Who We Fund

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

I am a doctor and scientist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center who studies the immune system in people with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). My goal is to understand why the immune system stops working well in this disease and to develop new treatments that help immune cells fight cancer more effectively.

I trained as a hematologist and later learned laboratory and computer-based research methods, which I now use together to study how immune cells behave in leukemia. My work has helped reveal why some immune therapies do not last and how we might improve them.

I grew up in a low-income family in Italy and was able to pursue my education through scholarships (University of Pisa, University of Florence, University of Siena, Johns Hopkins University). These experiences strengthened my commitment to helping patients and supporting others from disadvantaged backgrounds. I hope my research will lead to better, more durable treatments for people living with AML.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Rejuvenating TCR-T Cells to Treat and Prevent Relapse in Acute Myeloid Leukemia

TAP Partner

Rgenta Therapeutics is developing a pipeline of oral, small-molecule RNA-targeting medicines with an initial focus on oncology and neurological disorders. Rgenta has a proprietary platform to mine the massive genomics data to identify targetable RNA processing events and to design small-molecule glues to modulate the interactions among the spliceosome, regulatory proteins, and RNAs. 

Rgenta is working closely with TAP to further develop RNA-targeting molecules by supporting preclinical studies with the goal of moving towards clinical development in hematological malignancies. 

Program Name(s)

Therapy Acceleration Program

Project Title

Supporting development of RNA-targeting molecules for blood cancers

Yale University

The first-generation in his family to attend college, Dr. Girardi is the Evans Professor of Dermatology and Vice Chair of Faculty Development & Scientific Innovation at the Yale School of Medicine. The previous Co-Director of the Immunology and Immunotherapy Program for the Yale Cancer Center, Dr. Girardi has committed his career as a physician-scientist to the care of lymphoma patients and the discovery of new treatments. Dr. Girardi has led a highly collaborative research program funded by the National Cancer Institute for 20+ years investigating lymphoma and immunology, including major findings on the genetics, therapeutics development, and formulation of treatment guidelines through the U.S. Cutaneous Lymphoma Consortium and International Society of Cutaneous Lymphoma. Dr. Girardi also serve on the Leadership Council for Advancing Innovation in Dermatology and has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Personalized Anti-TCRVbeta2 therapeutic antibody and ADC for T Cell Leukemias and Lymphomas

The University of Sydney

I am Head of the Cancer and Stem Cell Laboratory, and my research has been focused on leukemia stem cell biology and targeted therapies in the past 15 years. I have an extensive background in leukemia research, with specific training and expertise in stem cell biology, patient-derived preclinical models, CRISPR-genome editing, and single-cell multi-omics. As PI on several NHMRC-funded grants, I laid the groundwork for the proposed research by uncovering new therapeutic targets and mechanisms, and by establishing partnerships with industry that will enable personalized therapies into clinical application. I successfully administered the projects (e.g. staffing, research protections, timeline, budget), collaborated with researchers, and produced publications from each project in leading scientific journals (e.g. Cancer Cell, Blood). The current application builds logically on my prior work. I have the expertise, leadership, and motivation necessary to successfully carry out this project.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Strategic combinations to overcome therapeutic resistance and relapse in acute myeloid leukemia

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

Dr Dhodapkar is a physician-scientist with expertise in clinical/translational research in cancer immunology/dendritic cell (DC) biology and in immunobiology of myeloma (MM) and related diseases. Following training in immunology in the lab of Nobel Laureate (Late) Ralph Steinman, Dhodapkar lab has been focused on studies of immunobiology of myeloma and cancer immunology. His clinical practice has been focused on patients with myeloma for past 20+ years. He carried the earliest studies of adoptive human DC transfer and in vivo targeting of human DCs. His laboratory has made several seminal contributions to MM biology and cancer immunology. In terms of clinical research in MM, he has led several clinical studies, including the first clinical studies that led to the discovery of anti-myeloma effects of thalidomide (UArk98-003), first US national cooperative group studies in precursor gammopathies(S0120), AL amyloidosis(S9826) and co-led the first phase III studies (E3A06) showing successful prevention of clinical MM. He has served on several panels for clinical guidelines, including as lead for SITC clinical immunotherapy guidelines panel for myeloma. He has co-led the cancer immunology programs at Yale and Emory for the past decade. His work has been cited >34K times with h-index 87. Relevant to the current proposal, he/his group has played a major role in clinical development of T-cell engagers as well as IMiDs in MM, developed the first genetically-humanized model for myeloma and provided new insights into spatial immunology.

Program Name(s)

Academic Clinical Trials Program (ACT)

Project Title

Pilot trial of microbial targeting to prevent myeloma

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

Dr. Meshinchi and Dr. Locatelli will serve as co-PIs.

