Terry Fry
AML immunotherapy
Terry Fry, MD
Aurora, CO
United States
University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus
Terry Fry, MD, is a professor of pediatrics, hematology and immunology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He is the chair of the Gates Institute Advisory Board and holds the Charles C. Gates Endowed Chair in Regenerative Medicine. He arrived at Colorado in 2018 after serving as head of the Hematologic Malignancies Section in the Pediatric Oncology Branch at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he led efforts in cellular immunotherapy for pediatric leukemia. Prior to the NIH, Dr. Fry was chief of Blood and Marrow Transplantation at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. His research focuses on the preclinical and clinical development of chimeric antigen receptor T cells for pediatric cancers. He serves on the Committee for Scientific Affairs for the American Society of Hematology, is vice chair for biology in the Cellular Therapy Committee of the Children’s Oncology Group, and was elected into the American Society for Clinical Investigation.
Program Name(s)
Academic Clinical Trials Program (ACT)
Project Title
A phase 1 study of anti-CD64 CAR T cells in patients with venetoclax-refractory myeloid neoplasms
Michaela Reagan
Multiple Myeloma
Michaela Reagan, PhD
Scarborough, ME
United States
Maine Medical Center
Dr. Michaela Reagan is a Faculty Scientist II at the MaineHealth Institute for Research and an Associate Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine. She received her B.S. in general Engineering from Harvey Mudd College (2006) and Ph.D. from Tufts University in Biomedical Engineering in the field of breast cancer bone metastasis (2011). She then performed her post-doctoral research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in the laboratory of Dr. Irene Ghobrial (2011-2015). Dr. Reagan is a member of the Finance Committee of the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) and is the past chair of the ASBMR’s Women’s Committee. Since 2015, she has led innovative, transdisciplinary, basic and translational research in the Reagan Laboratory at MaineHealth with the goal of identifying cancer vulnerabilities that can lead to new treatments or cures for multiple myeloma (MM) patients. Her unique research is focused on the interactions between obesity, adipocytes and myeloma cells.
Program Name(s)
Career Development Program
Project Title
Koichi Takahashi
AML/MDS
Koichi Takahashi, MD
Houston, TX
United States
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Koichi Takahashi, MD, PhD is Associate Professor in the Departments of Leukemia and Genomic Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He received MD degree from Niigata University School of Medicine and PhD degree from Kyoto University School of Medicine, both in Japan. He then did internal medicine residency at Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan, and Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, followed by hematology and oncology fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. During the fellowship, he was trained in Dr. Andrew Futreal’s Lab for cancer genomics. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Hematology, and Medical Oncology. Dr. Takahashi is well known for his research in delineating how selection of pre-existing clonal hematopoiesis under chemotherapy contributes to the development of therapy-related myeloid neoplasms. His laboratory uses state-of-the-art single-cell technologies to understand the mechanism of leukemia development and create strategies for early detection and prevention.
Program Name(s)
Career Development Program
Project Title
Understanding the clonal origin, evolution, and progression of myeloid malignancies
Viviana Scoca, PhD
New York, NY
United States
Columbia University Medical Center
Viviana obtained her BS in Biological Sciences and her master degree in Genetics and Molecular Biology at Sapienza, University of Rome before moving to Paris, France, to join Dr Di Nunzio laboratory at Institut Pasteur, for her PhD studies. Viviana applied fluorescence microscopy techniques to track HIV-1 in the host nucleus and investigate about the viral interplay with factors in the nucleus of the infected cells during early steps of replication. Guided by her interest in epigenetics, Viviana joined the Viny Lab in 2023 for her postdoctoral training where she aims to identify gene regulation mechanisms linked to blood cell development and disease. Viviana’s goal is to contribute to innovative blood research for more effective personalized treatments and positively impact the academic environment. She also hopes to inspire younger generation to get involved in science and be able to mentor students in their career path in cancer research.
