Who We Fund

Weill Cornell Medicine

Dr. Cerchietti is physician scientist dedicated to translational research in hematology oncology. His lab conduct mechanistic studies on the genetic, metabolic, and epigenetic regulation of lymphoma and microenvironment cells. Therapeutic approaches developed from his lab have been successfully translated to patients in investigator-initiated to cooperative group phase 3 clinical trials. Dr. Cerchietti also developed biomarkers to improve the precision of these interventions. Successfully translated research includes the concept of epigenetic priming to improve chemotherapy and immunotherapy as well as the discovering of the mechanism of action of XPO1 inhibitors in lymphomas contributing to gain FDA approval. A major focus of his lab is the study of the microenvironment to provide novel therapeutic targets as well as patient selection biomarkers (the “LME” classification) to improve the precision of therapies and increase disease curability.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Targeting the microenvironment to increase immunity and immunotherapy response in DLBCL

Oregon Health & Science University

Dr. Maxson is an assistant professor in the Knight Cancer Institute, where she investigates the cellular and molecular changes that cause myeloid leukemias. She pursued her undergraduate studies at Scripps College and then completed her Ph.D. in Cell Biology in the area of protein trafficking and processing. As a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratories of Drs. Jeff Tyner and Brian Druker, she integrated genomic and functional screening data to identify novel therapeutic targets in leukemia. Notably, Dr. Maxson identified mutations in CSF3R in the vast majority of patients with chronic neutrophilic leukemia. She discovered that these mutations confer sensitivity to JAK inhibitors, which resulted in a clinical trial for these patients. The Maxson laboratory works to understand how genomic changes manifest at the cellular level to promote cancer formation and progression. Her long-term goal is to use this understanding to develop lifesaving treatments for patients with leukemia.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Targeting the interplay between signaling and transcriptional dysfunction in myeloid leukemias

University of Nebraska Medical Center

Dr. Chengfeng Bi is an Assistant Professor of Hematology and Oncology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. His research centers on the molecular pathogenesis of blood cancers and the development of novel therapeutic strategies. With over a decade of experience in lymphoma research, Dr. Bi has extensive expertise in translational studies and a sustained commitment to advancing therapeutic innovation in hematologic malignancies. He serves as the Principal Investigator of the North American Mantle Cell Lymphoma Project (NAMCLP), a collaborative network of 23 institutions across North America dedicated to improving the clinical management of Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL) through large-scale, multi-institutional research and the translation of biological discoveries into improved patient outcomes.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

SHP-1 Activation by Sorafenib Derivatives as a Novel Therapeutic Strategy for Mantle Cell Lymphoma

University of Wisconsin at Madison

I have been interested in basic and translational work related to cancer since my master’s resulting in a thesis on bone metastasis of breast cancer. Part of my PhD work explored the molecular mechanisms of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). I have studied the use of metformin, as an anti-cancer agent and demonstrated that metformin through activation of AMPK/ RUNX1/ SOCS3 axis and inhibition of glycolytic fluxes overcomes the imatinib resistance in CML patients. I joined Dr. Jing Zhang’s lab at the University of Wisconsin. Under her guidance, I had a chance to explore the molecular players involved in a subset of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with concurrent RAS and ASXL1 mutations, which define one of the worst AML prognosis groups. I have been actively collaborating with numerous investigators on and off campus to work on patient derived xenograft model for pre-clinical development of therapeutic approaches targeting both leukemia cells and suppressed T cells in NRAS; ASXL1 AML.

Project Title

Enhancing the cytotoxicity of T cells in NRAS; ASXL1-AML through combined inhibition of MEK and HDACs

Weill Cornell Medicine

John P. Leonard, MD, is the Richard T. Silver Distinguished Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology and Senior Associate Dean for Innovation and Initiatives at Weill Cornell Medicine. He is Executive Vice Chairman of the Weill Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian Hospital.  Dr. Leonard’s research has been published in numerous medical journals, and he has served as a member of the editorial boards of Blood and the Journal of Clinical Oncology, leading international journals in these fields. He is Chair of the Lymphoma Committee of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, a multicenter cooperative group and key component of the National Cancer Institute’s National Clinical Trials Network. Dr. Leonard’s primary research interest is in the development of novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of lymphoma and related hematologic malignancies, and he has lectured at major international meetings on these topics. He also has studied prognostic, imaging and survivorship issues for lymphoma patients.

Program Name(s)

IMPACT

Project Title

BRIDGE (Blood cancer Research Initiative Developing Greater Engagement) with community patients

Mayo Clinic, Rochester

Grzegorz (Greg) Nowakowski, M.D., is a consultant and a Professor of Oncology and Medicine, Division of Hematology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester,Minnesota, where he also serves as the Aggressive B-cell Lymphoma Program Director, the Chairman of Education,and an Advanced Hematology Fellowship Program Director. Dr. Nowakowski received his MD from the Medical University of Warsaw, Poland. He completed his internal medicine residency at Yale University Medical School -Norwalk Hospital, Norwalk, Connecticut and his fellowship in Hematology and Medical Oncology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. Dr Nowakowski joined the Mayo Clinic Lymphoma Group in 2006 as a Mayo Foundation Scholar.Heis an alumnus of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Clinical Research Training Institute and American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Leadership Development Program. Dr. Nowakowski’s research focuses on the molecular classification and biology of lymphoproliferative disorders,new approaches to clinical trial design and novel therapies for lymphoma and hematological disorders. Heis an investigator in University of Iowa/Mayo Clinic Lymphoma Specialized Center of Research Excellence program, where he leads career enhancement program. Dr. Nowakowski has authored over 200 articles and numerous book chapters. Dr.Nowakowski serves as a principal investigator of multiple investigator-initiated and cooperative group clinical trials(ECOG, Alliance) and industry studies and serves and a member of ECOG Lymphoma Core Committee. Dr.Nowakowski also chairs the Lymphoma Committee and Hematological Malignancy Program in the Academic and Community Cancer Research United (ACCRU) network. He currently serves as a vice Chair of ASH Clinical Trial Innovation Subcommittee chair of ASCO Research Community Forum and ASCO Clinical Trial Access and Participation Taskforce. Dr. Nowakowski has served as Voting Member of the Oncology Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Program Name(s)

