cancer, continuing medical education, cross-functional, drug resistance, ELISA, EndNote, enzyme, Excel, FACS, flourescence microscopy, flow cytometry, FPLC, gap analysis, grants, HPLC, immunology, in vitro, in vivo, kinetics, leukemia, lipids, management experience, mass spectrometry, medical director, medical writer, melanoma, microbiology, Microsoft, molecular biology, monoclonal antibodies, monographs, myeloma, needs assessments, northern blot, oncology, pancreatic cancer, patents, PCR, phage display, Photoshop, physiology, posters, Power Point, pre-clinical, promotional medical education, protein expression, protein purification, publications, qRT-PCR, research, SDS-PAGE, senescence, signaling, slide decks, southern blot, statistics, target validation, transfection, western blot, Word, writing