Mission Statement

 

Time is our most valuable resource in the world, and one for which medical science can grant more for patients: more time with family, more sunsets, and more experiences. To that end, I am passionate about developing technology that can extend both life and quality of life. Day-to-day, I enjoy promoting a work community that is inclusive, collaborative, and purpose-driven. In doing so, I seek to not only add more years of life to patients, but add more life to years, including our own.

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Skill Sets

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Data Science & Clinical Biostatistics: Application of data science and clinical biostatistics to prospective trial and real-world datasets: data wrangling, data visualization, and statistical inference. Fluent coding in R and KNIME.

 

Scientific & Strategic Diligence: Evaluation and consolidation of information from published literature, guidelines, press releases, conferences, and regulatory filings to inform strategic decisions through briefs and white papers. Strong written and verbal communication skills.

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Publication & Evidentiary Build: Contextualization of aforementioned data and diligence to support strategic product development and evidentiary builds for clinical validity and clinical utility through publication of peer-reviewed scientific literature.

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Selected Publications

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Swami U*, Graf RP*, Nussenzveig RH, Fisher V, Tukachinsky H, Schrock AB, et al. SPOP mutations as a Predictive Biomarker for Androgen Receptor-Axis-Targeted Therapy in De Novo Metastatic Castration-Sensitive Prostate Cancer. Clinical Cancer Research. 2022. PMID: 36088616

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Graf RP, Fisher V, Weberpals J, Gjoerup O, Tierno MB, Huang RSP, et al. Comparative Effectiveness of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors vs Chemotherapy by Tumor Mutational Burden in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer. JAMA Network Open. 2022. PMID: 35357449

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Graf RP, Fisher V, Huang RSP, Hamdani O, Gjoerup OV, Stanke J, et al. Tumor Mutational Burden as a Predictor of First-Line Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Versus Carboplatin Benefit in Cisplatin-Unfit Patients With Urothelial Carcinoma. JCO Precision Oncology. 2022. PMID: 35977348

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Graf RP, Fisher V, Creeden J, Schrock AB, Ross JS, Nimeiri H, et al. Real-world Validation of TMB and Microsatellite Instability as Predictive Biomarkers of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Effectiveness in Advanced Gastroesophageal Cancer. Cancer Research Communications. 2022. Link

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Antonarakis ES, Tierno M, Fisher V, Tukachinsky H, Alexander S … Graf RP. Clinical and pathological features associated with circulating tumor DNA content in real-world patients with metastatic prostate cancer. The Prostate. 2022. PMID: 35286728

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Zurita AJ*, Graf RP*, Villacampa G, Raskina K, Sokol E, Jin D, et al. Genomic Biomarkers and Genome-Wide Loss-of-Heterozygosity Scores in Metastatic Prostate Cancer Following Progression on Androgen-Targeting Therapies. JCO Precision Oncology. 2022. PMID: 35820087

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Graf RP, Fisher V, Mateo J, Gjoerup OV, Madison RW, Raskina K, et al. Predictive Genomic Biomarkers of Hormonal Therapy Versus Chemotherapy Benefit in Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer. European Urology. 2021. PMID: 34716049

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Graf RP, Eskander R, Brueggeman L, Stupack D. Association of Copy Number Variation Signature and Survival in Patients With Serous Ovarian Cancer. JAMA Network Open. 2021. PMID: 34181012

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Graf RP, Hullings M, Barnett ES, Carbone E, Dittamore R, Scher HI. Clinical Utility of the Nuclear-localized AR-V7 Biomarker in Circulating Tumor Cells in Improving Physician Treatment Choice in Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer. European Urology. 2020. PMID: 31648903

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Malihi PD, Graf RP, Rodriguez A, Ramesh N, Lee J, Sutton R, et al. Single-cell circulating tumor cell analysis reveals genomic instability as a distinctive feature of aggressive prostate cancer. Clinical Cancer Research. 2020. 

