Dr. Rocha is the Hedinger Professor and Chair of Surgical Oncology at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) in Portland, OR. He also serves as the Physician-in-Chief of the Knight Cancer Institute at OHSU. He graduated with honors from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. After training in general surgery at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School both in Boston, he completed both a surgical oncology and hepatopancreatobiliary surgery fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. He spent ten years practicing in Seattle prior to moving to Oregon in 2021. Dr. Rocha’s clinical practice encompasses all aspects of benign and malignant disease of the liver, bile ducts and pancreas. He has been funded by the AAS, NIH/NIDDK, ASCO and the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation. Dr. Rocha currently sits on the editorial boards of Surgery, HPB, Annals of Surgical Oncology, and Journal of Surgical Oncology. He has served on the NCI Pancreas Task Force, ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Advisory Council and ASTRO Liver Cancer Guidelines Committee. He is currently the surgical lead of the International Cholangiocarcinoma Research Network (ICRN), Vice-Chair of the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) Surgery Committee, GI Surgery Working Group Chair at Eastern Cooperative Group (ECOG-ACRIN) and Chair of the Cancer Standards Development Committee at the American College of Surgeons.
R. Bryan Bell, M.D., D.D.S., FACS, FRCS(Ed), is the Executive Medical Director of Providence Cancer Institute of Oregon, Director and Member of Earle A. Chiles Research Institute, and holds the Walter J. Urba Chair for Cancer Research in Portland, Oregon. In these roles, he oversees oncology services and research teams that deliver care to more than 6,000 cancer patients annually in 32 clinics and eight Oregon hospitals.
As an internationally recognized head and neck surgeon, Dr. Bell has led pioneering research and clinical efforts to integrate immunotherapy into the neoadjuvant setting. Using his surgical practice to conduct clinical trials, Dr. Bell’s research bridges basic, translational and clinical activities. In addition, he has worked to develop technologically advanced methods to enhance the effectiveness of head and neck cancer surgery, including virtual surgical planning, transoral robotic surgery and sentinel lymph node biopsy. Dr. Bell’s work has been published in more than 350 scientific articles and book chapters, and he is co-author of two major textbooks, including “Oral, Head and Neck Oncology and Reconstructive Surgery”.
For almost three decades, Dr. Bell has been active in educating the next generation of surgeons. He has trained or mentored dozens of surgical residents, fellows and students in head and neck oncologic and reconstructive surgery. Dr. Bell has served on National Institutes of Health Head and Neck Steering Committee’s Immunotherapy Clinical Trials Planning Group and the Task Force on Previously Untreated/Locally Advanced (PULA) Disease. In addition, he has held numerous leadership positions and board appointments within various professional and non-profit organizations. Amongst his honors, Dr. Bell has been awarded Fellowship in the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Ad Hominem.
Colin Thalhofer, PhD, is Director of R&D at AgonOx, Inc. and an immunologist whose work spans basic immune biology, translational oncology, and cancer immunotherapy development. He began his scientific training at the Earle A. Chiles Research Institute and earned his PhD in the Immunology Graduate Program at the University of Iowa, where he investigated the molecular and cellular interactions between the protozoan parasite Leishmania and the mammalian immune system. Since joining AgonOx, Inc. in 2013, Dr. Thalhofer has focused on cancer immunotherapy target discovery and therapeutic development, with particular emphasis on characterizing the tumor microenvironment to identify and validate clinically actionable targets. His work integrates mechanistic insight with translational strategy, supporting both the biological rationale and clinical advancement of emerging immunotherapies. He has played a key role in the development of AGX-148, an autologous cell therapy enriched for tumor-reactive T cells, and in advancing its ongoing Phase 1 clinical evaluation in patients with metastatic solid tumors.
Dr. Bucher is a board-certified medical oncologist and hematologist. In addition to over 20 years of clinical experience, Dr. Bucher has subspecialty training in breast cancer, cancer genetics, and pharmacology. She received her medical degree from the University of Illinois, completed her residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at the University of Chicago, and finished her specialty training in hematology and oncology at UCLA. She treats all types of cancer, but does have special interests in breast cancer, lung cancer, and blood cancers. She also enjoys diagnosing and managing various benign hematologic disorders. When not working, Dr. Bucher loves to travel, cook, watch goofy movies, and spend time with her husband, two adult children, and her dog.
