Faculty
John Allan
New York, USA
Weill Cornell Medicine
John Allan
Dr. Allan is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Allan completed his undergraduate education at the University of Missouri-Columbia and graduated with a B.S. in both Biochemistry and Finance. He subsequently obtained his medical degree from Saint Louis University. Seeking an internal medicine residency program with particular strength in oncology, Dr. Allan moved to New York in 2009 to train at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Campus, where he also completed his hematology and medical oncology fellowship.
Dr. Allan treats all lymphoid malignancies and has a particular interest in improving therapies for patients with CLL and Richter’s Syndrome, which is the focus of his research.
Othman Al-Sawaf
Cologne, Germany
University of Cologne
Othman Al-Sawaf
Othman Al-Sawaf is a haematologist and medical oncologist at the University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany, and study physician at the German CLL Study Group (GCLLSG).
He studied medicine at the Medical School of RWTH Aachen University in Aachen, Germany, and joined the Department I of Internal Medicine I of Professor Michael Hallek at the University Hospital of Cologne in 2016. In 2020 he also joined the laboratory of Professor Charles Swanton at the Francis Crick Institute in London as a visiting scientist.
He works as coordinating physician and principal investigator for national and international phase I to III trials. In addition to his clinical trial work, he is interested in the principles of cancer evolution & metabolism. His research focusses on computational approaches for the discovery and development of new treatment strategies in clinical oncology.
Panagiotis Baliakas
Uppsala, Sweden
Uppsala University
Panagiotis Baliakas
Panagiotis Baliakas is specialist in Hematology and Clinical Genetics, subspecialised in cancer genetics. He is currently the medical director of the hematology laboratory and the hereditary cancer unit at the department of clinical genetics at Uppsala University Hospital. He also holds the position of senior researcher and group leader at the department of immunogenetics, genetics and pathology at Uppsala University. He is an active member in ERIC, the European Research Initiative in CLL, being instrumental in several studies aiming in optimizing prognosis and prediction in CLL. His current research interests include: immunogenetics of human lymphoid malignancies, genetic characterization of lymphoid and myeloid malignancies, germline predisposition for hematological malignancies and resistance mechanisms associated with refractoriness to standard treatments in cancer.
Danielle Brander
Durham, USA
Duke Cancer Institute
Danielle Brander
Cellular Therapy & Hematologic Malignancies Specialist Danielle Brander, MD is a graduate of Duke University School of Medicine, where she completed her residency in the Department of Internal Medicine. Dr. Brander completed her fellowship at Duke University in the Department of Internal Medicine and trained in Hematology/Oncology. Her main focus is on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and other slow growing or indolent Lymphomas.
Jennifer Brown
Boston, USA
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Jennifer Brown
Jennifer R. Brown, MD, PhD is the Director of the CLL Center of the Division of Hematologic Malignancies at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Brown completed a B.S. and M.S. simultaneously in molecular biophysics and biochemistry (MB&B) at Yale, graduating summa cum laude with distinction. She proceeded to Harvard Medical School where she received her MD and PhD in molecular genetics in 1998 and was awarded the James Tolbert Shipley Prize. She then served as an intern and resident in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital followed by fellowship in Hematology and Medical Oncology at DFCI. Dr. Brown joined the faculty of DFCI and Harvard Medical School in 2004, where she has an active clinical-translational research program in CLL.
Her interests include the development of novel targeted therapeutics for CLL, as well as CLL genomics. She has been instrumental in the clinical development of idelalisib and ibrutinib, leading to their regulatory approvals in CLL. Her genomics work has characterized the somatic mutation profile of CLL, and she is now particularly interested in the implementation of genomic technology in the clinic. She also has a longstanding research interest in the inherited predisposition to CLL. To date she has published about 250 papers in the scientific literature, predominantly in CLL. In 2014 she was the recipient of two awards from DFCI, the Clinical Innovation Award, as well as the George Canellos Award. She is a member of the International Workshop on CLL (iwCLL) and enjoys a worldwide reputation as a CLL expert.