Program Name(s)
Career Development Program
Project Title
Impaired dynamic nucleosome remodeling as a leukemogenic mechanism and therapeutic target in AML
Constellation Pharmaceuticals
myeloproliferative neoplasms
Constellation Pharmaceuticals
Cambridge, MA
United States
TAP Partner
Constellation Pharmaceuticals was a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel therapeutics that selectively modulate gene expression to address serious unmet medical needs in patients with cancer. MorphoSys acquired Constellation in 2021 and then Novartis acquired MorphoSys in 2024. Novartis continues to develop pelabresib in patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms.
Program Name(s)
Therapy Acceleration Program
Project Title
Joshua Brody,
New York, NY
United States
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Dr. Brody is Director of the Lymphoma Immunotherapy Program at Mount Sinai and a member of the Depart of Immunology. He has developed a robust clinical program and a translational Cancer Immunotherapy Lab which investigates basic and applied tumor immunology to develop novel therapies for lymphomas and CLL with results published in top-tier journals including Nature Medicine and Cancer Discovery. Dr. Brody has pioneered a therapeutic vaccine approach—in situ vaccination—that induces anti-tumor immunity and regression of tumors throughout the body with clinical results published primarily for Follicular Lymphoma. Recently, his group discovered a novel approach ‘potentiating bystander killnig’ to improve immunotherapies by preventing a common escape mechanism that tumors use to evade CAR-T and bispecific antibody therapies.
Dr. Brody’s research receives funding from numerous grantors e.g. the NIH, Cancer Research Institute, Damon Runyon Foundation, and the Lymphoma Research Foundation.
Program Name(s)
Research Accelerator for Follicular Lymphoma
Project Title
John Crispino
myelofibrosis, pediatric leukemia and Downs
John Crispino, PhD
Memphis, TN
United States
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Dr. John Crispino is Chief of the Division of Experimental Hematology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He received his PhD from MIT for research on the mechanisms of RNA splicing performed in the laboratory of Dr. Phillip Sharp and then performed post-doctoral hematology research at Harvard Medical School with Dr. Stuart Orkin. Dr. Crispino and members of his laboratory have made many important contributions to improve our understanding of the mechanisms of normal and aberrant blood development. Currently, his research is focused on the role of GATA1 in blood cell development, mechanisms of leukemogenesis in children with Down syndrome and the characterization of genetic changes that drive malignant progression of MDS and MPN. He has authored over 170 manuscripts, with recent papers in Cancer Discovery, Journal of Clinical Investigation, and Blood. Dr. Crispino is a recent Associate Editor of Blood, on the editorial boards of Leukemia and Blood Cancer Journal and past chair of an NIH study section.
Program Name(s)
Special Grants
Specialized Center of Research Program
Project Title
Aberrant Megakaryopoiesis in the MPNs
Understanding Leukemia in Children with Down Syndrome to Develop Better Therapies
Jayna Mistry
aging and leukemias
Jayna Mistry, PhD
Bar Harbor, ME
United States
The Jackson Laboratory
Dr. Jayna Mistry was awarded her PhD degree at the University of East Anglia and the Earlham Institute in Norwich, United Kingdom following her thesis work in the laboratory of Dr. Stuart Rushworth and Professor Kristian Bowles. She discovered translationally relevant mechanisms by which stress can induce metabolic alterations in hematopoietic stem cells due to interactions with non-hematopoietic cells in the bone marrow microenvironment. She is continuing her training as a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Jennifer Trowbridge at The Jackson Laboratory studying aging-associated mechanisms causing clonal hematopoiesis and blood cancers. Dr. Mistry currently holds a Scholar Award from The Jackson Laboratory. She is first author on four primary research articles and a review article, and co-author on ten additional primary research publications.
