Who We Fund

Boston Children's Hospital

George Q. Daley, MD, PhD is Dean, Caroline Shields Walker Professor of Medicine, and Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School. His research has focused on stem cell and cancer biology, with an emphasis on hematopoietic development and diseases of the bone marrow, blood and immune system. Daley earned his AB and MD degrees from Harvard and a PhD in biology from MIT. He has been a trainee, fellow and staff physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital. Prior to becoming Dean at HMS, he was an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Director of the Pediatric Stem Cell Transplantation Program of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Association of Arts and Sciences.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Pluripotent Stem Cell-derived CAR-T and CAR-NK Cells for Immunotherapy of Leukemia and Lymphoma

Emory University

Dr. Jonathon Cohen is an associate professor of hematology/oncology at Emory University and co-directs the lymphoma program at Winship Cancer Institute. He has developed and implemented studies conducted at sites throughout the US and frequently collaborates with colleagues throughout Georgia to offer trials to patients with lymphoma. He is a member of the ECOG-ACRIN Lymphoma Core Committee, Co-Chair of the Hoosier Cancer Research Network Lymphoma Committee, and Co-Chair of the Lymphoma Disease Focus Group of the NCI-funded Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network Consortium. He also leads national studies evaluating real-world outcomes in lymphoma. He has an active clinical practice providing consultative services for patients throughout Georgia. He has routinely engaged with oncologists throughout the region to promote quality lymphoma care through in-person and virtual educational talks, and through moderation of protocol sessions to develop treatment guidelines.

Program Name(s)

IMPACT

Project Title

Making an IMPACT on hematology care in Georgia: The Georgia Blood Cancer Trials Network (BCTN)

Rutgers University

A PharmD by training, I then obtained my PhD guided by Dr. Manuel Serrano at the CNIO studying Sirt1 role in metabolism and cancer, which led to 4 first-author and 1 corresponding papers, plus 11 co authorships. Next, I joined the Ferrando Lab at Columbia University where I published two seminal papers identifying a NOTCH1-driven Myc enhancer critical for T-cell development and leukemia, and dissecting the role of cancer metabolism in the resistance to anti-NOTCH1 therapy. I started my independent career at Rutgers in July 2017. In these 4 years, I have established a highly successful and productive laboratory, as reflected by the multiple funding sources obtained (including R01, ACS or AACR grants, among others), as well as by the publication of 3 corresponding author studies: a Blood Cancer Discovery paper identifying an enhancer of PTEN in leukemia; a Leukemia paper describing the antileukemic effects of SHMT inhibition; and a Blood paper describing the therapeutic effects of mitochondrial uncoupling in T-ALL.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Therapeutic exploitation of novel mouse models and metabolic interventions in leukemia

Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Monika Mittal is a dedicated researcher specializing in cancer biology, with a focus on acute myeloid leukemia (AML). With a strong background in molecular biology and biochemistry, Dr. Mittal aims to uncover the underlying mechanisms of blood cancers and develop innovative therapeutic strategies. Currently, Dr. Mittal is investigating the role of DCAF15, a protein that regulates cellular processes, to understand its impact on AML progression and treatment. By employing advanced techniques such as gene editing and targeted protein degradation, Dr. Mittal aims to create new therapeutic strategies that can improve patient outcomes. Passionate about translating scientific discoveries into clinical applications, Dr. Mittal is committed to improving outcomes for those affected by blood cancers, driving research forward to find more effective treatments for AML. Through collaboration and innovation, Dr. Mittal hopes to make a meaningful difference in the fight against leukemia.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Leveraging the ubiquitin proteasome system for targeted therapy in Acute Myeloid Leukemia

NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Dr. Wendy Béguelin is a basic and translational research scientist working in the field of lymphoma epigenetics. She obtained her degree of Biology at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she received extensive training in the investigation of cell biology and signal transduction with studies on epigenetic gene regulation and transcription factor binding. As a postdoctoral scientist at Weill Cornell Medical College, under the mentorship of Prof. Ari Melnick she has identified novel epigenetic and transcriptional mechanisms that contribute to B-cell differentiation and lymphomagenesis. She has studied the biological and transcriptional mechanisms of action of Polycomb proteins in germinal center B-cells and lymphomas derived from germinal centers. As Assistant Professor, Dr. Béguelin is committed to a career in basic/translational cancer research, bringing new ideas into the field of epigenetic control of lymphomagenesis and making discoveries that can be translated from the diagnostic and therapeutic standpoints.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Discovery and therapeutic targeting of novel mechanisms driving Double Hit Lymphomas

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Sarah K Tasian, MD PhD is a pediatric oncologist and physician-scientist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine who is interested in development of molecularly-targeted therapeutics and immunotherapies for children with high-risk leukemias. She specialises in the clinical care of children with leukemia and lymphoma, is an internationally-recognized expert in pediatric ALL and AML biology and novel therapeutics, and serves as Chief of the Hematologic Malignancies Program at CHOP, where she holds the Joshua Kahan Endowed Chair in Pediatric Leukemia Research. Her federally-funded translational laboratory research program focuses upon preclinical and early-phase clinical testing of small molecule inhibitors and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapies in high-risk genetic subsets of childhood ALL, AML, and JMML. As an experienced clinical trialist, Dr Tasian also has several leadership roles in the Children’s Oncology Group ALL and Myeloid Diseases executive committees and is the clinical trials leader of the international Blood Cancer United PedAL consortium, working collaboratively with colleagues across the world to advance precision medicine therapeutics for children with relapsed/refractory leukemias.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Precision Medicine Inhibitor and Immunotherapy Approaches for High-Risk Childhood Leukemias