Florence Cymbalista
Bobigny, France
Hôpital Avicenne
Florence Cymbalista
Pr Florence Cymbalista, MD PhD, is professor of hematology at Hopital Avicenne, GH Paris Seine Saint Denis, Sorbonne Paris Nord University. She was trained as a clinical hematologist at Hotel Dieu, Paris University, and as a post-doctoral fellow in Pr James Griffin’s laboratory at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, between 1990 and 1992. She joined the French Cooperative group in CLL, currently FILO group, and participated to the foundation of the ERIC (European Research Initiative in CLL). She was appointed as the head of the biological department in Avicenne hospital in 2003. She manages a large cohort of CLL patients and has a strong implication in patient oriented information. Her laboratory is focused on translational research in CLL and serves as reference laboratory for French and international trials. Her main research interests are CLL predictive factors, mechanisms of resistance and microenvironment interactions.
Silvia Deaglio
Turin, Italy
University of Turin
Silvia Deaglio
Silvia Deaglio is Associate Professor of Medical Genetics at the University of Turin, Italy. She obtained an MD degree and trained as a medical oncologist, before enrolling in the PhD program in Genetics at the University of Turin, working on the functional characterization of the CD38 gene family. She initially became interested in CLL when the prognostic role of CD38 was recognized and contributed to define its functions in the disease. She was then involved in studying receptor-ligand interactions in CLL microenvironment. From 2014 to 2016, she was visiting associate professor at Weill Cornell Medical College and worked to set up patient-derived xenograft models of CLL and Richter syndrome, which have been highly useful in determining therapeutic responses of the disease. Since 2021 she is Associate Editor of Blood. Dr Deaglio is the author of more than 180 publications in PubMed and has an H-index of 55.
Dimitar Efremov
Trieste, Italy
International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology
Dimitar Efremov
Dr. Dimitar Efremov is Staff Scientist and Head of the Molecular Hematology Group of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in Trieste, Italy. Dr. Efremov obtained his MD degree at the Faculty of Medicine in Skopje, North Macedonia, where he also completed his specialization in internal medicine and training in hematology. He obtained his PhD degree from the Faculty of Medicine, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands and was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA, USA. In 1994 he became Staff Scientist at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Trieste, where he remained until 1997. He subsequently returned to the Department of Hematology at the Faculty of Medicine in Skopje, where he was appointed as an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine. In 2003 he moved again to Italy and established the ICGEB Molecular Hematology Group and the ICGEB Outstation in Rome, which he transferred to the ICGEB Headquarters in Trieste in November 2015. He is a member of several editorial boards, international scientific societies and an external member of the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Dr. Efremov’s primary research interest is chronic lymphocytic leukemia, particularly the molecular mechanisms governing the development and progression of the disease and identification of novel targeted therapies. His studies have contributed substantially towards understanding the role of the BCR pathway in the pathogenesis of CLL and have provided some of the main initial rationale for targeting this pathway in the clinic. He has authored more than 120 articles in peer-reviewed medical journals, including Blood, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Journal of Experimental Medicine, Leukemia and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, and has been awarded research grants by prestigious national and international funding agencies, including the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC) and the EU.
Lukas Frenzel
Cologne, Germany
University of Cologne
Lukas Frenzel
Lukas Frenzel received his MD from the University of Cologne, Germany. Since 2009 he is working in the Department I of Internal Medicine (Hematology/Oncology) of the University Hospital of Cologne as specialist in hematology/oncology and head of the “Apoptosis-signaling and therapy-resistance group”. His main research focus is to identify mechanisms of resistance aganist BH3 mimetics and death receptors in CLL and to understand how B-cell receptor signaling affects apoptosis resistance.
Richard Furman
New York, USA
Weill Cornell Medicine
Richard Furman
Dr. Furman is the Morton Coleman, MD Distinguished Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, NY. He attended the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, residency in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and then fellowship in Hematology and Medical Oncology at Weill Cornell Medical College. After training, Dr. Furman worked full time for three years performing bench-top research investigating the immune system function in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia before transitioning into clinical research. His area of focus has been on the development of novel, non-chemotherapeutic agents for lymphomas, with a focus on CLL and Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia. Dr. Furman has played an integral role in the clinical development of many of the novel agents currently in use, including ibrutinib, idelalisib, venetoclax, acalabrutinib, and umbralisib.
