Who We Fund

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Dr. Urvi Shah is an Assistant Attending in the Myeloma Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She is board certified in Internal Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology and received a Master of Science degree in Clinical and Translational Cancer Research. Her research interests include modifiable risk factors (diet, metabolism, microbiome) in cancer. She completed the first pilot nutrition trial in plasma cell disorders to date (NUTRIVENTION) and has 3 other dietary trials enrolling. Dr. Shah has been supported by career development awards (National Cancer Institute [NCI] K12, International Myeloma Society and American Society of Hematology [ASH] Scholar) and research awards (ASH CRTI, ECOG ACRIN Young Investigator Translational Research, Henry Moses, Celgene Future Leaders in Hematology, NCI Early Investigator Advancement Program and Clinical Cancer Research Early Career). She has published papers in prominent journals and has been an invited speaker and chair.

Program Name(s)

Academic Clinical Trials Program (ACT)

Project Title

A Decentralized Randomized High-Fiber Dietary Trial to Improve Outcomes in Newly Diagnosed Myeloma

The Ohio State University

I am a tenured Professor in the Division of Hematology at The Ohio State University, with a focus on translational research in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, the Associate Director for Clinical Research within the Division of Hematology, the Section Head for the CLL/Hairy cell leukemia group, and the co-leader of the Leukemia Research Program within the OSUCCC. I am the PI for multiple early-stage clinical trials investigating novel targeted therapies for CLL and other hematologic malignancies, chaired the intergroup Phase III study A041202 which investigated chemoimmunotherapy versus targeted therapy as initial therapy for older adults with CLL, and now chair A041702 which is investigating continuous versus intermittent targeted therapy in the same patient population. My laboratory research focuses on resistance to targeted therapies in CLL. Our group identified C481S and PLCG2 mutations as the primary resistance mechanisms for covalent BTK inhibitors and were the first to investigate reversible BTK inhibitors preclinically as a strategy to circumvent BTK inhibitor resistance.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Inhibition of PKCβ as a strategy for BTK inhibitor refractory CLL

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

I am a pediatric oncologist, who is interested in using the patient’s immune system to fight cancer. I grew up in Germany and moved to the US in 1992 after obtaining my medical degree. After completing my training in pediatric and oncology, I became faculty at the Cancer Center of Texas Children’s Hospital and the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine. In the laboratory I focused on developing immune cell therapies for cancer patients, which I translated with my research team into the clinic. In addition, I managed pediatric cancer patients, who underwent bone marrow transplantation, and participated in numerous clinical studies. In 2017 I became Chair of the Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The department focuses on evaluating novel transplant and cell therapy approaches using genetic engineering approaches to augment the ability of the immune system to fight cancer.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

CD70-directed CAR T-cell therapy for the treatment of relapsed/refractory pediatric AML

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Dr. Hormoz is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School and Department of Data Science at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He obtained his PhD in Applied Physics from Harvard University. His postdoctoral studies were conducted jointly as a theorist at the Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics (UCSB), and as an experimentalist at Caltech. Hormoz lab’s mission is to control biological systems to understand life and cure disease such as cancer. His lab develops new technologies for recording and measuring the molecular states of individual cells and computational frameworks for interpreting the large data sets that these measurements generate. Dr. Hormoz’s research on blood cancers has focused on reconstructing the history of cancer in individual patients to understand when cancer first occurs and how cancer cells expand in each patient.

Program Name(s)

Discovery

Project Title

Predicting progression in myeloproliferative neoplasm patients by reconstructing the history of disease in each patient

The University of Melbourne

I am an Assoc. Prof. and Group Leader at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Peter Mac; Melbourne, Australia). I formed my group in 2018 and my research program is focused upon enhancing the effectiveness of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, a form of immune therapy where a patient’s own immune cells are genetically engineered to recognize and kill tumor cells. I have published numerous seminal papers and research metrics place me in the top 1% of researchers in my field. Despite being a PI for just 5 years, I have already led 1 CAR T clinical trial and I am currently developing a second trial with a technology developed in my lab in 2020.

Previously my focus has been on using CAR T to treat cancers such as breast and lung cancer. However, recent clinical data indicates that CAR T cells have significant potential in multiple myeloma. Therefore, this project will be a key strategic enabler, allowing me to apply approaches developed in my lab to this disease.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Enhancing the “fitness” of anti-BCMA CAR T cells for improved efficacy in multiple myeloma

Seattle Children's Hospital

Dr. Loh is a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital. She is the Division Head of Hematology, Oncology, Bone marrow transplant, and Cellular therapies and also directs the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorder Research. Over her 30-year career, Dr. Loh has studied primary patient samples in the laboratory to make seminal observations about leukemia pathogenesis that informs accurate molecular diagnoses, improves risk stratification, and identifies novel therapeutic approaches. These studies have been performed in juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia, leading to innovative clinical trials. Her strength as a collaborator and leader also allows her to capitalize on the expertise and strengths of individual scientists to create highly productive teams that produce cutting edge results, and this proposal will continue that trajectory with Dr. Price’s expertise.

