Who We Fund

New York University School of Medicine

Dr. Morgan joined Perlmutter Cancer Center in February 2019 as director of multiple myeloma research. He previously served as the director of the Myeloma Institute, deputy director of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, and professor of hematology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, where he directed numerous clinical and translational research studies investigating the treatment, genetics and biology of myeloma. He has pioneered studies investigating the genetic basis and treatment of multiple myeloma. He has been a major contributor to the Myeloma Genome Project, a collaboration to segment and individualize therapy for subgroups of the myeloma.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Structural chromosomal rearrangements and the multi-step progression of multiple myeloma

Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope

I am a former Special Fellow of the LLS and a Scholar of American Society of Hematology. My research team studies how surveillance of malignant cells by host immune cells is suppressed in pediatric and adult lymphoid malignancies including acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and lymphomas. Because the host immune system defends against cancer, lymphoid malignancies have evolved strategies to evade immune recognition. To make lymphoid malignancies vulnerable to attack by the host immune system, we are delineating how non-malignant, host immune cells are suppressed in these malignancies using mouse models and samples provided by adults and children suffering from ALL and lymphomas. We are applying our findings to develop diagnosis and early intervention strategies and to engineer safe immunotherapeutic cures for ALL and lymphomas. With support from LLS TRP, we will further develop natural killer cells, one of the first lines of anticancer immune defense, to combat high-risk pediatric lymphoid malignancies.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Development of natural killer (NK) cell-based therapies to treat MYC-high pediatric lymphoid 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

The University of New South Wales

Dr. Lock is investigating mechanisms of glucocorticoid resistance in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and tests potential new treatments for fast-tracking into early phase clinical trials.

Dr. Lock is Professor of Medicine at UNSW Sydney, Head of the Leukaemia Biology Group and the Blood Cancers Theme at Children’s Cancer Institute and an international leader in preclinical drug testing in acute leukemia. His work has led to the identification of novel mechanisms of glucocorticoid resistance in pediatric ALL and to the prioritization of several new agents into clinical trials aimed at improving the treatment of acute leukemia. Dr. Lock has been a Principal Investigator in the NCI-funded pediatric preclinical testing program since 2005 and carries out all of the leukemia testing for the program. He also provides a leadership role in the Australian national precision medicine clinical trial (PRISM) to utilize preclinical drug testing to assist in patient treatment decisions.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Therapeutic targeting of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia using an AKR1C3-activated prodrug

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

I am a postdoctoral researcher in Dr. Charles Mullighan’s laboratory at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. My research interests lie in understanding how changes in our DNA disrupt normal blood cell development to cause leukemia. I started my research career as a postbaccalaureate fellow at the NIH where I studied how B cells tightly control DNA damage and repair to generate diverse antibodies. I attended the University of Chicago for my PhD where I used next generation sequencing technology to study how DNA elements called enhancers control the activity of developmentally-regulated genes, which are often mutated in cancer. In my postdoctoral research at St. Jude, I am studying a rare, high-risk form leukemia that has features of both myeloid (e.g. AML) and lymphoid (e.g. ALL) disease. My research uses human blood cells, patient samples, and mouse models to investigate how specific DNA alterations lead to this form of leukemia and identify new tailored therapeutic approaches.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Molecular basis and new therapeutic strategies in lineage ambiguous leukemia

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Dr. Odejide is a health services researcher, a hematologic oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Her research aims to improve outcomes and care delivery for patients with blood cancers throughout their disease trajectory. A substantial proportion of her work has focused on improving end-of-life (EOL) care for this patient population. For example, her work demonstrated that EOL quality measures developed for patients with solid malignancies are also applicable for patients with blood cancers (JCO, 2016). She also has extensive experience using insurance claims-based data (Medicare and Private) to identify potential solutions to improve EOL care. Dr. Odejide is interested in translating her work to impact policy. For example, she synthesized findings from her research and that of others to propose potential policy solutions to reduce barriers to high-quality EOL care for patients with blood cancers (JAMA, 2016). Her research was also part of the body of work used to support the American Society of Hematology 2019 policy statement to address barriers to high-quality hospice services for patients with blood cancers.

Program Name(s)

Equity in Access

Project Title

Health Insurance and End-of-Life Care for People with Hematologic Malignancies

Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University

Dr. Alizadeh has a history of research and accomplishments in cancer genomics, beginning with the original development of microarray gene expression profiling for cancer classification starting with lymphomas, and advancing to multiple tumor types. He has helped develop techniques for ultra-sensitive and non-invasive detection of tumor-derived cell-free DNA (CAPP-Seq), and for computational deconvolution of gene expression data for deciphering cellular heterogeneity in tumors including immune infiltration (CIBERSORT). His group's translational research effort is focused on attaining a more sophisticated understanding of the initiation, maintenance, and progression of tumors and their response to therapy toward improving current treatment strategies. In this effort, his group employs tools from functional genomics, computational biology, molecular genetics, and mouse models. Clinically, he is a practicing medical oncologist specializing in the care of patients with lymphoma, including diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCL). His clinical research is focused on diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive markers including liquid biopsies, and on translating discoveries from the laboratory to the clinic.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Refining Molecular Risk Prediction & Individualized Lymphoma Therapy Using Circulating Tumor DNA