Paolo Ghia
Milan, Italy
Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele
Paolo Ghia
Paolo Ghia received his MD from the University of Torino, Italy, and received his PhD working at the Basel Institute for Immunology, Switzerland, studying B lymphocyte development. Next, he studied the molecular mechanisms of the pathogenesis of chronic lymphoproliferative disorders, particularly of follicular lymphoma at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston.
He is now working in Milano, as Professor of Medical Oncology at the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele; and Deputy Chairman of the Division of Experimental Oncology, at the affiliated Hospital, where he is Director of the Strategic Research Program on CLL, including a dedicated unit for phase 1 studies.
His research interest is the study of the molecular and cellular mechanisms acting in the natural history of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), including Monoclonal B-cell Lymphocytosis (MBL). On these topics he has published over 260 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals.
He is President of the European Research Initiative on CLL (ERIC), a member of the International Workshop on CLL (iwCLL) and of the WHO Clinical Advisory Committee for Lymphocytic and Histiocytic Malignancies. He coauthors the EHA-ESMO guidelines for CLL treatment and is currently Associate Editor for CLL at Hemasphere, the official Journal of the EHA.
John Gribben
London, UK
Barts Cancer Institute
John Gribben
Professor John Gribben holds the Gordon Hamilton Fairley Chair of Medical Oncology at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary, University of London.
His doctoral studies were performed at University College London as the recipient of a Wellcome Trust Fellowship Award. He continued his post-doctoral training and Oncology Fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School. He was appointed to the Faculty at Harvard Medical School, where he was Associate Professor of Medicine and an Attending Physician at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, until returning to London in 2005.
His primary research interests include the immunotherapy of cancer (including stem cell transplantation and CAR-T cells), the identification of B-cell-tumour antigens, and the detection and treatment of minimal residual disease in leukaemia and lymphoma.
He is a founding member of the CLL Research Consortium, was Associate Editor of Blood from 2007 -2104 and was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science. He is currently Chair of the International workshop for NHL (iwNHL) and Co-chair of the International workshop for CAR-T cells (iwCART). He serves on the Executive Board of the European Hematology Association (EHA) and was President of EHA from 2019-2021.
Michael Hallek
Cologne, Germany
University Hospital of Cologne
Michael Hallek
Prof. Hallek received his MD degree from the University of Munich, Germany, in 1985. He trained in pharmacology and internal medicine from 1985 to 1990 at the University and Technical University of Munich. From 1990 to 1992, he spent two years as a research associate at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA, before returning to the University of Munich, where he continued his training in internal medicine and in hematology and oncology. From 1994 to 2005, he was head of the Gene Therapy Program at the Gene Center of the University of Munich and at the National Centre for Research on Environment and Health (GSF), Munich. In 1996, he founded the German CLL Study Group and is its chairman until today. Since 2003, Dr. Hallek is Professor of Medicine, Director and Chair of the Department I of Internal Medicine at the University of Cologne. Since 2007, he is also the chairman of the Center for Integrated Oncology (CIO), the joint comprehensive cancer center of the Universities of Cologne and Bonn, since 2019 he is chairman of the CIO Aachen, Bonn, Cologne and Düsseldorf. Since 2011, he is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina). He received numerous awards such as the Paul-Martini Award in 2012, the Binet-Rai-Medal in 2013, the Walter-Siegenthaler Medal in gold in 2016, the German Cancer Award 2017, the Arthur Burkhardt Award 2017, the Johann-Georg-Zimmermann Award 2018, and the José Carreras Award 2019 of the European Hematology Association. He has received the honour of the Ham-Wasserman Lecture of the American Society of Hematology in 2018. President of the German Society of Internal Medicine DGIM (2014-2015) Chairman of the German Society of Hematology and Medical Oncology DGHO (2016-2019). Since 2018, he is chairman of the scientific committee of the European School of Haematology, Paris. He is president of the Walter Siegenthaler Society and member of the Strategy Advisory Board “National Decade against Cancer” of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research since 2019. Since 2020, he is associate editor of the journal Blood.