PMID: 32341031

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Scher HI, Graf RP, Schreiber NA, Jayaram A, Winquist E, McLaughlin B, Lu D, Fleisher M, Orr S, Lowes L, Anderson A, Wang Y, Dittamore R, Allan AL, Attard G, Heller G. Assessment of the Validity of Nuclear-Localized Androgen Receptor Splice Variant 7 in Circulating Tumor Cells as a Predictive Biomarker for Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer. JAMA Oncology. 2018. PMID: 29955787

 

Autio KA, Dreicer R, Anderson J, Garcia JA, Alva A, Hart LL, Milowsky MI, Posadas EM, Ryan CJ, Graf RP, Dittamore R, Schreiber NA, Summa JM, Youssoufian H, Morris MJ, Scher HI. Safety and Efficacy of BIND-014, a Docetaxel Nanoparticle Targeting Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen for Patients With Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: A Phase 2 Clinical Trial. JAMA Oncology. 2018. PMID: 29978216

 

Scher HI, Graf RP, Schreiber N, McLaughlin B, Jendrisak A, Wang Y, et al. Phenotypic Heterogeneity of Circulating Tumor Cells Informs Clinical Decisions between AR Signaling Inhibitors and Taxanes in Metastatic Prostate Cancer. Cancer Research. 2017. PMID: 28819021

 

Boffa DJ, Graf RP, Salazar MC, Hoag J, Lu D, Krupa R, et al. Cellular Expression of PD-L1 in the Peripheral Blood of Lung Cancer Patients is Associated with Worse Survival. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention. 2017. PMID: 28446544

 

Scher HI, Graf RP, Schreiber NA, McLaughlin B, Lu D, Louw J, et al. Nuclear-specific AR-V7 Protein Localization is Necessary to Guide Treatment Selection in Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer. European Urology. 2016. PMID: 27979426

 

Scher HI, Lu D, Schreiber NA, Louw J, Graf RP, Vargas HA, et al. Association of AR-V7 on Circulating Tumor Cells as a Treatment-Specific Biomarker With Outcomes and Survival in Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer. JAMA Oncology. 2016. PMID: 27262168

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Full publication list can be found on PubMed

Additional work presented on over two dozen posters at industry conferences: ASCO, AACR, ASCO GU, SABCS, PCF 

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Invited Talks

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"Comparative Effectiveness of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors vs. Chemotherapy by Tumor Mutational Burden in Metastatic Prostate Cancer: Filling Evidence Gaps using Real-World Data" UCSD Moores Cancer Center, 2022

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“Accelerating Oncology Biomarker Development with Real-World Data: Lessons from AR-V7.” USC Michelson Center for Convergent Biosciences, 2019

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“Development of a Predictive Biomarker of Hormone Resistance and Chemotherapy Benefit in Metastatic Prostate Cancer.” Loma Linda University, 2018

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“From Bench to Bedside: Development of a Predictive Liquid Biopsy Biomarker in Prostate Cancer.” UCSD Moores Cancer Center, 2017

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“How the Liquid Biopsy will Transform Cancer Care.” Nerd Nite San Diego, 2016

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Education

 

Ph.D. Biomedical Sciences (2014)
Granting institute: Sanford Burnham (La Jolla, CA)

Dissertation research: UCSD Moores Cancer Center (La Jolla, CA) / Sanford Burnham (La Jolla, CA)

Research: Mechanisms of Cancer Metastasis
Clinical: Med-Into-Grad Clinical Fellowship (Howard Hughes Medical Institute, UCSD School of Medicine)

 

B.S. Genetics (2008)

Granting Institute: University of California Irvine (Irvine, CA)
Honors in Biology, Excellence in Research

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Other Scientific Writing

 

Science Blog: RyonGraf.com
Developments in research, biotechnology, cancer therapy, and clinical trials. (1/2012 – present)

Cancer Q&A Blog: Articles for cancer education based on questions submitted by readers. (1/2011 – 1/2012) 

Over 100 articles and posts to date.

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New University Newspaper, UC Irvine (Circulation: 10,000)
Staff Science Writer, contributed regular columns on topical issues. (2005 – 2008)

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Awards and Honors

 

HHMI Med-Into-Grad Fellowship, Cancer (2013)
The Med-into-Grad Initiative provides doctoral students with exposure to unmet needs in diagnostics and therapeutics through clinical immersion. Funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Research Institute and hosted by the UC San Diego School of Medicine.

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Michael and Judy Leon Award (2008)
Scholarship awarded one graduating senior at UC Irvine (seeking to pursue Ph.D. studies and a career in science). 

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Other Education​

 

Coursera, Online (2015). Course: The Data Scientist’s Toolbox

 

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY (2007)
Watson School of Biological Sciences
Undergraduate Research Program, Summer 2007

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La Jolla High School, San Diego, CA (2004) 

Cum Laude

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