Program Name(s)

Translational Research Program

Project Title

Affinity-Tuned T-Cell Engagers for Dual Targeting of B-Myeloid Mixed Phenotype Acute Leukemia

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Steve Treon MD, PhD is a Senior Physician and the Director of the Bing Center for Waldenstrom’s Macroglobuliemia (WM) at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He was the PI for 17 clinical trials which advanced many of the agents currently used to treat WM. By whole-genome sequencing, his laboratory first identified highly recurring MYD88 mutations in WM patients. Translational work in his laboratory showed that BTK was a downstream target of mutated MYD88, enabling a pivotal trial for which he was the PI that led to the first-ever approval of a drug (ibrutinib) and supported the approval and/or development of other BTK-inhibitors for WM. Dr. Treon’s laboratory also identified other critical pro-survival targets related to mutated MYD88 signaling that include IRAK1 and HCK. With the Harvard Medicinal Chemistry Department, he has pursued development of potent and selective inhibitors targeting HCK and IRAK1 for MYD88 mutated lymphomas.

Program Name(s)

Therapy Acceleration Program

Project Title

Targeting mutated MYD88 pro-survival signaling in B-cell malignancies

Rhode Island Hospital

Adam Olszewski, MD is a hematologist and oncologist specializing in the treatment of lymphomas. He graduated from the Medical University of Warsaw, Poland, and completed his postgraduate training at Roosevelt Hospital (Mount Sinai West) in New York, NY. His is currently Associate Professor of Medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and conducts clinical research for patients with Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphomas at the Lifespan Cancer Institute at Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI. He is a Research Scholar of the American Cancer Society who has also been supported by awards from the American Society of Hematology, the National Institutes of Health, and the Rhode Island Foundation. Dr. Olszewski has authored over 100 scientific publications. His current research is focused on developing immunotherapies and molecularly targeted approaches for the treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, as well as genomic correlates of responsiveness to these therapies.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Mosunetuzumab with lenalidomide augmentation as first-line therapy for patients with follicular and marginal zone lymphoma

Fox Chase Cancer Center

I completed my Ph.D. training with Dr. Michelle Kelliher at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, studying the ubiquitin-dependent signal transduction pathways. With this foundation, I joined Dr. Louis Staudt’s laboratory at the National Cancer Institute as a research fellow in 2010 to exploit the roles of innate immune signaling and protein ubiquitination machinery in the pathogenesis of Diffuse Large B cell lymphoma. In 2015, I received an NCI Transition Career Development Award to further investigate the roles of immune signaling and protein ubiquitination in lymphoid malignancies. I accepted a tenure track faculty position and started my lab at Fox Chase Cancer Center (FCCC) as an Assistant Professor in May 2016. At FCCC, I decided to shift my studies to the field of Peripheral T-Cell lymphoma and Hodgkin lymphoma, which have minimal available targeted therapy options currently. The main focus of my laboratory is to understand the immune regulatory pathways in these lymphoid malignancies.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Analysis and therapeutic targeting of the immune regulatory and ubiquitination pathways in Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma and Hodgkin Lymphoma

University of California, Los Angeles

Yue Wang, PhD, is a postdoctoral researcher at UCLA with extensive expertise in developmental and stem cell biology. He earned his PhD in Regenerative Medicine from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, where he conducted groundbreaking research on the regulatory mechanisms of trophoblast lineage differentiation. Dr. Wang also developed a stem-cell based organoid model to study Zika virus effects on human placenta. At UCLA, he works with Dr. Hanna Mikkola and uses single cell technologies to understand how Trisomy 21 affects human B cell development and transformation to aggressive form of B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in children with Down Syndrome. His work aims to identify cellular origins and molecular mechanisms driving this unique type of leukemia, offering potential insights for safer and more effective therapies.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Unraveling the Cellular and Molecular Origins of B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Down syndrome

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

I am a Postdoctoral Fellow with a strong background in malignant hematology research. My work focusses on identifying targetable metabolic vulnerabilities in aggressive leukemias in which effective treatment regimens are limited. I completed my PhD under the mentorship of Professor Ricky Johnstone at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, Australia, where I discovered that FLT3-ITD mutations, among the most common in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), promote the biosynthesis of the amino acid serine. Genetic or pharmacological ablation of serine biosynthesis was selectively lethal to FLT3-ITD-mutant AML cells and synergized with cytarabine, the standard of care chemotherapy agent. This work was published in Cancer Discovery in 2021. My postdoctoral work unifies and builds on my interests and expertise in AML model generation and characterization, large-scale genetic screening, transcription, epigenetics, cellular metabolism, and use of in vivo models for therapeutic validation.

Program Name(s)

Career Development Program

Project Title

Metabolic Regulation of Leukemic Cell Fate

University of California San Diego

Dr. Su is Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science in the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the University of California, San Diego, where she directs the Oncofertility Program. Dr. Su completed residency in obstetrics and gynecology, fellowship in reproductive endocrinology, and Master’s of Science in Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as implementation science training through NCI’s Training in Dissemination and Implementation Research in Cancer Program. Dr. Su is a physician scientist who conducts patient oriented research on reproductive health in young cancer survivors. Through innovative observational and interventional studies, team-based science, and community engagement, Dr. Su’s studies focus on estimating reproductive risks after cancer, implementing evidence-based practices, and improving equity in reproductive health care delivery, funded by NCI, NICHD, American Cancer Society, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Recent work on health policies as an intervention to improve access to care suggest that state-level fertility preservation benefit mandates are not working as intended. This team with existing collaborations and complementary methodologic and clinical expertise will use national administrative data to estimate the impact of mandated insurance benefits on fertility preservation utilization and affordability, in order to inform future federal and state laws and regulations.

Program Name(s)

Equity in Access

Project Title

Impact of State Health Insurance Mandates on Affordability and Utilization of Fertility Preservation in Adolescent and Young Adults with Blood Cancers