Michael Hudecek
Würzburg, Germany
University of Würzburg
Michael Hudecek
Michael Hudecek performed medical training at the University of Leipzig, Germany, where he also commenced his specialist training in hematology and oncology. In 2007, Michael joined the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle as a post-doctoral research fellow, where he trained in the laboratory of Prof. Stanley R. Riddell and worked on identifying and validating novel tumor antigens in hematologic malignancies, the design and functional optimization of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) constructs, as well as defining optimal cellular compositions of CAR T-cell products. In 2012, Michael was recruited to the Universitätsklinikum Würzburg, Germany, where he established a translational research program on CAR T-cell immunotherapy. At present, this program comprises physicians, scientists, doctoral students, master students and technicians in a multidisciplinary, international team that performs cutting-edge research with focus on novel transformative CAR technologies, and first-in-man clinical application of novel CAR-T products. Michael is an extraordinary member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, and recipient of the 2017 Artur Pappenheim Award of the German Society for Hematology and Medical Oncology.
Arnon Kater
Amsterdam, Netherlands
University of Amsterdam
Arnon Kater
Prof . Dr. A.P. Kater’s fundamental, translational and clinical research as a clinical hematologist is focused on lymphatic cancer (lymphoma), particularly chronic lymphatic leukemia (CLL). Together with his colleague at the Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam (AMC-UvA) Prof. Eric Eldering, Kater is leading a research group working towards a better understanding of the cellular and molecular processes underlying the emergence and clinical behavior of these illnesses. Together with pharma industries Dr Kater is heavily involved in developments leading to new treatment modalities. Kater was trained as an internist (hematologist) at the AMC-UvA. In 2006 he obtained his doctorate in research into cell death regulation in CLL cells.
From 2008 to 2009 he also worked as a postdoc at the Moores Cancer Center and the Laboratory of Gene Regulation and Signal Transduction at the University of California (San Diego, US). Kater is one of the founders of the Lymphoma and Myeloma Center Amsterdam (LYMMCARE), a specialist knowledge center where the AMC-UvA’s Clinical Hematology, Experimental Immunology and Pathology departments have joined forces since 2012. Within the Amsterdam University Medical Center (a merger of the AMC and the Vumc), he is deputy head of the Dept. of Hematology, vice-dean of the Hematology specialty program and chairman of the clinical research committee.
Kater has been awarded with grants for his research. In 2011, for example, he was awarded a large individual grant by the Dutch Cancer Society to set up his own research group. In 2019 he received an ERC Consolidator grant in order to perform studies on the interactions between CLL cells and the adaptive immune system. He also received grants from the Dutch Cancer foundation, European Union consortia, pharma-industry and various research supporting foundations.
Since September 2014, he has been chair of the Dutch CLL working group at the Hemato-Oncology Foundation for Adults in the Netherlands (HOVON) and since 2020 is member of the HOVON executive board. He is on the editor board of the journals Blood and Haematologica. He is highly active for the Dutch CLL patient advocacy foundation, giving lectures for patients and family, both at meetings and online.
Anthony Mato
New York, USA
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Anthony Mato
Anthony R Mato, MD, MSCE, is an Associate Member at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Director of the Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) Program at MSKCC. He received his medical degree from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, and completed his internal medicine residency and hematology/oncology fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. While at Penn, Dr Mato also earned a master’s degree in clinical epidemiology. His research on the development of clinical and translational trials for patients with CLL and lymphoproliferative disorders focuses on novel immunotherapies, signal transduction inhibitors, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and immunotherapy agents. His outcomes-related research explores a wide variety of health indicators among CLL patients in real world settings. He has been the principal investigator on numerous clinical trials for patients with CLL and is currently overseeing several ongoing clinical trials, some of which are actively enrolling patients. A well-published scholar, he regularly contributes articles to peer-reviewed journals. Dr Mato is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Hematology, and the American College of Physician Executives. He is also on the medical advisory board of the CLL Society, a patient-centric, physician-curated nonprofit organization focused on patient education and support.
