Bing Carter
p53 mutant AML
Bing Carter, PhD
Houston, TX
United States
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Dr. Carter, a Professor in the Section of Molecular Hematology and Therapy, Department of Leukemia has 20+ years of experience in molecular biology, biochemistry, and leukemia research. Her research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of drug resistance and targeting anti-apoptotic proteins and cell survival signaling pathways in myeloid leukemia. She is developing mechanism-based combinational strategies in therapy-resistant AML to overcome drug resistance and eradicate myeloid leukemia cells and leukemia stem/progenitor cells. She has published extensively in the field and several clinical trials have been developed based on her pre-clinical studies. Her recent works demonstrated the effectiveness and mechanisms of action of combined inhibition of antiapoptotic proteins Bcl-2 and Mcl-1 using BH3 mimetics (Blood Cancer Journal, 2023) and targeting HSP90 epichaperomes (Blood, 2023) in TP53 mutant AML.
Program Name(s)
Translational Research Program
Project Title
Lev Kats
myeloma and epigenetics
Lev Kats, PhD
Parkville, VIC
Australia
The University of Melbourne
Dr. Lev Kats is head of the Targeted Therapeutics Laboratory at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. He completed his PhD at Monash University and postdoctoral training at Beth Israel Deaconess Centre/Harvard Medical School. Dr. Kats has made major contributions in the areas of targeted therapies, epigenetics and hematological malignancies including through discovery of important functions of cancer promoting genes and the characterization of the molecular mechanisms of anti-leukemic drugs. His laboratory uses model systems, functional and molecular genomics approaches to develop and test new therapeutic strategies for aggressive blood cancers.
Program Name(s)
Translational Research Program
Project Title
Targeting DCAF1 as a novel treatment strategy for therapy resistant multiple myeloma
Raymond Mailhot
Equity in Access
Raymond Mailhot, MD, MPH
Jacksonville, FL
United States
University of Florida
Despite Hodgkin lymphoma’s (HL) favorable prognosis, Black and Hispanic patients have worse survival rates compared to White patients. Insurance status and non-White race and ethnicity are associated with the inequitable receipt of optimal treatments, as well as survivorship care. Patients’ decision-making experiences with their clinicians influence cancer care, and shared decision-making (SDM) is central to patient-centered care when patients have multiple treatment options. However, in hematologic cancer care, many physicians underestimate patient preference for SDM, and HL survivors report minimal involvement in decision-making about their treatment and care.
Program Name(s)
Equity in Access
Project Title
Insurance Inequities in Hodgkin Lymphoma Treatment and Survivorship in the Southeast
Frederike Kramer
MPNs
Frederike Kramer, PhD
Boston, MA
United States
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
My current research explores the mechanisms by which epigenetic mutations drive the progression of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). Throughout my graduate and now postgraduate development, my research focused on the biology and pathogenesis of MPN. After completing my BSc and MSc in Biotechnology, I pursued my doctoral training at Charité in Berlin, Germany, and completed my PhD at Freie Universität Berlin with summa cum laude. My graduate work focused on platelet-derived growth factor receptor signaling in myelofibrosis, the most aggressive type of MPN. Building on my prior experience in blood cancer research, I joined Prof. Ann Mullally’s laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital for my postdoctoral training. Here, I am investigating the role of ASXL1 mutations during progression of MPN using mouse and human model systems.
Program Name(s)
Career Development Program
Project Title
Investigating the Role of ASXL1 Mutations in CALR-mutated Myeloproliferative Neoplasms
Matthew Frank
Lymphoma CART therapy
Matthew Frank, MD PhD
Palo Alto, CA
United States
Stanford University
I am a physician-scientist and an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (BMT&CT). Clinically, I care for patients with high-risk lymphoma and other blood cancers. I am the principal investigator of clinical trials investigating novel chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies for the treatment of relapsed and refractory leukemia and lymphoma. These trials, in part, provide the critical and precious patient samples that are the subject of my laboratory-based research efforts. My research group is dedicated to understanding the clinical outcomes of our patients who receive these immunotherapies with the goal of improving clinical response while minimizing toxicity.
Program Name(s)
Academic Clinical Trials Program (ACT)
Project Title
Autologous CD22 CAR T cell Therapy for the Treatment of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
Inhye Ahn
CLL
Inhye Ahn, MD
Boston, MA
United States
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
I am an Assistant Professor at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) specializing in clinical investigations of CLL. Until 2021, I served as PI of investigator-sponsored studies at the NIH, including two trials specifically designed for CLL patients with high-risk genomic features. These efforts provided the largest and longest follow-up experience available for TP53 aberrant CLL treated with ibrutinib and revealed BTK mutations leading to treatment resistance. My immediate research goal is to apply the skills and knowledge learned from the previous work to investigate mechanisms of drug resistance emerging after targeted combination therapy. I have established collaboration with other investigators and am prospectively collecting research samples from a phase 2 study of zanubrutinib and venetoclax (NCT05168930). I envision data from the study will establish genomic markers as a decision-making tool that informs the selection of treatment regimens and modification of treatment duration.
