Dr. Baber has more than 20 years of cancer research experience with a focus on DNA damage signaling and repair following exposure to radiation and chemotherapeutic agents. Beth Anne’s findings led to publications in major scientific journals, including Science and Nature.
While a Fellow at the Salk Institute, Beth Anne’s son, Conor, was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma. Challenging “standard of care” in 2005, Conor’s treatment protocol was determined by diagnostic markers versus relying solely on clinical pathology sparing him from excessive treatment. Today, Conor remains cancer free with no detectable long-term side effects.
Realizing the unmet need to expedite promising medical discoveries for pediatric cancer, Beth Anne co-founded The Nicholas Conor Institute (TNCI,www.TNCI.org). The Mission of the Institute is to ACCELERATE, DEVELOP, and DEPLOY innovative cancer treatments for children, adolescents, and young adults.
In working closely with multiple sectors (academia, industry, non-profit, government, and patient advocacy groups), Beth Anne identified industry barriers that prevent the transition of promising discoveries for pediatric cancers from academia into a research and development pipeline and ultimately into the clinic. She developed innovative business strategies to address these barriers directly and passionately advocates for the creation of public-private partnerships to support rare disease and childhood cancer translational medical research, changes in regulatory policy, and incentives to encourage industry to invest in small patient population markets.