Blood Cancer Research

Lore Gruenbaum, Ph.D.

Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of Research

Dr. Lore Gruenbaum joined LLS in 2020 as the Vice President for the Therapy Acceleration Program (TAP), the LLS venture philanthropy program aiming to accelerate high-risk, innovative blood cancer therapeutics. She brings 20 years of drug discovery and clinical development experience to LLS working on small molecules, biologics, RNA-directed and cell therapies in multiple therapeutic areas including oncology, immunology, virology and neuroscience. Most recently, Dr. Gruenbaum was employed as the Vice President, Biology at Gotham Therapeutics pioneering drug discovery in Epitranscriptomics. Prior to this, she was part of the executive leadership team at Applied Biomath where she led collaborative mechanistic modeling projects to accelerate and de-risk drug development for biotech and pharma and acted as the principal investigator on a NIH small business grant. Dr. Gruenbaum held roles of increasing responsibility at Boehringer Ingelheim and Roche Pharmaceuticals driving technical innovation, predictive toxicology, novel mechanistic and biomarker strategies for drug discovery and clinical projects. She completed her Ph.D. at Free University of Berlin with ‘summa cum laude’ and conducted postdoctoral studies at Yale University.

Michael Yaffe, Ph.D.

Vice President of Research

Michael Yaffe is Vice President of Research and oversees the LLS grants program. He works with LLS Research Team members to design and implement new funding programs and to monitor and assist over 250 supported research projects in the LLS grants portfolio. These activities enable transformative discoveries and drive the development of novel therapies to address the unmet medical needs of blood cancer patients. Michael has been deeply involved in the design, implementation, and oversight of biomedical research grant programs for the past 17 years, first as Associate Director of Research Activities at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) and more recently at the New York Stem Cell Foundation. Michael is a Professor Emeritus and was on the faculty for 23 years at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). His laboratory studied cell growth and subcellular structure, with particular focus on mitochondria, the cellular power plants. He also taught both undergraduates and graduate students and served for three years as Associate Dean for Education in Biological Sciences. Prior to joining UCSD, Michael carried out postdoctoral research at the Biozentrum, University of Basel in Basel, Switzerland. Michael attended the University of California, Davis and received a B.S. degree in Biochemistry. He earned the Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Harvard University.

Blaine Robinson, Ph.D.

Vice President, Therapy Acceleration Program

Dr. Blaine Robinson joined LLS in 2011 and was recently promoted in January 2025 to Vice President of the Therapy Acceleration Program (TAP), the venture philanthropy initiative aiming to accelerate high-risk, innovative blood cancer therapeutics. He works closely with the entire LLS Research team and is responsible for identifying and evaluating potential blood cancer drug development opportunities for investment. He has over 20 years of research, drug development and project management experience in the blood cancer field. During his tenure at LLS, he has managed over 25 TAP partnerships and has helped perform scientific due diligence on hundreds of opportunities for TAP.Prior to LLS, Dr. Robinson worked at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where he completed a two year postdoctoral fellowship and continued on as a Research Associate for five years where he was in charge of all research laboratory operations and project management duties in a pediatric leukemia laboratory. He received his Ph.D. degree in Pharmacology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI.

Jun Xu, Ph.D.

Vice President, Business Development & Scientific Strategy

Dr. Jun Xu joined LLS in 2011 as Director of Therapy Acceleration Program (TAP). She was recently promoted from Executive Director – Therapy Acceleration Program Lead to Vice President, Research Business Development and Scientific Strategy. Dr. Xu participates in scientific and business due diligence of TAP funding inquiries. Leveraging her deep scientific knowledge in oncology and immunology and business insight, Dr. Xu has been very successful in selecting high potential TAP projects, such as Kite and Stemline, which led to the TAP-supported approval of Yescarta and Elzonris, respectively. She championed both TAP investments in FortySeven, which generated more than $40 million return on investment to further LLS Mission. Dr. Xu has been an integral member of the TAP team in continuously revising TAP strategy. Dr. Xu is highly respected by and influential to TAP partners. She serves on Research Advisory Committees for a diverse LLS TAP portfolio.Prior to joining LLS Dr. Xu spent more than 16 years working in healthcare industry including more than a decade at Pfizer. Dr. Xu has broad and in-depth experience in drug discovery and development, especially in oncology and inflammation therapeutic areas. She had successfully led multiple projects from target validation to clinical development. Dr. Xu has published in peer reviewed journals including Nature and is the lead inventor for several patents. Dr. Xu received her Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego and conducted her postdoc research at the California Institute of Technology under the mentorship of Dr. Melvin I. Simon.

Javeed Froozan, M.B.A., B.S.

