Who We Fund

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

Project Title

Exploiting escape from Y-inactivation as a synthetic dependency in MYC-driven lymphoma

University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus

Dr. Daniel Pollyea has received degrees from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and Stanford University. He served as Chief Medical Resident at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. He has been the Principal Investigator for multiple early-phase clinical trials and been involved in the clinical development and approval of four drugs for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). He has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers, spoken to audiences around the world about this work, and is currently the Chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines Committee on AML. His work involves developing ways to target leukemia stem cells in patients with AML and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Eradication can result in deep and durable remissions, or even cures. His team’s efforts have involved identifying vulnerabilities in the ways that leukemia stem cells process energy. These weaknesses can be specifically exploited with novel drug therapies, and Dr. Pollyea is focused on developing and running clinical trials that use these agents to target these weaknesses.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Targeting Leukemia Stem Cells in the Clinical Setting: The Development of A Comprehensive Program

Emory University

Dr. Jonathon Cohen is an associate professor of hematology/oncology at Emory University and co-directs the lymphoma program at Winship Cancer Institute. He has developed and implemented studies conducted at sites throughout the US and frequently collaborates with colleagues throughout Georgia to offer trials to patients with lymphoma. He is a member of the ECOG-ACRIN Lymphoma Core Committee, Co-Chair of the Hoosier Cancer Research Network Lymphoma Committee, and Co-Chair of the Lymphoma Disease Focus Group of the NCI-funded Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network Consortium. He also leads national studies evaluating real-world outcomes in lymphoma. He has an active clinical practice providing consultative services for patients throughout Georgia. He has routinely engaged with oncologists throughout the region to promote quality lymphoma care through in-person and virtual educational talks, and through moderation of protocol sessions to develop treatment guidelines.

Program Name(s)

IMPACT

Project Title

Making an IMPACT on hematology care in Georgia: The Georgia Blood Cancer Trials Network (BCTN)

Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University

Dr. Majeti is Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Division of Hematology, and Member of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He is a board-certified hematologist. While at Stanford, he completed post-doctoral training in the laboratory of Irving Weissman, MD, where he investigated acute myeloid leukemia (AML) stem cells and therapeutic targeting with anti-CD47 antibodies. Dr. Majeti directs an active NIH-funded laboratory that focuses on the molecular characterization and therapeutic targeting of leukemia stem cells in human hematologic disorders, particularly AML, and has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles.

Program Name(s)

CMML Initiative

Project Title

Targeting the inflammatory GM-CSF pathway in high risk CMML

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 Blood Cancer United Fellow Award and the Blood Cancer United, 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

University of Florida

Coming soon.

Program Name(s)

Equity in Access

Project Title

Enhancing Connection and Communication with Community-Based Oncology Practices to Improve Cancer Clinical Trial Recruitment: The ECCO Study

University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus

Ana Vujovic is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. She completed her PhD under the mentorship of Dr. Kristin Hope at the University of Toronto and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, where she studied the role of post-transcriptional regulation in hematopoietic and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) stem cells. Ana joined the laboratory of Dr. Craig T. Jordan in the Spring of 2023, where her postdoctoral studies are focused on investigating metabolic vulnerabilities in AML stem cells and in particular mechanisms that underlie the resistance of these cells to the combination therapy, Venetoclax and Azacitidine (Ven/Aza). The objective of her postdoctoral research is to identify novel therapeutic strategies to uniquely target the metabolic vulnerabilities of Ven/Aza-resistant AML stem cells with the goal of improving AML patient outcomes.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Investigating the dependency for protein synthesis in Venetoclax/Azacitidine-resistant acute myeloid leukemia

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

I (Reshmi Parameswaran) am a scientist working in the field of cancer immunotherapy for past 22 years. I received my Ph.D degree from Weizmann Institute of Israel in cell biology and then did postdoctoral training at Children's Hospital Los Angeles working on understanding the drug resistance mechanism of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Later I moved to Case Western University and my laboratory is focusing on developing new immunotherapies for liquid and solid cancers. We generated a new BAFF ligand based CAR-T therapy to treat B cell cancers and this entered into three clinical trials for treating lymphoma, multiple myeloma and autoimmune lupus. All are currently in phase-1 clinical trials. I have published about 25 articles on cancer immunotherapy and received multiple research grants to develop new immunotherapy strategies for cancer. I am committed to find the reason why HCLv patients fail chemotherapy and to develop a new therapy to sensitize these patients to standard chemotherapy.