IMPACT

Project Title

REACH: Recruitment Expansion through community Access to Clinical trials in Hematologic malignancies

Fondazione Centro San Raffaele

Dr. Matteo Bellone obtained an M.D. degree (with honors) and was Board Certified in Allergology and Clinical Immunology at the Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy. He had a 3-year post-doctoral training at the University of Minnesota working on autoimmunity with Bianca Conti-Fine. Since the early nineties he has been investigating interactions between cancer and immune cells with discoveries leading to several clinical outputs. He is Head of the Cellular Immunology Unit at Ospedale San Raffaele (Milan, Italy), where he also practices as Clinical Immunologist. He is adjunct professor of Immunology at Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Associate Editor at Frontiers in Immunology and Frontiers in Oncology, and member of several boards serving scientific journals and charities. He is Secretary and Treasurer of the Network Italiano per la BioTerapia dei Tumori (NIBIT), Council Member of the European Network for Cancer Immunotherapy (ENCI), and member of the SIICA, and the AACR.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Gut microbiota modulation to prevent progression of smoldering multiple myeloma to active disease

TAP Partner

Dimericon is a private biotech company focused on exploring crosslinked helix dimers (Dimericons) as therapeutics and templates for small molecule development. Dimericon’s technology targets hard-to-drug intracellular protein-protein interactions using rationally designed mimetics of helix dimers. The Seed round of financing will support preclinical studies to further develop the current cFLIP inhibitor lead compound, DMRX1004, to be an IND ready clinical candidate in hematological malignancies.

Program Name(s)

Therapy Acceleration Program

Project Title

Supporting development of dimericons (crosslinked helix dimers) for blood cancers

Durham VA Health Care System

Dr. Friedman is a hematologist-oncologist at the Durham VA Health Care System (DVAHCS) and National TeleOncology (NTO) Program, a Professor at the Duke University School of Medicine, and is the Deputy Director of the VA National Oncology Program. She is the DVAHCS site PI for the NCI and VA Interagency Group to Accelerate Trials Enrollment (NAVIGATE) program, which facilitates enrollment of Veterans with cancer into NCI-funded clinical trials. She is the lead for the Cancer Clinical Research Service (CCRS) in NTO, which offers clinical trial navigation to Veterans with cancer and runs decentralized cancer clinical trials across the VA network.

Program Name(s)

Equity in Access

Project Title

REACH: Researching & Enhancing Access to Clinical trials in Veterans with Hematologic cancers

University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus

I am a scientist of Indian origin who moved to the US upon completion of a Master’s in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology degree. I obtained my PhD in Cancer Biology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, in the laboratory of Dr. Rob Welner. My PhD project focused on identifying basic mechanisms of drug resistance in blood cancer stem cells. This work culminated in 4 first author and 9 co-author publications. To gain experience in translational research, grant writing and mentoring, I am pursuing postdoctoral studies with Dr. Craig Jordan at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Here, I am leveraging my training in blood cancer and stem cell biology to identify new approaches for targeting malignant stem cells in myelodysplastic syndrome. This training will help me achieve my long-term goal of establishing an independent translational research program to improve outcomes for blood cancer patients and mentor students interested in pursuing a blood cancer research career.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Nicotinamide metabolism is essential for myelodysplastic syndrome stem and progenitor cell function and survival

The University of Alabama at Birmingham

Dr. Goyal obtained his medical school diploma from Smt. N.H.L. Municipal Medical College in Ahmedabad, India, in 2011 and moved to the US to complete a residency in Internal Medicine from Creighton University Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska in 2016. He pursued a fellowship in hematology-oncology from Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota from 2016-2019. He developed a unique focus in histiocytic neoplasms, including Erdheim-Chester disease, Langerhans cell histiocytosis, and Rosai-Dorfman disease. He conducted multiple studies describing the epidemiology, treatments, and outcomes of patients with histiocytosis and led to the establishment of first of its kind multidisciplinary Histiocytosis Working Group. He has led national and international guidelines on the diagnosis and management of these rare disease entities. He was subsequently recruited to join the Hematology-Oncology division at University of Alabama at Birmingham as an Assistant Professor in 2019 where he launched the Histiocytic Disorder Survivor Study to assess long-term outcomes among individuals with histiocytic neoplasms.

Program Name(s)

Special Grants

A Multi-Center, Multi-National Investigation of Survivorship and Patient-Reported Symptoms in Erdheim-Chester Disease

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Dr. Mark Murakami is a physician-scientist dedicated to advancing curative treatments for follicular lymphoma. Based in the Division of Hematologic Neoplasia at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Dr. Murakami leads a research group focused on understanding how minute numbers of lymphoma cells survive the initial effect of treatment, persist even when patients are in clinical remission, and later expand to cause relapse. Eradication of these rare cells, called minimal residual disease, is felt to be the key to curing follicular lymphoma. Dr. Murakami has dedicated his career to developing methods for tracking, isolating, and analyzing minimal residual disease and understanding how these cells evade pharmacologic therapy as well as the anti-lymphoma immune response. He uses this information to devise novel treatments for rigorous evaluation – first in the laboratory and eventually in clinical trials run by clinical colleagues – that we hope will cure follicular lymphoma.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Exploiting tumor-immune dynamics to inform curative combination therapy for follicular lymphoma