Advisory Board

Susan L. Weiner, PhD (2007-present)

Susan Weiner is president and founder of The Children’s Cause, Inc., a Washington-based education and advocacy group, dedicated to accelerating the pace of discovery of effective treatments for childhood cancer and ensuring ready access to services for patients, families and survivors.  Dr. Weiner received a Ph.D. from Columbia University and completed an NIMH post-doctoral fellowship. Following the diagnosis of brain tumor in her infant son, and throughout his 13 years of life, Dr. Weiner started and consulted for programs for children with disabilities and their families in New York City, where she founded the Mary McDowell Center for Learning, a 24-year old independent school in New York for children with learning disabilities.

Since 1990, Dr. Weiner has worked as a national childhood cancer patient and family advocate, including memberships on the Institute of Medicine’s National Cancer Policy Board and Clinical Research Roundtable.  She served on the Secretary of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Human Research Protections, the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs, the Food and Drug Administration’s Pediatric Subcommittee of the Oncology Drug Advisory Committee, the NCI Board of Scientific Advisors TARGET Subcommittee, and many other National Cancer Institute planning and advisory committees.    She also serves on the Steering Committee of the NCI-supported Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium and recently founded the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium Foundation to stimulate financial support for the PBTC. 

Michael J. Fisher, MD (2007-present)

Michael Fisher is an attending physician in the neuro-oncology department at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and also a professor of pediatrics at the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Medicine.  A Harvard Graduate, Dr. Fisher spent much of his training in Boston before moving to Philadelphia to complete his fellowship in oncology and neuro-oncology.

Dr. Fisher has written several research publications, spoken by invitation at many leading institutions and also sits on various scientific and professional committees, including the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) Late Effects Committee and committees focused on Neurofibromatosis.