Dr. Alexander Spira earned his medical degree from the New York University School of Medicine. He then went on to complete his internship and residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and his medical oncology fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital. During his training, Dr. Spira was granted many awards and honors, and he completed several specialized fellowship programs. Among these honors were the National Institutes of Health Medical Scientist Training Program Fellowship (1990-1997), Merck Corporation Scholarship (1995-1995), Pediatric AIDS Foundation Fellowship (1993- 1995) and Harvard University Scholarship (1987-1990). Dr. Spira has also received his PhD from the New York School of Arts and Sciences.
As Director of the Virginia Cancer Specialists (VCS) Research Institute and the Phase I Trial Program, Dr. Spira is actively involved in advancing medicine and offering targeted treatment options for patients. Although his research interests are numerous, Dr. Spira particularly enjoys studying immunotherapy, personalized medicine, GI, thoracic and lung cancer and sarcomas. Dr. Spira is also Co-Chair of the USOncology Thoracic Oncology Committee, Chair of the USOncology Research Executive Committee, and member of the USOncology National Policy Board Executive Committee. Dr. Spira is a faculty member at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and serves as Assistant Professor of Oncology.
Throughout his career, Dr. Spira has been recognized as a Top Doctor in Northern Virginia Magazine and Washingtonian magazine for multiple years. In 2014, he received the prestigious “Castle Connolly America’s Top Doctor” award. In his spare time, Dr. Spira enjoys spending time with his family, coaching children’s sports, cycling, and cheering on his favorite New York sports teams.

Dr. Johnson joined Sarah Cannon in 2014 and serves as the program director of lung cancer research. Her responsibilities include leading the lung cancer clinical trial portfolio across the Sarah Cannon network. Dr. Johnson continues to work in early phase Drug Development as well as lead the Solid Tumor Immune Effector Cellular Therapy program at Sarah Cannon. She also currently serves as the Chair of the Cancer Committee at TriStar Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

Dr. Johnson received her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill where she was a Morehead scholar, and her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her residency in internal medicine at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and her fellowship in medical oncology and hematology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where she also served as chief fellow for one year. She spent four years as a faculty member at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University and Feinberg School of Medicine, where she was a founding member of the Northwestern Medical Developmental Therapeutics Institute.

She is board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology. Additionally, she is a partner of Tennessee Oncology, PLLC.

Dr. Garon received his MD degree from the Washington University School of Medicine in 1999, and his internal medicine training at the University of Chicago. He trained in Medical Oncology at UCLA, and joined the UCLA faculty in 2006. He also received a Masters' Degree in clinical investigation at UCLA. In 2008, he was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology and in 2014 he was promoted to Associate Professor of Medicine and he is now Professor of Medicine. Dr. Garon has been awarded the Diana Gordon Jonnson Award for Clinical Excellence in 2015. In addition to his clinical work, he also has an extensive focus in clinical and translational research. He has led studies that have led to FDA approvals of multiple drugs and companion diagnostic tests. He has received multiple foundations grants in addition to peer reviewed grants from governmental agencies, including NIH.