Marilyn R. Mackiewicz, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Oregon State University and a materials chemist whose research spans nanomedicine, biomaterials, cancer detection, and autonomous materials discovery. Her laboratory develops hybrid lipid-coated metal nanoparticles with tunable physicochemical and biological properties and investigates how nanoparticle size, shape, surface chemistry, and biological interactions influence their performance and safety. A major focus of Dr. Mackiewicz’s research is developing nanoparticle-based strategies for the detection and imaging of aggressive cancers, particularly triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and melanoma, using advanced imaging approaches including optical coherence tomography and spectral X-ray computed tomography. Her research also integrates continuous-flow synthesis, in-line characterization, automation, and data-driven approaches to accelerate the discovery and optimization of functional nanomaterials. As a Research Corporation for Science Advancement Scialog Fellow, she is advancing human-in-the-loop and autonomous experimentation strategies that connect materials synthesis, real-time characterization, and iterative decision-making. Through interdisciplinary collaborations spanning chemistry, engineering, cancer biology, imaging, and artificial intelligence, Dr. Mackiewicz seeks to bridge fundamental materials discovery with translational technologies for cancer detection and human health.
Dr. Sullivan is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, Division of Psychology, and Division of Oncological Sciences of the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and an affiliate scientist at the Portland Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, Center of Innovation. He is the Co-Director of the Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute NCATS KL2 Program and Co-Lead of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the Knight Cancer Institute. Dr Sullivan is a health services researcher and has authored over 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications and has been awarded more than $8 million in major research grants. His primary research focus is on improving the quality of life and value of cancer care through epidemiology, decision making science, mixed-methods approaches, and palliative care research. He was awarded a Cambia Health Foundation Sojourns Scholar Leadership Award and Mid-career Achievement Award from the American Thoracic Society. Dr. Sullivan has received funding from the National Institutes of Health- National Cancer Institute and National Institute on Aging, American Thoracic Society, American Lung Association, the American Cancer Society, Borchard Foundation, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Cambia Health Foundation, Knight Cancer Institute, Medical Research Foundation, Veterans Affairs Center for Innovation, and UPENN Roybal Center. He enjoys mentoring medical students, trainees, junior faculty, and post-doctoral candidates and teaches pulmonary physiology at the OHSU School of Medicine.
Eila Howe is a Junior at Crescent Valley High School in Corvallis, Oregon. She is a 3-time Wilms tumor survivor and has been in remission for almost 11 years now. Advocacy is deeply important to Eila. She is involved in many student government and advocacy programs, including serving as the Communications Director for the Oregon Society of Emerging Leaders that is a part of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. She hopes to inspire other survivors and further her work everyday.
I am so humbled by the opportunity to serve the constituents of Hillsboro, Beaverton, and Washington County. As someone who immigrated to this country as an infant and refugee, I never thought I would be serving in public office. It took a village to get to where I am today as a father, husband, pediatric dentist, cancer survivor, and now State Representative.
My story dates back to 1980 when I came to the U.S. with my family as a one-year-old refugee from Vietnam. A year prior, my parents escaped on a boat into the open ocean, not knowing if they were going to survive the journey. I was born, not long after, in a modest grass hut in a refugee camp in Malaysia. Determined to get to the United States, my parents were eventually sponsored by a church and immigrated to Corvallis. From that moment on, Oregon has been my home.
We didn’t have much growing up, so I focused on studying hard in school and made my way through Oregon State University. I then completed my dental degree and specialty training at Oregon Health & Sciences University and Doernbecher.
Just before my residency, I was diagnosed with Leukemia and wasted away for months because I could not afford the copays for my cancer treatment. This only furthered my passion for health system reforms as I struggled to pay medical bills and survive. But thanks to the pioneering research of Dr. Brian Drucker’s team at OHSU’s Knight Cancer Institute, I have been able to lead a fulfilling life as a cancer survivor.
My life experiences have also helped shape me as a healthcare provider – I started my dental practice to provide care for the underserved children of Washington County, and since then, I have expanded the practice to serve children from all around the state.
I love Oregon and will bring my experiences as a parent, healthcare provider, and business owner to the legislature to serve the people of House District 36 and build a better future for us all.