The University of Chicago

Dr. Megan McNerney, MD/PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Pathology and Pediatrics at The University of Chicago. She is a cancer genomicist and physician-scientist investigating how genetic changes alter normal hematopoiesis and drive malignancy. She also serves as an Attending in the Genomic and Molecular Pathology clinical laboratory. Dr. McNerney leads a team of 14 scientists interrogating the pathogenesis of loss of chromosome 7 and CUX1 in high-risk myeloid malignancies. She has published 34 manuscripts, many in top-tier journals. Mentoring and education are among her most meaningful roles, and the majority of her trainees have remained in biomedical research after leaving the lab. She is also dedicated to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of her scholarship. Dr. McNerney has received numerous honors, including the LLS Fellow Award and the LLS, Illinois Chapter Researcher of the Year.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Genomic interrogation of high-risk myeloid neoplasms to identify new therapies

Boston Children's Hospital

In the last 17 years, I developed gene editing tools to improve cancer immunotherapy or promote safer applications of human hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) gene therapy. I pioneered this field since when the first gene editing enzymes were shown to be potentially useful for therapeutic purposes. In 2012, I published a break-through work where we demonstrated for the first time the possibility to genetically inactivate the T cell receptor in primary T cells for improving safety/efficacy of cancer adoptive immunotherapies. This innovative approach is now widely used in immunotherapy field for generating allo-compatible T cells or to express CAR genes under the TCR promoter. In 2014, I developed the first protocol that allows targeted transgene integration in human HSC capable of long-term multilineage repopulation. My current efforts are aimed to move these advanced genetic engineering strategies towards an effective therapeutic treatment for inherited and acquired hematologic diseases.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Towards clinical testing of epitope editing to enable novel adoptive immunotherapies

Columbia University Medical Center

I’m a Professor of Medicine and the Director of the Multiple Myeloma and Amyloidosis Program at Columbia University. I received my medical and doctorate degrees from Humboldt University. My postdoctoral training included residency and fellowship at Humboldt University and a research fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Before joining the faculty at Columbia University, I was the Director of the Multiple Myeloma Program at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.

I’m an active translational researcher, serving as principal investigator for many clinical trials, including investigator-initiated studies for multiple myeloma and AL amyloidosis. My translational research focuses on the identification of novel targets for the treatment of multiple myeloma, myeloma bone disease, and amyloidosis. My research is funded by multiple RO1s and awards. As a frequent lecturer, I regularly present at annual meetings of the ASH and ASCO. I have also published over 100 original articles, editorials, chapters in such prestigious journals as JCO, JCI, Blood, and Cancer Research, etc

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Targeting the MMP-13/PD-1H signaling axis for multiple myeloma bone disease and immunosuppression

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

I am an MD/PhD physician scientist in the oncology fellowship at MSKCC where I treat leukemia and perform research to understand molecular underpinnings of the disease. My prior work at Brandeis University, Cold Spring Harbor Lab, Harvard Medical School, and Albert Einstein College of Medicine was focused on basic mechanisms of gene expression regulation and I am now studying RNA dysregulation in leukemia. During my PhD, I developed novel methods to study RNA binding proteins in collaboration with Nobel Laureate Dr. Michael Rosbash and Rosenstiel Prize winner Dr. Robert H Singer (my PhD mentor). This integrative approach to studying RNA is ideal for understanding understudied proteins that regulate splicing factor mutations in the Abdel-Wahab lab. For my career, I aim to use novel approaches to understand how the most prevalent splicing factor mutations in blood cancers drive progression and transformation.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Targeting SF3B1 splicing factor mutant myeloid malignancies through dependency on GPATCH8

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

Fenghuang (Frank) Zhan, MD & PhD, is a Professor of Medicine and the Research Director of Myeloma Center at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). Frank’s research focuses on identifying treatment approaches to overcome drug resistance in multiple myeloma (MM) by using genomic, genetic, and immunological tools from a very large database of clinical samples and mouse models. Frank has published more than 170 peer reviewed papers. Many of his publications appeared in prestigious journals such as Science, NEJM, Cancer Cell, Blood, and J Clin Invest. As a principal investigator (PI), he has received many grants from the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF), Leukemia Lymphoma Society (LLS) and NIH-NCI, etc. Frank received his PhD in Cancer Molecular Genetics and was then trained as a postdoctoral fellow and junior faculty at UAMS. Prior he returned to UAMS, he was an Associate Professor in the University of Utah, and then a Professor in the University of Iowa.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Toward improvement of BCMA/CST6-CAR-T therapy to target both myeloma cells and bone resorption