Talha Munir
Leeds, UK
St James’s Hospital
Talha Munir
Dr Talha Munir is a Consultant Haematologist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. He graduated in 2002 from King Edward Medical College, Lahore, Pakistan, and finished his initial training in Pakistan. Talha has worked in the NHS since 2004 and completed his haematology training in Nottingham, in 2012.
Talha’s main clinical and research interests are in CLL, particularly in the assessment of the mechanism of action of novel targeted therapies. His other clinical interests include the management of patients with aplastic anaemia and paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH), and he is one of the PNH consultants working in the PNH National Service, Leeds. Talha also has a special interest in the management of adult histiocytic disorders, especially Langerhans’ cell histiocytosis (LCH) and Erdheim–Chester disease.
He is a sub-investigator for the NCRI CLL phase II and III clinical trials in the UK and is involved in multiple NCRI and non-NCRI studies at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, where he has contributed to the development of an impressive trial portfolio.
Marta Muzio
Milan, Italy
San Raffaele Hospital IRCCS
Marta Muzio
Marta Muzio is Group leader at the Division of Experimental Oncology, San Raffaele Hospital IRCCS, Milano, Italy.
She is a biologist (Laurea degree in biological sciences at the University of Milano in 1993) with a specialization in pharmacological research (Mario Negri Institute, Milano in 1996). After a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA (1996-1997), and a postdoctoral fellowship at Mario Negri Institute, Milano (1997-2000), she worked as research scientist at the Discovery research oncology site of Pharmacia-Pfizer-Nerviano Medical Sciences (Nerviano, Italy, 2000-2005). In 2005 she joined San Raffaele Hospital as researcher; since 2010 she coordinated several research projects supported by Leukemia Research Foundation (IL, USA), Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC) and Italian Ministry of Health (ricerca finalizzata). She published 69 papers with more the 12000 citations and an H-index of 41 (Scopus, 2021).
Marta Muzio leads the Cell Signaling Unit, a research lab dedicated to molecular oncology and translational research; the general aim of the lab is to dissect and target the molecular events that regulate activation and signaling in malignant cells. The Unit recently focused on B-cell receptor and Toll-like receptors signaling in leukemia and lymphoma.
Hien Nguyen
Cologne, Germany
University of Cologne
Hien Nguyen
Dr. Nguyen is cell biologist graduated from Heidelberg University and the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany. Her PhD and Postdoc research at University of Cologne focuses on the interaction of the tumor microenvironment with malignant cells in B cell leukemia and lymphoma. She is principle investigator and independent researcher at the Department I for Internal Medicine and Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne. Since 2021, she is one of the Career Advancement Program group leaders at the Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne.
Carsten Niemann
Copenhagen, Denmark
University of Copenhagen
Carsten Niemann
An expert in hematology with more than 10 years hands-on experience in hematology research laboratories in Europe and US, heading the CLL research laboratory and the clinical research program for CLL at Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark. Combining genetic and functional characterization of CLL and microenvironmental cells, MRD testing and diagnostic work up for CLL based on the EuroMRD and ERIC collaborations, along with epidemiological studies, Impacting current practice in CLL, as evidenced by co-authorship on the updated ESMO guidelines, TP53 guidelines, flowcytometry guidelines and MRD guidelines for CLL. Founding member for the clinical GAIA CLL13, VISION HO141, HO158, HO159 and CLL17 clinical trials, thus leading the way for testing novel targeted therapy in CLL. Furthermore, sponsor of the PreVent-ACaLL phase 2-3 trial, the first Machine Learning based clinical trial in CLL. Thus, applying a uniquely strong background across all the disciplines needed for translational research in CLL. This feeds in to development of extended decision matrices in lymphoid malignancies based on medical Artificial Intelligence modeling of multidimensional big data for testing in clinical trials, thereby improving precision medicine in CLL and beyond.
