Who We Fund

Moffitt Cancer Center

Gary Reuther, PhD (Professor in the Departments of Molecular Oncology and Malignant Hematology at the Moffitt Cancer Center) earned his PhD from Duke University and did his post-doctoral training with Channing Der (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), where he studied signaling by the RAS oncoprotein and identified novel leukemia oncogenes. His current research centers on JAK2 signaling and novel therapeutic strategies for MPNs. Over the past 20 years, he has obtained research funding from multiple NIH R01 grants, the MPN Research Foundation, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the Department of Defense, and the V Foundation for Cancer Research, and was the recipient of an American Cancer Society Research Scholar Award and an NIH/NCI Howard Temin Award. His experience leading research that led to this funding and successful completion and publication of these projects makes him highly qualified to serve as the PI on the proposed studies.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Novel therapeutic strategies to improve the outcomes of patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

I am a pediatric oncologist and associate professor in the division of bone marrow transplantation at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. I have a clinical and research interest in graft versus host disease because this is the most significant, devastating and life-impacting complication after a bone marrow transplant. I led the study in children of high dose oral vitamin A and showed that when given before starting chemotherapy, vitamin A reduces acute gastrointestinal and chronic graft versus host disease. I am now collaborating with 3 adult BMT programs to try and validate my findings in adult BMT patients as adults tend to have more chronic GVHD than children and I would like to extend this easy and effective strategy to patients of all ages across the US and worldwide.

Program Name(s)

Academic Clinical Trials Program (ACT)

Project Title

A randomized clinical trial of oral vitamin A to reduce chronic graft versus host disease in BMT

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

Washington University in St. Louis

I am currently an Instructor of Hematology at Washington University School of Medicine. I am interested in understanding the genomics of blood cancers and how this disease arises. This interest began as a post-bac researcher at the NIH in Dr. Elliott Margulies’ lab where we developed novel tools for genome assembly. I continued with MD/PhD training at WashU in the laboratory of Dr. Todd Druley, where we developed novel tools for rare variant detection. We leveraged these tools to advance our understanding of clonal hematopoiesis and therapy-related leukemia. This solidified my interest in blood cancers, driving me to pursue hematology/oncology fellowship training and join Dr. Grant Challen’s lab as a post-doc. Building upon my prior work, I am now focused on understanding how oncogenic fusions arise and cause disease. My long-term career goal is to run an independent research lab, leveraging a deeper understanding of leukemogenesis to create novel therapies and diagnostic tools.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Understanding How Hematopoietic Developmental State Determines Oncogenic KMT2A Fusion Formation and Leukemic Potential

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

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

Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Monika Mittal is a dedicated researcher specializing in cancer biology, with a focus on acute myeloid leukemia (AML). With a strong background in molecular biology and biochemistry, Dr. Mittal aims to uncover the underlying mechanisms of blood cancers and develop innovative therapeutic strategies. Currently, Dr. Mittal is investigating the role of DCAF15, a protein that regulates cellular processes, to understand its impact on AML progression and treatment. By employing advanced techniques such as gene editing and targeted protein degradation, Dr. Mittal aims to create new therapeutic strategies that can improve patient outcomes. Passionate about translating scientific discoveries into clinical applications, Dr. Mittal is committed to improving outcomes for those affected by blood cancers, driving research forward to find more effective treatments for AML. Through collaboration and innovation, Dr. Mittal hopes to make a meaningful difference in the fight against leukemia.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Leveraging the ubiquitin proteasome system for targeted therapy in Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Monash University

Professor Jake Shortt is a clinician scientist who is co-appointed by Monash Health as Director of Clinical Haematology and by Monash University as the Head of Haematology Research at the School of Clinical Sciences. Monash Health provides lymphoma services to the largest Australian healthcare network in the Australian state of Victoria. He is also an Honorary Clinical Professor at the Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne.

Professor Shortt is group leader of the 'Blood Cancer Therapeutics Laboratory' at Monash, seeking to discover and translate new lymphoma treatments to the clinic. As a clinician scientist his research covers the full translational spectrum from scientific discovery to advanced clinical trials and registry initiatives. For more than a decade his research has focussed on poor-risk lymphoid cancers, particularly those hallmarked by activation of a gene called 'MYC' which features in some of the most aggressive lymphomas.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

I am pursuing a research career that bridges the gap between translational and clinical research in health disparities with a dual focus on genomics and equity. My motivation is to improve outcomes for all children with cancer—particularly children from historically marginalized populations. My long-term goal is to become an independently funded physician scientist leading a multidisciplinary research team. 

In clinic, I take care of children with leukemia and lymphoma. The objective of my research is to better understand the biology of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-LL) for children of different ancestral backgrounds. I have done preliminary work in T-ALL which I will build upon and expand to T-LL, which has never been examined with comprehensive sequencing and ancestry. My goal is to prevent more children with these diseases from relapsing. Results from this investigation will lay the groundwork for my career as an independent scientist.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Impact of genetic ancestry on tumor biology and survival outcomes in T-ALL and T-LL

Washington University in St. Louis

Dr. Challen is currently an Associate Professor in the Division of Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis). His laboratory research is at the interface of stem cell biology and blood cancer, and aims to determine how disruption of the epignenome changes the fate of HSCs and ultimately leads to the development of hematopoietic disorders. He was the first to describe how mutations in the gene DNMT3A regulates the balance of HSC self-renewal and differentiation as a first step to development of AML. His lab aims to develop mutation-specific therapies to inhibit CH clones as a mechanism of blood cancer prevention.

Dr. Challen is investigating how mutations in genes that alter the epigenome alter the function of blood-forming hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), leading to a condition known as clonal hematopoiesis (CH) and predispose for future development of blood diseases such as myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), acute myeloid leukemia (AML)and T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL).

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Synergism of cell-intrinsic and cell-extrinsic factors in the clonal evolution of pre-malignant HSCs

Precision Medicine For DNMT3A-Mutant T-cell ALL

Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Marco Ruella is a physician-scientist and assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He treats patients with blood cancers and focuses on using immunotherapy, where the body’s own immune system is harnessed to fight cancer. His research looks at why some cancers return after CAR T-cell therapy and aims to design new treatments to prevent this. Dr. Ruella earned his medical degree in Italy and completed advanced training in the U.S. He has received many awards for his work, including from the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Dr. Ruella has published widely, holds multiple patents, and advises companies in cancer immunotherapy. He also founded viTToria Biotherapeutics to help bring new treatments to patients.

Program Name(s)

HCL2025

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Precision Targeting of Hairy Cell Leukemia using Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cells

A First-in-human Clinical Trial of CD5 knocked-out Chimeric Antigen T Cells for T-cell Lymphomas

Building Upon The Success Of CART19: Safe and Effective Next-Generation CART For Relapsed And Refractory Lymphomas

β-Hydroxybutyrate To Enhance CAR T Cell Immunotherapy Against Hematological Cancers

Stanford

Program Name(s)

Therapy Acceleration Program