Who We Fund

Seattle Children’s Hospital

Kasey Leger, MD, MSc is a pediatric oncologist at Seattle Children’s Hospital and Associate Professor at the University of Washington. Dr. Leger’s clinical and research interests focus on hematologic malignancies and cancer therapy associated cardiotoxicity. Dr. Leger leads the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) Myeloid Cardiotoxicity Working Group and the cardiac correlative studies embedded in the ongoing COG phase III randomized trial of CPX-351 in children with de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Additionally, she is the principal investigator of the Seattle Children’s Cardiotoxicity Cohort Study assessing novel blood and imaging-based markers of cardiotoxicity. Dr. Leger’s overarching research goals are to reduce the toxicity of cancer therapy through primary cardioprotective interventions and identify validated risk predictors to guide secondary cardioprotection and ultimately contribute to long-term cancer cure without the burden of life-threatening heart disease during survivorship.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Cardioprotective Strategies and Cardiotoxicity Prediction in Children with Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

Daniel Lucas uses microscopy to understand how blood cells are produced in the marrow of the bone and how leukemia inhibits this process. A native Spaniard, he obtained his PhD in Madrid training with Drs. Antonio Bernad and Luis Blanco. Then he moved to New York for postdoctoral training in Paul Frenette’s lab. There he discovered basic mechanisms through which the nervous system regulates blood cell production. He also identified macrophages and megakaryocytes -two types of cells produced by the blood stem cells- as key regulators of those very same blood stem cells. This was the first demonstration that the stem cells were regulated by their own progeny. He established his own research group at the University of Michigan Medical School before being recruited to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. His group has discovered mechanisms that promote faster blood recovery after transplantation and deciphered how several types of blood cells assemble in the bone marrow.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Cellular Crosstalk In The Normal And Malignant Bone Marrow

The University of Melbourne

Professor Dawson is the Associate Director for Research Translation, a Program Head in Laboratory Research and a Consultant Haematologist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. His research interest is studying the role of epigenetic regulators in the initiation, maintenance and progression of cancer. His current research spans cell and molecular biology, functional genomics, cancer immunology, chemical biology and clinical translation. He is the Sir Edward Dunlop Fellow for the Cancer Council of Victoria and a HHMI International Research Scholar. In recognition of his research achievements, he has been elected to the Australian Academy of Science, the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and an EMBO member. He has received several prestigious awards including the McCulloch & Till Award from the International Society of Experimental Haematology, the Jacques Miller Medal from the Australian Academy of Science and the Prime Minister’s Prize as Life Scientist in 2020.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Understanding molecular determinants of immune evasion to CAR-T cells at single clone resolution

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

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Robert J. Soiffer, MD, is Chief of the Division of Hematologic Malignancies and Chair of the Executive Committee for Clinical Programs at Dana Farber Cancer Institute as well as the Worthington and Margaret Collette Professor of Medicine in the Field of Hematologic Oncology at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Soiffer served as President of the American Society for Transplant and Cellular Therapies and Chair of the Advisory Board for the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research. He is a member of the Executive Steering Committees for Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network. Dr. Soiffer is Immediate Past Chair of the Board of Directors for the National Marrow Donor Program.

Dr. Soiffer conducts research focused on modulation of immune reconstitution in the setting of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HCT). His goal is to develop technologies to improve patient outcomes by optimizing graft versus leukemia (GVL) activity without inducing graft versus host disease (GVHD). Dr. Soiffer has co-authored more than 400 peer-reviewed manuscripts and numerous book chapters, review articles, editorials, and monographs.

Program Name(s)

Specialized Center of Research Program

Project Title

Understanding and Overcoming Mechanisms of Immune Evasion after Allogeneic Transplant

TAP Partnet

Vittoria Biotherapeutics is developing novel CAR-T cell therapies that transcend the limitations of current cell therapies. Based on technology exclusively licensed from the University of Pennsylvania, Vittoria's proprietary Senza5 platform unlocks the antitumor potential of engineered T cells and utilizes a five-day manufacturing process to maximize stemness, durability, and target cell cytotoxicity. By acting on the fundamental biology of T cells, Senza5 can be used to improve the efficacy of engineered T cell therapies with pipeline applications in oncology and autoimmune diseases.