94 peer reviewed publications (2 preprints), 2 as last author, 4 as co-senior authors, 17 as 1st author, 1 as co-1st authors; additional 2 book chapters.
H-index (google scholar): 31; 4925 citations, 618 in 2019, 857 in 2020, 1429 in 2021, 64 in 2022 (25JAN2022). 20+ Public publications including webcasts and patient information.
Alberto Orfao
Salamanca, Spain
University of Salamanca
Alberto Orfao
Alberto Orfao is currently Full Professor of Immunology at the Department of Medicine of the University of Salamanca. He is also subdirector of the Cancer Research Center, Director of the General Cytometry Service and the Cell sorting Service of the University of Salamanca, and Scientific Director of the Spanish National DNA Bank Carlos III and the Network of Tumor Biobanks of Castilla y Leon (Spain). His research activities are mainly focused on the field of hematological malignancies and the relationship between the immune system and cancer development and progression. He has mentored 51 PhD students and authored >1200 publications and book chapters, being co-author of 750 scientific papers in international journals, with an overall h-index of 89 and more than 45,000 citations; in addition, he is inventor of 70 (granted/pending) patents. He has received over 40 awards and recognitions including the Berend Howen award of the International Society for Laboratory Hematology and the Wallace Coulter award of the International Society for Clinical Cytometry, the 2012 Castilla and Leon Prize for Scientific and Technical Research as well as the 3rd Prize in Applied Biomedical Research of the Valdes-Salas Foundation/University of Oviedo. He is currently member of the external scientific committees of several research institutions in Spain and other European countries, including the General Council of the University of Coimbra (Portugal) and he is member of multiple national and international scientific evaluation panels and groups, including the EuroFlow Consortium (chair), European Scientific Foundation for Laboratory Hemato-Oncology (ESLHO), and the European Leukemia Net (ELN). He is/has been also member of the editorial board of several scientific journals, such as Leukemia, Haematologica, Blood Research, Human Genetics and Cytometry. In parallel he has supported and fostered the creation of several new Biotech companies, including Cytognos SL (1997), ImmunoStep (2001), PhagoTrace BV (2010) and 300K Biotech Solutions (2019).
Brief biography: A. Orfao is full Professor of Immunology (Department of Medicine) and Vice-director of the Cancer Research Center of the University of Salamanca (Spain). Scientific Director of the Spanish National DNA Bank and co-chair of EuroFlow.
Prof. Alberto Orfao, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Medicine,
Cancer Research Center
University of Salamanca
Paseo de la Universidad de Coimbra s/n
37007 Salamanca
Spain
Telephone: +34-923294811
Telefax: +34-923294795
E-mail: scitomet@usal.es (secretary)
orfao@usal.es
Chris Pepper
Brighton, UK
University of Sussex
Chris Pepper
Chris Pepper obtained his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry (1993) from Cardiff University. He is currently a Professor of Cancer Research at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. His research group is focussed on understanding the mechanisms that underpin the causes of disease progression and the development of drug resistance with an emphasis on tumour cell migration and the role of the microenvironment. His group was the first to describe the pivotal role of the Bcl-2 family of apoptosis-regulating proteins in determining the clinical outcome of CLL as well as the pivotal role of the transcription factor, NF-kB in modulating the pathology of CLL. More recently, his team has been addressing questions relating to cytogenetic instability and clonal evolution, which has led to the formation of a University spin-out company to provide prognostic and predictive testing for cancer patients. He also has a strong track record of developing novel pre-clinical agents into early phase clinical trials examples include the pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD), SJG-136, Bcl-2 antisense oligonucleotides, the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, flavopiridol and the NF-kB inhibitor, LC-1. Currently, his team is using next generation sequencing (Whole exome sequencing, RNA-seq and ATAC-seq) to explore the sub-clonal architecture of leukaemias with the aim of producing rationally designed, patient-specific, combination therapies that will prevent the emergence of drug resistant clones in the relapsed/MRD setting.