Vice President, Business Development & Strategic Alliances

Javeed joined LLS in 2016 and leads the business, alliance, and portfolio management activities in support of the LLS Therapy Acceleration Program (TAP), Research programs, and other Mission focused initiatives. LLS TAP funding transactions include convertible note, equity, and research funding agreements with private and public companies, and research institutions developing novel products and services. Javeed has worked closely with LLS executives to generate clinical and economic value and manage risks for LLS, partners such as Forty Seven and X4 Pharmaceuticals, and other constituents by strengthening LLS agreements, corporate structure, process, and policies. Javeed’s corporate development experience spans over 25 years in early stage, growth, and large biopharmaceutical and health technology firms. This includes work to acquire over $150M worth of companies, products and technologies, enable two IPO’s in excess of $50M each, strategic sales and funding of projects worth millions of dollars, and to develop and launch new products. His experience also includes fostering investment and job creation with acquisitions of bio-manufacturing, RD, and headquarters facilities using state and local economic development incentives.Prior to LLS, Javeed was at Emergent BioSolutions in its 10x revenue and market cap growth phase from 2003-2015 including leading the acquisition of Trubion Pharmaceuticals. He managed Emergent’s alliance with Pfizer to develop oncology and auto-immune therapeutic candidates, and to develop NuThraxTM, a novel, anthrax vaccine adjuvanted with CPG-7909. He worked with Baxter Healthcare on its cell therapy business focused on CD34+ cells to treat vascular ischemias. Additional work includes benchmarking technology transfer and venture creation, providing pro-bono guidance to entrepreneurs and scientists, and advising on economic planning for the Life Sciences industryJaveed obtained a B.S. in biology from The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and M.B.A. in economics and finance from The University of Michigan, Dearborn.

Erik Nelson, Ph.D.

Executive Director, Research Programs

Erik Nelson joined The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) in 2013. He manages the Career Development Program, LLS’s longest running program, and he contributes to other LLS grant programs. He also provides an analysis of LLS-funded research to LLS staff for grant portfolio management. He has extensive research experience in the molecular biology of blood cancer, having co-authored numerous publications in the field. He previously was an Instructor at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where he researched blood cancer signaling pathways common to many cancers and deciphered means to potentially target these pathways therapeutically. He also performed postdoctoral research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston where he studied how blood cell development is altered in leukemia. He received his PhD in molecular genetics from Johns Hopkins University.

James Kasper, M.S.

Executive Director, Research Programs

Jim Kasper joined LLS in 2007. He is the principle for many LLS grant programs including the Translational Research Program (TRP) and the Screen to Lead Program (SLP). He is also responsible for diligence on corporate/academic assets for investment by the LLS Therapy Acceleration Program of which he is a founding member. TAP seeks to move potential blood cancer therapies through late stage development and into clinical trials. His previous experience in drug discovery is instrumental in helping LLS vet appropriate biotech/pharma investments. His work at LLS spans all aspects of blood cancer research form early pre-clinical investigations up to human clinical trial design.His work for seven years at the NCI Frederick Cancer Research Facility focused on the role of growth factors and oncogenes in normal and malignant blood cell development. The next phase of his career led him to the Biotechnology division of Bayer Health Care where he was involved in cytokine/chemokine protein engineering. He then transferred to the Oncology division of Bayer to lead multi-disciplinary, international teams involved in small molecule drug discovery. During his 14 years at Bayer, his responsibilities included target identification and validation, HTS assay development, in vivo and PK assessment as well has medicinal chemistry optimization of lead molecules.

Orsi Giricz, Ph.D.

Senior Director of Research Programs & Communications

Dr. Orsi Giricz joined the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Research Grants Team in 2018. Orsi brings more than 15 years of academic research experience to LLS, in both the solid and liquid tumor space. She champions basic science and discovery research at the organization, and she is the science officer for the Discovery Grant Program. She is also spearheading research and science communications both externally and internally: from educating and informing our staff to launching LLS Research on various social media platforms. She created and still maintains the publicly available Project Finder web page showcasing the breadth of blood cancer research we fund.Prior to joining LLS, Dr. Giricz was a Faculty Associate and Senior Scientist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where her research focused on various blood cancers, as well as cutaneous malignant melanoma, and triple negative breast cancer. She was the project lead on the Fire Department of New York/Einstein/Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center collaboration—screening all 9/11 first responders for early signs of hematological malignancies. She also studied mechanisms of drug/CAR-T resistance in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Orsi has published in numerous peer reviewed journals and still actively contributes to on-going blood cancer research. Dr. Giricz received her Master of Science degree in Molecular Biology and Immunology from Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary, and her Doctorate in Biochemistry from Florida Atlantic University. She completed her post-doctoral training at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Bettina J. Steffen

Senior Director of Research Programs

First Name Bettina Steffen Dr. Bettina J. Steffen joined LLS in 2023 as Senior Director of Research Programs. She is the science officer for the LLS investigator-initiated clinical trials (ACT) and Research Accelerator for Follicular Lymphoma (RAFL) grant programs focusing on translating innovative research into clinical trials that will pave the way for new therapies to treat blood cancers.Bettina brings more than 15 years of experience in research program leadership and therapeutic development to LLS. Prior to joining LLS, Bettina served as Associate Director of Therapeutic Development at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), where she led a scientific team managing a portfolio of clinical and translational research awards across multiple therapeutic areas including hematology and oncology. She successfully led international funding alliances with the Cancer Stem Cell Consortium Canada and the Medical Research Council of the UK. Earlier in her career, she held roles at ProSanos Corporation and healthcare technology companies, where she managed research programs and developed healthcare innovations. Bettina received her M.D. from Stanford School of Medicine and her A.B. in Biology from Dartmouth College. Beyond her professional work, she demonstrates community commitment through board service at the Urban School of San Francisco and Americares. Ph.D