Dr. Meshinchi, a pediatric oncologist and stem cell transplant physician at Fred Hutch, has 25 years of experience in AML biology and novel therapeutics. He led AML biology efforts for Children's Oncology Group (COG) for over two decades and identified several AML-specific targets, including mesothelin, now in clinical development.

Dr. Locatelli, Director of Pediatric Oncology at Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital (OPBG) in Italy, is one of the most renowned oncologists in the world. He is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking work in the treatment of pediatric leukemias, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, and immunotherapies including CAR-T cell therapy. As chair of the Italian Association for Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (AIEOP) AML working party, he has positioned OPBG at the forefront of early-phase CAR-T trials for pediatric cancers, offering hope to children with otherwise untreatable cancers.

Program Name(s)

Academic Clinical Trials Program (ACT)

Project Title

Novel Immunotherapeutic Development in Childhood AML

Multi-modal Immunotherapeutic Targeting of AML-restricted Targets in Infants and Children

Novel immunotherapeutic strategies in infants with high risk AML

University of Florida

Jonathan D. Licht, MD, is the Director of the University of Florida Health Cancer Institute, leading it to become the 72nd NCI-designated center in the country. Dr. Licht’s laboratory studies the role of abnormal function of histone methyltransferases and demethylases in malignancies such as multiple myeloma and acute lymphoblastic leukemia and recently described a new class of mutations in histones in cancer. NCI funded for nearly 35 years, Dr. Licht is also Principal Investigator of a Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) Specialized Center of Research, now in its 17th year of funding. He is the founding Editor- in-Chief of Blood Neoplasia, a new journal of the American Society of Hematology, and serves on the editorial boards of Cancer Research, Oncogene and Clinical Cancer Research. Dr. Licht was the first chair of the AACR Taskforce on Hematological Malignancies of and currently is Chair of the Medical/Scientific Board of the LLS. Dr. Licht has published more than 230 articles, reviews and book chapters and has mentored over 40 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and 20 faculty members.

Program Name(s)

Specialized Center of Research Program

Project Title

Epigenetic Mechanisms and Targeting in Hematological Malignancy

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Anita Kumar, MD is an Associate Attending at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where she specializes in mantle cell lymphoma. Dr. Kumar leads the Memorial Sloan Kettering mantle cell lymphoma research program. She serves as a principal investigator for a number of clinical trials studying novel therapies for the treatment of mantle cell lymphoma and novel clinical applications of minimal residual disease assessment. She completed her undergraduate studies in Biochemical Sciences at Harvard College and medical school at Northwestern University. She then completed her internship and residency at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and subsequently completed her hematology/oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Novel Immunotherapy Combinations in Relapsed, Refractory Mantle Cell Lymphoma

Columbia

I am an Associate Professor in Pediatric Hematology Oncology and Director of the Pediatric Immunotherapy Program at Columbia University. My work focuses on advancing immune therapies (CAR T cells) for children with cancer. I recently transitioned from Stanford University (2013–2025), where I led early first-in-human CAR T cell trials and helped deliver over 250 CAR-therapies to children with advanced cancer. Recognizing a major gap in data sharing, I founded the Pediatric Real-world CAR Consortium, a collaboration of over 50 pediatric oncology centers that enables large-scale data and sample sharing. Through this effort, we have identified predictors of survival and toxicity, modifiable treatment factors that impact survival, and informed international clinical trials. Given the recent approval of CAR T cells, long-term outcomes remain poorly understood. Our next goal is to study survivorship, late effects, and strategies to improve cure rates while reducing toxicity.

Program Name(s)

Dare to Dream

Project Title

Establishing longitudinal outcomes and clinical prognosticators in pediatric and young adult B-ALL after commercially available CD19-CAR T cells

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

I am the Edward P. Evans Chair in MDS at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) where I also serve as Chair of the Molecular Pharmacology Program. My clinical areas of expertise are in myeloid malignancies, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and rare forms of leukemias (hairy cell leukemia, CMML, BPDCN, and histiocytoses). 

Over the last ten years, my laboratory has been focused on understanding alterations in the process of RNA splicing in cancer. Motivated by the discovery of high frequency mutations in the splicing machinery in leukemias and MDS, my lab’s work has led to the development of several therapeutic approaches for these genetic subtypes of cancer. I have received the Seldin-Smith Award for Pioneering Research from the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Dameshek Prize from the American Society of Hematology, and the Pershing Square Sohn Prize for Young Investigators in Cancer Research.

Program Name(s)

Discovery

Project Title

TCR T cells for the treatment of SRSF2 mutant myeloid neoplasms

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

Multiple Myeloma Support from the Microenvironment: Bone Marrow Adipocytes and the Fatty Acid Binding Proteins

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Coming soon.

Program Name(s)

Student Mentorship and Research Training (SMART)

Project Title

Therapeutic potential of mitochondrial transplantation in the treatment of MDS