Program Name(s)
Career Development Program
Project Title
Steven Park
follicular lymphoma
Steven Park, MD
Charlotte, NC
United States
Atrium Health Foundation
I am a physician scientist, specializing in lymphoma therapy. My area of research is focused on the development of new therapeutic approaches in lymphoma by engineering special nanoparticle-based drug-delivery platforms. My team has pioneered a novel high-precision drug delivery system using “click chemistry”, which is composed of high-affinity binding chemical couples. By using this novel technique, we have shown an 8-fold increase in tumor uptake of small molecule drugs compared to the conventional drug delivery, with no discernable toxicity in lymphoma models. My second major area of research involves cell signaling pathways, and their impact on lymphoma cell survival. If this novel targeted therapy platform proves successful, pretargeted nanoparticle approach can be utilized to enhance the potency and precision of small molecule drugs for treatment of relapsed mantle cell lymphoma and transformed follicular lymphoma, which are associated with chemoresistance and poor prognosis.
Program Name(s)
Translational Research Program
Project Title
Next-Generation Targeted Therapy in Mantle Cell Lymphoma and Transformed Follicular Lymphoma
Fahmin Basher
transplant and GvHD
Fahmin Basher, MD, PhD
Durham, NC
United States
Duke University Medical Center
Fahmin Basher, MD, PhD completed her bachelor’s degrees in chemical engineering and biological sciences at the University of South Carolina. She then went on to pursue a combined MD/PhD in cancer immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina in the Medical Scientist Training Program under the mentorship of Jennifer Wu, PhD. She completed her internal medicine residency training at the University of Miami prior to transitioning to Duke University for her hematology/medical oncology fellowship training. During her fellowship, she served as chief fellow and was supported by the Duke Hematology and Transfusion Medicine T32 training grant. Her clinical and research interests include a focus in translational immunology, particularly the treatment of hematologic malignancies and optimization of therapeutic approaches and complications after stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy. She is currently being mentored by Stefanie Sarantopoulos, MD, PhD.
Program Name(s)
Career Development Program
Project Title
The Role of the DNA Sensor AIM2 in B Cell Fate and Function After HCT
Amit Verma
AML/MDS
Amit Verma, MBBS
Bronx, NY
United States
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Dr Verma has been involved in study of blood cancers such as MDS and AML in the lab and in the clinic. His work has defined the critical role of various signaling pathways (p38 MAP kinase, TGF-beta, smad2/3, IRAK and others) activation in MDS and CMML and this work has directly led to the therapeutic targeting as these pathways in clinical trials in MDS/AML (Nat Cell Bio 2019, JCI 2018, Blood 2015, 2011, JCO 2020, NEJM 2020). The FDA approval of Luspatercept in MDS was also supported by his work in the lab. Dr Verma was on the team to first define stem cell alterations in MDS/AML (Nat Med, 2018; JCI 2014, Blood 2012). Dr Verma has conducted clinical studies in blood cancers (Nat Med, 2022, Cancer Cell 2021, Can Disc, 2020; JAMA Onc 2018) that have studied the effects of COVID-19 and environmental exposures (WTC 911 disaster) on outcomes and pathogenesis. He has also been actively engaged in early phase clinical trials that are investigating novel agents for MDS and AML.
Program Name(s)
CMML Initiative
Special Grants
Studies on clonal hematopoiesis in the 911 WTC first responders
Hayden Bell, PhD
Bosto, MA
United States
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Hayden Bell is a research fellow in Dr. Andrew Lane’s lab at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and a research fellow at Harvard Medical School. He is focusing on the application of novel research techniques to discover cures for blood cancers. In his PhD research, he identified novel drug combinations for the treatment of high-risk and relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). He also developed a cutting-edge pipeline allowing large-scale drug screening of primary leukemias using machine learning which is helping other researchers in the battle against leukemias. Now, Hayden is applying his leukemia biology expertise to other high-risk blood cancers including acute myeloid leukemia (AML). He is specifically focused upon sex-biased drivers and dependencies in myeloid disease, and how these might afford new opportunities for novel treatments.
Program Name(s)
Career Development Program