Email: c.pepper@bsms.ac.uk
Website: https://pepper.science
Twitter: @ChrisPe10544853
Andy Rawstron
Leeds, UK
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Andy Rawstron
Andy Rawstron is a Consultant Clinical Scientist at HMDS Leeds and visiting Professor with the Epidemiology and Cancer Statistics Group at University of York. His primary focus is the development and application of assays for the diagnosis and monitoring of B-cell disorders. He has established highly sensitive techniques for minimal residual disease (MRD) detection in CLL and myeloma that have been applied to many UK and international clinical trials, subsequently leading international efforts to standardise MRD detection for use as a trial endpoint to accelerate drug development. He has adapted MRD techniques to investigate the earliest stages in B-cell neoplasia and also to enable high-sensitivity monitoring of normal B-cell subsets for optimising B-cell depletion therapy in musculoskeletal disorders. Andy developed and leads a national award-winning service for monitoring people with chronic malignancies before and after treatment so that they can receive high quality disease management in a local setting.
Richard Rosenquist
Stockholm, Sweden
Karolinska Institutet
Richard Rosenquist
Richard Rosenquist Brandell is Professor of Clinical Genetics at Karolinska Institutet, and Senior Physician at Karolinska University Hospital. He is Director of Genomic Medicine Sweden, a national infrastructure for implementation of precision medicine. Focusing on hematological malignancies and utilizing high-throughput sequencing technologies, his team has identified novel prognostic and predictive biomarkers that have significantly improved patient risk-stratification and clinical decision-making. Rosenquist Brandell is a member of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet.
Marco Ruella
Philadelphia, USA
University of Pennsylvania
Marco Ruella
Marco Ruella, MD, is Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology / Oncology and the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies and Scientific Director of the Lymphoma Program at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on the study of the mechanisms of relapse after chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CART) immunotherapies with the goal of rationally designing combined innovative immunotherapies for relapsing / refractory leukemia and lymphoma. He is the author of numerous peer-reviewed publications on targeted immunotherapies for hematological cancers and is an inventor in several patents on CAR T therapy. His work has been recognized through numerous awards including the inaugural SITC EMD-Serono Cancer Immunotherapy Clinical Fellowship (2014), the AACR-BMS Oncology Fellowship in Clinical Cancer Research (2015), the ASH Scholar Award (2016), a NIH K99-R00 award (2017), the “Paola Campese” Award Leukemia Research (2017), the Cancer Support Community Award (2018), and most recently the 2018 American Society of Hematology Joanne Levy, MD, Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement. Dr. Ruella obtained his medical degree with high honors and completed his specialization in clinical hematology at the University of Torino, Italy. After completing his fellowship, he was an attending physician in the Hematology and Cell Therapy Division of the Mauriziano Hospital and an Instructor at the Biotechnology School at the University of Torino. From 2012, he was a postdoctoral fellow, and then an instructor at the University of Pennsylvania in the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies where he worked with Drs. June and Gill until appointment to his current position in 2018.
Tanya Siddiqi
Duarte, USA
City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center
Tanya Siddiqi
Tanya Siddiqi, M.D., is an accomplished hematologist-oncologist who specializes in diagnosing and treating blood cancers, particularly chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas. She is the Director of the CLL Program and is also the supervising physician at City of Hope’s anticoagulation clinic, which treats patient with blood clotting disorders due to their diseases or treatments.
In addition to her clinical practice, Dr. Siddiqi is also the principal investigator of several national and international clinical trials evaluating the role of targeted therapies, including CAR T cell therapy, and other novel agents in diseases like CLL and B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas. As a result, she has been part of many major presentations and publications in recent years, some of which have led to FDA approvals of agents and have been practice changing.
Dr. Siddiqi earned her medical degree in 2000 at Aga Khan University Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan. Afterwards, she completed an internal medicine residency at University of Connecticut Health Center, followed by two fellowships:
hematology/oncology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA) and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation at City of Hope.