Program Name(s)

Therapy Acceleration Program

Project Title

A phase 1 study of VIPER-101, a CD5-edited dual population chimeric antigen receptor cell therapy, to enhance immunotherapy against T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma

University of Cincinnati

Dr. Eric Vick is a physician-scientist and instructor at the University of Cincinnati focused on novel translational therapies for myeloid neoplasia. He is originally from Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Vick obtained his B.S. in Biological Sciences in 2009 from the University of Tennessee, and then his Ph.D. in Molecular Biosciences in 2014. He then earned his M.D. from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in 2018 after which he matched into the Physician-Scientist Training Program at the University of Cincinnati, combining his residency, fellowship, and a dedicated post-doctoral fellowship. He graduated his clinical training in Hematology and Oncology in 2023. Since 2022 Dr. Vick has been working in the Starczynowski Lab, where his project focuses on modalities to combine inflammatory modulation through inhibition of IRAK4 with other small molecule inhibitors. He also studies changes in cancer cells following treatment failure with conventional therapies.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Targeting Myeloid Malignancies through IRAK4 Synthetic Lethality Dependencies

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

Dr. Walter’s research focuses on AML. He is particularly interested in improving antibody-based therapies by optimizing existing therapeutics and through the development of novel antigen-directed therapies. As examples of the latter, his lab has helped with candidate drug identification and characterization of 5 agents that have subsequently advanced to clinical testing. A major area of focus of his research lies in the delineation of the mechanisms of action and resistance that are relevant for antibody-based AML therapeutics and the rational development of combination therapies that can overcome drug resistance. Many of his studies conducted over the last 20 years have aimed at optimizing CD33- and, more recently, CD123-targeted therapies. In clinical studies, Dr. Walter conducts trials testing novel treatments and innovative care approaches for AML patients. Furthermore, he uses large datasets to develop and improve diagnostic and prognostic tools for people with AML.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

211Astatine-CD123 Radioimmunotherapy for Cancer (Stem) Cell-Directed Treatment of Acute Leukemia

Emory University

Dr. Ji is a health services researcher with extensive experience leveraging insurance payer data to study policy issues pertaining to U.S. healthcare systems, with an emphasis on Medicaid. Her research strives to understand the effect of Medicaid policies on healthcare access and outcomes for vulnerable youth and adults. She recently extended this experience to data on pediatric and adolescent/young adult (AYA) cancer survivorship. She co-leads (with Dr. Sharon Castellino) NCI 1R03CA259665-01 to investigate how the Affordable Care Act affects treatment timeliness and survival in AYAs with cancer. She leads a Medicaid initiative within the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study, where she oversees an ongoing linkage of administrative Medicaid data to a nationwide cohort of cancer survivors. She also leads a Junior Faculty Focused Award evaluating Medicaid coverage continuity for pediatric cancer survivors in a single institution.

Program Name(s)

Equity in Access

Project Title

Impact of Health Insurance on Mortality for Children and AYAs Newly Diagnosed with a Blood Cancer: A Population-Based Multistate Evaluation

Emory University

Dr Madhav Dhodapkar is the director of Winship Center for Cancer Immunology, Anise McDaniel Brock Chair, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Cancer Innovation and Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology in the Emory School of Medicine. He also co-leads the cancer immunology program at Winship Cancer Institute. Prior to moving to Emory in 2018, Dhodapkar served as chief of hematology, the Arthur H. and Isabel Bunker Professor of Medicine (Hematology), and professor of immunobiology at Yale University School of Medicine. An expert in cancer immunology, he also was co-director of the Cancer Immunology Program within the Yale Cancer Center. Dr Dhodapkar’s research focuses on how the immune system regulates the progression from precursor lesions to cancer as well as immune-biology of cancer microenvironment. He is a prior recipient of several awards including the NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award and the NCI Outstanding Investigator Award.

Program Name(s)

Specialized Center of Research Program

Project Title

Improving targeted adoptive cell therapy of myeloma

University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus

Dr. Eric Pietras is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. He completed his PhD training in microbiology and immunology at UCLA in 2008. He subsequently joined the laboratory of Dr. Emmanuelle Passegué for postdoctoral training and started his independent faculty position at the University of Colorado in November of 2015, earning promotion to Associate Professor in July 2021. Dr. Pietras leads a research program that leverages his dual backgrounds in innate immunity and hematopoiesis, focusing on the interplay between inflammation and oncogenic mutations as a trigger for alterations in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSC) metabolism that promote evolution to malignancy. The goal of his lab is to identify novel approaches for targeting this pathogenic process to disrupt myeloid oncogenesis and improve patient outcomes.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Targeting the pathogenic 'fire triangle' of inflammation, metabolism and mutations in myeloid leukemogenesis

Emory University

I am a cancer biologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at the Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University School of Medicine. I am a recipient of the Lexie Clayton Impact Award from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. My research focus includes understanding how metabolic states regulate specific cancer hallmarks such as the evasion of cell death; proliferation and growth; and invasion and metastasis to identify targetable metabolic vulnerabilities. We have an interest in investigating how mitochondrial metabolism impacts multiple myeloma therapy efficacy and more recently are examining how the bone marrow niche is regulated by neural signaling. My research lab comprised of talented scientist trainees, who in collaboration with the Winship team of multiple myeloma physicians and scientists are endeavoring to ask provocative and innovative questions for curing multiple myeloma.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Deciphering the metabolic basis for t(11;14) multiple myeloma venetoclax sensitivity

Investigating anti-neoplastic effects of beta blockers in multiple myeloma