Program Name(s)

Hairy Cell Leukemia Research Initiative

Project Title

Understanding the drug resistance mechanism and developing new therapeutic strategies for Hairy Cell Leukemia variant

University of Pittsburgh

My research is centered on pathophysiology of hematologic diseases such as bone marrow failure and leukemia, with specific focus on hematopoietic stem cell (HSC), DNA damage and immune response, and tumor microenvironment. I have been investigating HSC-BM niche interaction and HSC regeneration under conditions of injury and aging; and have identified functional interactions between certain factors implicated in cell proliferation, polarity, adhesion/migration, stem cell metabolism and aging. My work has led to 53 peer-reviewed scientific papers in high-impact scientific journals, including Blood, JCI, Nat Comm and Leukemia. I laid the groundwork for my long-term research by developing cell and animal models as well as effective assays for identifying mechanisms underlying critical hematological diseases as PI on several NIH- and private-funded grants. I am confident that both myself as a PI and my innovative research are highly competitive in future success in grants and publications.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

DNA damage, immune response, aging and leukemia

The University of Alabama at Birmingham

Dr. Goyal obtained his medical school diploma from Smt. N.H.L. Municipal Medical College in Ahmedabad, India, in 2011 and moved to the US to complete a residency in Internal Medicine from Creighton University Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska in 2016. He pursued a fellowship in hematology-oncology from Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota from 2016-2019. He developed a unique focus in histiocytic neoplasms, including Erdheim-Chester disease, Langerhans cell histiocytosis, and Rosai-Dorfman disease. He conducted multiple studies describing the epidemiology, treatments, and outcomes of patients with histiocytosis and led to the establishment of first of its kind multidisciplinary Histiocytosis Working Group. He has led national and international guidelines on the diagnosis and management of these rare disease entities. He was subsequently recruited to join the Hematology-Oncology division at University of Alabama at Birmingham as an Assistant Professor in 2019 where he launched the Histiocytic Disorder Survivor Study to assess long-term outcomes among individuals with histiocytic neoplasms.

Program Name(s)

Special Grants

A Multi-Center, Multi-National Investigation of Survivorship and Patient-Reported Symptoms in Erdheim-Chester Disease

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Dr. Dusetzina is an associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and an Ingram associate professor of cancer research at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. She received her PhD in Pharmaceutical Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and post-doctoral training at the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard. She is a health services researcher focusing on the intersection between health policy, epidemiology, and economics related to prescription drugs. Dr. Dusetzina’s work has contributed to the evidence base for the role of drug costs on patient access to care and policy changes that might improve patient access and reduce spending on high-priced drugs, including those used to treat cancer. She has been recognized for her work at a national level, including being an invited participant for two working group meetings on “Patient Access to Affordable Cancer Drugs,” hosted by the President’s Cancer Panel, and being selected to co-author a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report on the same topic. Dr. Dusetzina was recently appointed to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and is engaged in national policy related to access to care for Medicare beneficiaries. Dr. Dusetzina will co-direct the project with Dr. Nicholas, who has considerable experience using the Health and Retirement Study to assess economic effects of health.

Program Name(s)

Equity in Access

Project Title

Making the Right Choice: Medicare Plan Selection and Access to Cancer Care

Institute of Cell Biology (Tumor Research) at the Medical school Essen

Marc Seifert graduated in Biology at the University of Cologne and did his PhD at the Institute of Cell Biology (IFZ) at the University Hospital Essen. Dr. Seiferts research group at the IFZ (Cancer Reseach) exists since 2014 and combines B cell immunology with lymphoma pathogenesis. Dr. Seiferts research aims at decoding the B cell system in healthy people and to determine the critical alterations in risk groups, such as infants and elderly or patients suffering from infections or tumors. This research unravels the B cell immune dynamics throughout life and clarifies which B cell subsets or antibody specificities are beneficial in health and limited in patients. Dr. Seiferts cancer research focusses on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, Burkitt-Lymphoma and rare entities, such as Hairy Cell Leukemia and Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma. Dr. Seifert habilitated in 2017 at the Biological Faculty of the University of Duisburg-Essen in the subjects immunology and cancer research.

Program Name(s)

Special Grants

Project Title

Exploiting metabolic dependencies, tumor plasticity and their consequences for drug response of HCL