Program Name(s)
Career Development Program
Project Title
Clinical and molecular determinants of CLL eradication with targeted combination therapy
Meng Li
Equity in Access
Meng Li, PhD
Houston, TX
United States
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Dr. Meng Li is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Health Services Research at the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center and a nonresident fellow at the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics at the University of Southern California. Dr. Li completed her PhD in Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy at University of Washington, where co-PI, Dr. Flowers also completed his MS. Dr. Li’s research uses various data sources including population-based cancer registries, nationwide administrative claims databases, national survey data, and data from clinical trials and observational series to examine disease burden, factors that influence health care utilization, the effect of health care utilization on health outcomes, and the cost-sharing burden of prescription drugs. In particular, Her research has used Optum and SEER-Medicare data to examine disparity in initiation of immunotherapies among lung cancer and melanoma patients, the association between spending on several types of treatment and outcomes in breast cancer, and catastrophic spending among cancer patients on oral targeted anticancer medicines. Dr. Li has also developed methods to quantify novel elements of value for medical technologies in economic evaluations, which has important implications on the practice of value assessment. She meets regularly and collaborates with Drs. Shih and Flowers. Dr. Li’s research work has been published in top clinical, health economics, and health policy journals.
Program Name(s)
Equity in Access
Project Title
Stephen Nimer
myeloid cancer biology
Stephen Nimer, MD
Coral Gables, FL
United States
University of Miami
Dr. Nimer has cared for patients with MDS, AML, multiple myeloma, and lymphoma for over three decades. This melding of clinical studies and care, with both basic laboratory and translational studies, reflects the fundamental focus of his career. Since coming to the University of Miami-Miller School of Medicine in 2012 and assuming the Directorship of the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, the center received the prestigious National Cancer Institute designation in July 2019. In November 2019, Dr. Nimer was named the inaugural Oscar de la Renta Endowed Chair in Cancer Research. He has been elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigators and the Association of American Physicians. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and serves on the editorial board of several medical journals. In April 2021, Dr. Nimer was inducted into the Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine of Florida. Dr. Nimer is also the Chairman of the Myelodysplastic Syndrome Foundation, and the Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board of Gabrielle's Angel Foundation for Cancer Research.
Program Name(s)
Specialized Center of Research Program
Project Title
Pooja Khandelwal
bone marrow transplantation
Pooja Khandelwal, MD
Cincinnati, OH
United States
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
I am a pediatric oncologist and associate professor in the division of bone marrow transplantation at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. I have a clinical and research interest in graft versus host disease because this is the most significant, devastating and life-impacting complication after a bone marrow transplant. I led the study in children of high dose oral vitamin A and showed that when given before starting chemotherapy, vitamin A reduces acute gastrointestinal and chronic graft versus host disease. I am now collaborating with 3 adult BMT programs to try and validate my findings in adult BMT patients as adults tend to have more chronic GVHD than children and I would like to extend this easy and effective strategy to patients of all ages across the US and worldwide.
Program Name(s)
Academic Clinical Trials Program (ACT)
Project Title
A randomized clinical trial of oral vitamin A to reduce chronic graft versus host disease in BMT
Stefan Bjelosevic, PhD
Boston, MA
United States
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
I am a Postdoctoral Fellow with a strong background in malignant hematology research. My work focusses on identifying targetable metabolic vulnerabilities in aggressive leukemias in which effective treatment regimens are limited. I completed my PhD under the mentorship of Professor Ricky Johnstone at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, Australia, where I discovered that FLT3-ITD mutations, among the most common in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), promote the biosynthesis of the amino acid serine. Genetic or pharmacological ablation of serine biosynthesis was selectively lethal to FLT3-ITD-mutant AML cells and synergized with cytarabine, the standard of care chemotherapy agent. This work was published in Cancer Discovery in 2021. My postdoctoral work unifies and builds on my interests and expertise in AML model generation and characterization, large-scale genetic screening, transcription, epigenetics, cellular metabolism, and use of in vivo models for therapeutic validation.
Program Name(s)
Career Development Program
Project Title
Lucas Ferrari De Andrade, PhD
New York, NY
United States
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Hello, I am Lucas Ferrari de Andrade and the principal investigator. I am from Brazil and with my wife we immigrated to the United States in 2014. We now have our two-year old son, born here in New York City. I worked for five years as postdoc at Harvard Medical School, where I developed a molecule that elicits potent anti-tumor immunity. Two years ago I started my own laboratory, to apply this molecule to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). My lab is very productive, in record timing we published our first research article. Our work is supporting a clinical trial by a pharmaceutical company, which does not financially support our lab and that will conduct the trial against solid tumors. Our research will show that AML can also be targeted. However, our research is having huge financial cost and we urgently need new awards to continue developing this potential treatment for AML. My scientific career has focused on the development of new molecules that can be used by doctors to treat cancer.
Program Name(s)
Translational Research Program
Project Title
Optimizing MICA/B antibody for AML by selective binding to Fc activating receptors
Daniel Pollyea
AML
Daniel Pollyea, MD
Aurora, CO
United States
University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus
Dr. Daniel Pollyea has received degrees from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and Stanford University. He served as Chief Medical Resident at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. He has been the Principal Investigator for multiple early-phase clinical trials and been involved in the clinical development and approval of four drugs for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). He has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers, spoken to audiences around the world about this work, and is currently the Chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines Committee on AML. His work involves developing ways to target leukemia stem cells in patients with AML and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Eradication can result in deep and durable remissions, or even cures. His team’s efforts have involved identifying vulnerabilities in the ways that leukemia stem cells process energy. These weaknesses can be specifically exploited with novel drug therapies, and Dr. Pollyea is focused on developing and running clinical trials that use these agents to target these weaknesses.
Program Name(s)
Career Development Program
Project Title
Targeting Leukemia Stem Cells in the Clinical Setting: The Development of A Comprehensive Program