Who We Fund

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

Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

The molecular mechanisms of cell proliferation and the field of Ubiquitin Proteasome System (UPS) have always been our main area of interest and fascination. We have the expertise, training and motivation necessary to study several different aspects of this incredibly broad field. Specifically, the training in mechanistic science, including molecular biology, biochemistry, cell/animal biology, has laid the groundwork to understand how ubiquitin ligases complexes monitor the molecular mechanisms in normal and malignant hematopoiesis. Our work has identified and studied multiple key factors regulating cellular pathways, such as DNA-damage checkpoints, cell cycle, circadian clock, Toll-like-Receptor and NF-κB activation, as documented in ours publications. In addition, we have successfully collaborated with several scientists, and contributed to peer-reviewed publications from each of these projects.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Relevance of ubiquitin dependent proteolysis in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

TAP Partner

Solu Therapeutics is a biotechnology company dedicated to developing next-generation therapeutics to eliminate disease-driving cells in cancer, immunology and other therapeutic areas. The company’s proprietary CyTAC (Cytotoxicity Targeting Chimera) and TicTAC (Therapeutic Index Control Targeting Chimera) platforms enable the development of innovative medicines that combine the target-binding capability of small molecules with the therapeutic power of biologics.

Program Name(s)

Therapy Acceleration Program

Project Title

A phase 1 study of STX-0712, a CCR2-CyTAC monocyte depletor, in patients with CMML

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Dr. Nze is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the department of Lymphoma and Myeloma at the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Nze's clinical interests are in malignant hematology and oncology with a focus on Lymphoma. He is broadly interested in healthcare delivery system design, value-based healthcare research, and the health policy contexts that shape care delivery. He has been a longtime advocate for equity in health care delivery and the elements that lead to differential access and outcomes in care for vulnerable populations. He aims to combine excellence in delivering clinical oncologic care to cancer patients and investigate how we can optimally structure our healthcare system to ensure equitable cancer care for all.  

Program Name(s)

IMPACT

Project Title

Research Infrastructure to Promote Enrollment of Underserved Patients on Clinical Trials

Baylor College of Medicine

I was born in New York City to two hard-working and driven parents who encouraged me to pursue my passions and not back down from a challenge. I determined I loved science in high school and earned a Westinghouse Science Talent Search award for work done on vaccine development. In college, at Duke University, I decided to pursue medical school when a friend had a relapse of her cancer. Medical school and Pediatrics Residency was in NYC at Columbia University and Mount Sinai respectively where my passion for caring for children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) was solidified. For Fellowship I moved my family to Texas to pursue pediatric oncology training at Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine and continued on to get my Ph.D. in Clinical Investigation. The resources at TCH/BCM have allowed me to become an outstanding clinician, a recognized educator, and to pursue my goal of improving outcomes for the next generation of children to be diagnosed with AML.

Program Name(s)

Dare to Dream

Project Title

Pediatric AML PDX Models and Drug Testing-Gateway to Novel PedAL Trials

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Dr. Falchi graduated Cum Laude from the University of Perugia, Italy. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center, residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and Hematology/Oncology fellowship at Columbia University Medical Center. He is currently an Assistant Attending in the Lymphoma and Cellular Therapy Services at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Dr. Falchi’s research focuses on the use of immunotherapy to treat B-cell NHL. He leads multiple such trials nationally and internationally. He authored or co-authored over 75 articles published in peer-reviewed journals, numerous abstracts, and several book chapters. 

Dr. Falchi is Co-Editor-In-Chief of Oncoimmunology, Editorial Board Member for Blood Advances, and recurrent peer-reviewer for high-profile journals. He is recipient of several awards, including a Lymphoma Research Foundation Career Development Award. He is an active member of several scientific societies, including the American Society of Hematology.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Leveraging multispecific antibodies to reshape the treatment landscape of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Dr. Shannon Maude is a pediatric oncologist and clinical trialist in the Cancer Immunotherapy Program at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Maude received her M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and completed her residency in pediatrics as well as fellowship in pediatric hematology-oncology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Maude developed the Cancer Immunotherapy and BMT Fellowship at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and currently serves as a Medical Director in the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Maude is a member of the Children’s Oncology Group ALL committee and leads investigator-initiated and international multi-center clinical trials of engineered T cell therapies for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Improving CAR T-cell Therapy Efficacy in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia by Optimizing Design and Placement

Boston Children's Hospital

George Q. Daley, MD, PhD is Dean, Caroline Shields Walker Professor of Medicine, and Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School. His research has focused on stem cell and cancer biology, with an emphasis on hematopoietic development and diseases of the bone marrow, blood and immune system. Daley earned his AB and MD degrees from Harvard and a PhD in biology from MIT. He has been a trainee, fellow and staff physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital. Prior to becoming Dean at HMS, he was an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Director of the Pediatric Stem Cell Transplantation Program of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Association of Arts and Sciences.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Pluripotent Stem Cell-derived CAR-T and CAR-NK Cells for Immunotherapy of Leukemia and Lymphoma

University of Miami

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

Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network

Dr. Courtney Jones received her PhD from New York University in 2014 and trained as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Colorado. Throughout her training, Courtney’s research focused on understanding and targeting acute leukemia cells. She is currently a Scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. The goal of Dr. Jones’s research is to discovery new ways to target leukemia cells with the overall goal of improving outcomes for patients with leukemia while minimizing side effects. To date, her largest contribution to blood cancer research was the discovery of metabolic vulnerabilities of leukemia cells that have been translated into clinical trials in collaboration with her clinical colleagues. The objective of her current research studies is to discover and develop a new strategy to eradicate leukemia cells in patients for whom standard chemotherapy has failed.

Program Name(s)

Discovery

Project Title

Interrogation of glutathione biology in relapsed acute myeloid leukemia stem cells

Emory University

Lawrence Boise, PhD is the R. Randall Rollins Chair of Oncology and Professor in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology in the Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Boise also serves as the Associate Director of Education and Training in the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. He received his PhD from VCU-Medicine and did his postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago. Dr. Boise took his first faculty position at the University of Miami in 1996 and rose to the rank of Professor before moving to Emory in 2009. Dr. Boise was involved in early studies to identify genes that control cell survival and cell death and has been studying these processes to better understand how to improve our treatment of cancer, particularly the plasma cell malignancy multiple myeloma. Dr. Boise serves as a Senior Editor at Molecular Cancer Research and is on the editorial board of Blood Cancer Discovery.

Program Name(s)

Discovery

Project Title

Functional dissection of heterogeneity of responses to CAR T cells using Spatiotemporal Image-guided Genomic and Cellular Analysis (SaGA) in myeloma

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