Manabu Fujisawa
BC Cancer
Manabu Fujisawa, MD, PhD
Dr. Manabu Fujisawa received M.D. from Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan. Motivated by the experience as a hematologist having treated many patient with treatment-resistant disease, Dr. Fujisawa conducted a clinical study on clonality and clinical progression in multiple myeloma in Kameda Medical Center, Chiba. Dr. Fujisawa then began his basic research at University of Tsukuba in 2016, where he received PhD under the supervision of Pr. Mamiko Sakata-yanagimoto. Pr. Sakata’s lab focused on clonal hematopoiesis and malignant lymphoma, which Dr. Fujisawa studied the function of clonal hematopoietic-derived immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. In 2022, Dr. Fujisawa joined the laboratory of Pr. Christian Steidl in Lymphoid Cancer Research at the BC Cancer Research Centre in Vancouver, Canada, as a postdoctoral fellow.
Program Name(s)
Career Development Program
Project Title
Adam Olszewski
Follicular and marginal zone lymphoma
Adam Olszewski, MD
Providence, RI
United States
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
Vittoria Biotherapeutics
immunotherapy, CAR-T, TCL
Vittoria Biotherapeutics
Philadelphia, PA
United States
TAP Partner
Vittoria Biotherapeutics is developing novel CAR-T cell therapies that transcend the limitations of current cell therapies. Based on technology exclusively licensed from the University of Pennsylvania, Vittoria's proprietary Senza5 platform unlocks the antitumor potential of engineered T cells and utilizes a five-day manufacturing process to maximize stemness, durability, and target cell cytotoxicity. By acting on the fundamental biology of T cells, Senza5 can be used to improve the efficacy of engineered T cell therapies with pipeline applications in oncology and autoimmune diseases.
Program Name(s)
Therapy Acceleration Program
Michael Wang
Mantle Cell Lymphoma
Michael Wang, MD
Houston, TX
United States
MD Anderson Cancer Center
Michael Wang, MD, is Professor of Lymphoma and Myeloma at MD Anderson Cancer Center where he established the Mantle Cell Lymphoma Program of Excellence, the world’s only program dedicated exclusively to MCL research and treatment. He led trials resulting in 3 FDA approvals for MCL treatment. He leads a large lab focusing on overcoming resistance to MCL therapies and developing new ones. His detailed studies of tissue from patients with MCL has been instrumental in setting the stage for this application. Jia Zhou, PhD, is Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Apart from academia, he worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 7 years. His primary research interest is drug discovery and the development of novel small-molecule therapeutics for cancers and other diseases. He has established a fruitful collaboration with Dr. Wang and his lab and has great experience in leading both the chemical and pharmacological aspects of drug development.
Program Name(s)
Mantle Cell Lymphoma Research Initiative
Project Title
Andrew Hantel
Equity in Access
Andrew Hantel, MD
Boston, MA
United States
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Dr. Hantel is a faculty member in the Divisions of Population Sciences and Leukemia at DFCI and an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on characterizing and remediating clinical trial enrollment disparities for patients with blood cancers, for which he has been awarded career development awards from the NCI (K08) and ASCO to develop and test related multilevel interventions. He also leads multicenter care delivery trials assessing social determinants of health and the impact of Duffy null phenotype on trial participation and outcomes. Work related to these projects has led to multiple publications in journals such as in JAMA, JCO, JNCI, and NEJM. He co-chairs the working group of the DFCI Clinical Trial Access Committee and serves as the Health Disparities and Leukemia Committee Liaison for the Alliance cooperative group. In his clinical role, he cares for patients with leukemia and related hematologic malignancies.
Program Name(s)
Equity in Access
Project Title
The Collaboration and Infrastructure Program for Diversifying Blood Cancer Clinical Trials
Sigurður Kristinsson
Smoldering myeloma
Sigurður Kristinsson, MD PhD
Reykjavík,
Iceland
University of Iceland
Professor Sigurður Yngvi Kristinsson is currently consolidating his position as one of the leading researchers world-wide in the field of multiple myeloma, its precursors, its epidemiology, progression, and treatment. This has been the main thrust of his scientific and clinical efforts from the time he defended his thesis on monoclonal gammopathies at the Karolinska Institutet in 2009. In 2012 he became the youngest full professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Iceland and he is a consultant at Landspitali University Hospital. He designed and leads the largest myeloma screening study in the world, the iStopMM project in which over 80,000 individuals provided informed consent. His current research group includes 7 PhD-students, three postdocs, a lab with 4 biologists, 6 research nurses, three statisticians/data manager, and five support staff. He is an author of more than 110 scientific papers including the current guidelines for myeloma treatment and follow up and has an h-index of 57.