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

I am an MD/PhD physician scientist in the oncology fellowship at MSKCC where I treat leukemia and perform research to understand molecular underpinnings of the disease. My prior work at Brandeis University, Cold Spring Harbor Lab, Harvard Medical School, and Albert Einstein College of Medicine was focused on basic mechanisms of gene expression regulation and I am now studying RNA dysregulation in leukemia. During my PhD, I developed novel methods to study RNA binding proteins in collaboration with Nobel Laureate Dr. Michael Rosbash and Rosenstiel Prize winner Dr. Robert H Singer (my PhD mentor). This integrative approach to studying RNA is ideal for understanding understudied proteins that regulate splicing factor mutations in the Abdel-Wahab lab. For my career, I aim to use novel approaches to understand how the most prevalent splicing factor mutations in blood cancers drive progression and transformation.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Targeting SF3B1 splicing factor mutant myeloid malignancies through dependency on GPATCH8

Washington University in St. Louis

Dr. Bern is a post-doctoral fellow in Dr. Timothy Ley’s lab at Washington University School of Medicine and a clinical fellow in the Hematology and Oncology program. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Physics from Duke University. Following undergraduate, he completed M.D./Ph.D. training at Washington University School of Medicine, where he earned his Ph.D. in Immunology, studying mechanisms regulating natural killer cell activation, in the laboratory of Dr. Wayne Yokoyama. He then joined the Physician Scientist Training Program at Washington University School of Medicine for Internal Medicine residency and Heme/Onc fellowship. His current research is focused on understanding mechanisms of chemotherapy resistance in Primary-Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia. His long-term goal is to identify novel therapeutic strategies for this population of patients with extremely poor outcomes and few treatment options.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Identifying Mechanisms of Chemoresistance Induced by MECOM in Primary-Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia

The University of Melbourne

Professor Jane Oliaro is an internationally recognized cancer immunologist motivated to translate scientific discoveries into the clinic. Her research experience spans the fields of T cell biology and tumor immunology, with a focus on the application of new technology to identify novel therapies to enhance immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer. She has a proven track record of undertaking successful collaborative research leading to high quality publications in influential journals including Science, Immunity, Science Immunology; successful funding and awards (including 9 CIA project grants, NHMRC fellowship, NHMRC ‘Ten of the Best’ Research Project Award and NHMRC Inaugural Achievement Award) and over 15 conference invitations in the past 5 years. As Chief Scientist for the Centre of Excellence in Cellular Immunotherapy Translation Laboratory at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, she leads a preclinical program focused on the development of novel cell-based immunotherapies for translation into pilot clinical trials.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Improving CAR-T cell therapy outcomes for patients with for aggressive lymphoma and multiple myeloma

University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus

Dr. Eric Pietras is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. He completed his PhD training in microbiology and immunology at UCLA in 2008. He subsequently joined the laboratory of Dr. Emmanuelle Passegué for postdoctoral training and started his independent faculty position at the University of Colorado in November of 2015, earning promotion to Associate Professor in July 2021. Dr. Pietras leads a research program that leverages his dual backgrounds in innate immunity and hematopoiesis, focusing on the interplay between inflammation and oncogenic mutations as a trigger for alterations in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSC) metabolism that promote evolution to malignancy. The goal of his lab is to identify novel approaches for targeting this pathogenic process to disrupt myeloid oncogenesis and improve patient outcomes.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Targeting the pathogenic 'fire triangle' of inflammation, metabolism and mutations in myeloid leukemogenesis

University of Perugia. Department of Medicine and Surgery

Dr. Enrico Tiacci is a physician scientist who established an independent translational and clinical research program in leukemias and lymphomas at the University and Hospital of Perugia, where he is Associate Professor of Hematology. His most relevant scientific contributions to pathogenesis, diagnosis and therapy of blood cancers span Hodgkin lymphoma, acute myeloid leukemia and, within the field of HCL, include the discovery of BRAF mutation as the genetic cause of this disease, its diagnostic exploitation and its therapeutic targeting in the clinic, which radically changed the understanding of HCL and considerably improved its treatment. For his achievements (mostly published in the highly influential New England Journal of Medicine), Dr. Tiacci received several prestigious national and international prizes as well as scientific grants from the most competitive international research agencies, including the European Research Council and Blood Cancer United.

Program Name(s)

Hairy Cell Leukemia Research Initiative

Project Title

BRAF inhibition as an alternative to chemotherapy in the treatment strategy of hairy cell leukemia

BRAF and BCL2 coinhibition with vemurafenib and venetoclax as a rational, short, all-oral targeted therapy for relapsed/refractory hairy cell leukemia

Stanford

I am a hematologist/oncologist specializing in the treatment of multiple myeloma and related disorders. I am an Associate Professor in the Division of BMT/ Cell Therapy Division at Stanford University. I lead the Myeloma Disease Focused Group and am the Associate Director for Clinical Research for the Division. I have a broad research portfolio that includes clinical trials of novel therapies in myeloma, translational and outcomes research. I have a special focus on immunotherapy related research and am the principal investigator of several clinical trials of CAR-T cell therapy and bispecific antibodies in myeloma. I also co-lead a multi-center consortium of academic medical centers in the US collaborating to generate insights from real-world application of CAR-T therapy and bispecific antibodies in myeloma. I am actively involved with cooperative groups and professional societies, including holding leadership positions with the goal of advancing treatment of hematological disorders.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Improving Immunotherapy in Multiple Myeloma Through Innovative Clinical Trials, Real-World Evidence and Correlative Research