Program Name(s)
Career Development Program
Project Title
Liora Schultz
pediatric research
Liora Schultz, MD
Stanford, CA
United States
Stanford
Program Name(s)
Dare to Dream
Project Title
Stephen Nimer
myeloid cancer biology
Stephen Nimer, MD
Coral Gables, FL
United States
University of Miami
Dr. Nimer has cared for patients with MDS, AML, multiple myeloma, and lymphoma for over three decades. This melding of clinical studies and care, with both basic laboratory and translational studies, reflects the fundamental focus of his career. Since coming to the University of Miami-Miller School of Medicine in 2012 and assuming the Directorship of the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, the center received the prestigious National Cancer Institute designation in July 2019. In November 2019, Dr. Nimer was named the inaugural Oscar de la Renta Endowed Chair in Cancer Research. He has been elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigators and the Association of American Physicians. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and serves on the editorial board of several medical journals. In April 2021, Dr. Nimer was inducted into the Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine of Florida. Dr. Nimer is also the Chairman of the Myelodysplastic Syndrome Foundation, and the Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board of Gabrielle's Angel Foundation for Cancer Research.
Program Name(s)
Specialized Center of Research Program
Nirav Shah
CAR-T for lymphoma
Nirav Shah, MD, MSHP
Milwaukee, WI
United States
Medical College of Wisconsin
Nirav Shah, MD, MSHP is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Division of Hematology and Oncology, specializing in lymphoma, stem cell transplant, and CAR-T therapy. He graduated with honors and Alpha Omega Alpha honor society membership from University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine in 2008. He then completed his Internal Medicine residency at the Harvard affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital in 2011. Following residency, he went to the University of Pennsylvania where he completed Hematology/Oncology fellowship and received a Master of Science in Health Policy research in 2015. His current focus is the development of dual targeted anti-CD20, anti-CD19 CAR-T cells (CAR20.19) for B-cell malignancies. Results of a Phase 1 trial with CAR20.19 T-cells were published in Nature Medicine in Oct. 2020. Data from that study directed development of three new CAR20.19 clinical trials led by Dr. Shah all actively enrolling patients.
Program Name(s)
Career Development Program
Project Title
Andrew Lane
BPDCN
Andrew Lane, PhD, MD
Boston, MA
United States
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Dr. Lane’s laboratory and translational research focuses on the biology of high-risk blood cancers, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML), myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN). His goal is to identify new therapeutic targets and to understand treatment resistance. He is an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, a physician in the Leukemia Program, and a lab investigator in the Division of Hematologic Neoplasia in the Department of Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He is director of the BPDCN Center at Dana-Farber. He is also an associate member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. Dr. Lane received a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Vanderbilt University, and MD and PhD degrees from Washington University. He completed a residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and fellowships in hematology and medical oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Program Name(s)
Career Development Program
Project Title
Shih-Shih Chen, PhD
Manhasset, NY
United States
The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research
My lab focuses on the tumor microenvironment as a risk factor for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and Richter's transformation (RT). We develop therapeutic strategies targeting the interaction between CLL/RT and the TME. This research has been my focus since my postdoctoral studies, where I investigated auto-antigens in the TCL-1 mouse model and expanded this work in TCL-1/IgK-AID double transgenic mice that develop RT spontaneously. I've also created preclinical CLL patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models, including SRG-BA6 mice, which allow for the study of human lymph node fibroblastic stromal cells. Recently, I’ve gained expertise in single nucleus RNA sequencing, multiplex imaging, and using PDX models to develop novel therapies like R110-CART for CLL and RT. My lab is committed to interdisciplinary studies with therapeutic implications, and I have extensive experience in project management and collaboration, positioning me well to advance this research.
Program Name(s)
Translational Research Program
Project Title
Targeting TLR9 Signaling to restore immunomodulating function of FRCs in Richter's Transformation
Justine Kahn
pediatric leukemia and lymphoma
Justine Kahn, MD
New York, NY
United States
Columbia University Medical Center
I am a pediatric oncologist and health outcomes researcher at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. My research aims to identify how social determinants of health drive care and outcomes in children, adolescents, and young adults (AYA) with leukemia and lymphoma. At Columbia, I am the institutional Principal Investigator for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute ALL Consortium and I serve on the Children’s Oncology Group Hodgkin Lymphoma (HL) Steering Committee. In these roles I participate in the design and implementation of new clinical trials, and in the development of embedded health services studies. My recent work includes a series of large-scale analyses (using clinical trials and population data) evaluating outcomes by race/ethnicity and age in ALL and HL. Increasingly, I am working to identify barriers to clinical trial participation among diverse populations, and on leveraging the clinical trial infrastructure to collect prospective data on social determinants of health.
Program Name(s)
Career Development Program