Dr. Siddiqi is a member of the Toni Stephenson Lymphoma Center and the Gehr Family Center for Leukemia Research at City of Hope.
Sigrid Skånland
Oslo, Norway
Department of Cancer Immunology, Institute of Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital
Sigrid Skånland
Sigrid S. Skånland received her PhD from the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at University of Oslo in 2009, under the supervision of Prof. Kirsten Sandvig. She was then awarded with a long-term EMBO fellowship to do her post-doctoral training in the Molecular Signaling Group of Prof. Ivan Dikic (2009-2011) at the University Hospital Frankfurt, Germany. From 2011, Skånland has been affiliated with the research group of Prof. Kjetil Taskén, first at the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine in Norway (NCMM), currently at Oslo University Hospital. Here, she has established her own research group focusing on functional precision medicine in haematological cancers, in particular the B-cell malignancy chronic lymphocytic leukemia. By performing functional analyses including ex vivo drug sensitivity screening and single cell signaling analyses, her aim is to identify biomarker signatures that can predict treatment outcomes for the individual patient. In 2020, Skånland was awarded a prestigious European Commission ERA PerMed research grant on tailoring the targeted treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Kostas Stamatopoulos
Thessaloniki, Greece
Center for Research and Technology Hellas
Kostas Stamatopoulos
Kostas Stamatopoulos, MD, PhD, is a specialist in Hematology, Director of the Institute of Applied Biosciences at CERTH, the Center for Research and Technology Hellas, Thessaloniki, Greece. He also holds the position of Visiting Professor at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. Dr Stamatopoulos is the coordinator of the Hellenic Precision Medicine Network in Oncology; Board member of ERIC, the European Research Initiative on chronic lymphocytic leukemia; Steering Committee member of the Scientific Working Group on Precision Hematology of the European Hematology Association; Board member of the Splenic Lymphoma Group; member of the Steering Group of the Euroclonality-NGS Consortium. Dr Stamatopoulos is a member of the Hellenic Society of Haematology, the European Haematology Association, the American Society of Hematology, amongst others, and has served in different committees of these organizations. His research interests include: precision medicine in cancer; immunobiology of lymphoid malignancies; and, patient empowerment in care.
Alessandra Tedeschi
Milan, Italy
Niguarda Hospital
Alessandra Tedeschi
Alessandra Tedeschi, MD, is consultant in Hematology at the Department of Hematology Niguarda Hospital in Milano, Italy. Dr Tedeschi received her medical degree from the University Medical School in Bologna and subsequently trained in hemato-oncology in the Hematology Institute at Ancona University Medical School. From 1996 to 1999 she completed research stages on cord blood transplantation and low grade lymphomas at the Department of Hematology Niguarda Hospital Milano, Italy and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia at the Leukemia Section of MD Anderson Cancer Center Houston, Texas.
In 1999 she joined the staff as consultant in Hematology at the Department of Hematology, Niguarda Cancer Centrer, Niguarda Hospital in Milano.
Doctor Tedeschi main research interests focus on novel treatment approaches in hematological malignancies, most notably in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia and Waldenstrom’s Macropglobulinemia.
She is principal and co-investigator of many National and International trials in chronic lymphoprolipherative disorders. Dr Tedeschi is a member of European Research Initiative for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, European hematolology Association and the European Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia Network. Additionaly she has co-authored the response criteria and ESMO guidelines on Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia. She has published over 100 scientific papers in International peer-reviewed journals including New England Journal of Medicine, Journal Clinical Oncology, Blood , Leukemia
Elisa Ten Hacken
Boston, USA
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Elisa Ten Hacken
Dr. ten Hacken is an Instructor in Medicine in Dr. Catherine Wu’s laboratory at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. She graduated with a PhD in Biology and Biotherapy of Cancer from Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, in 2014, and carried out her first postdoctoral training at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX, under the supervision of Dr. Jan Burger. She joined the Wu lab in July 2016 for a second postdoctoral fellowship, with deep interest in functional genomics. Her graduate and post-graduate studies have focused on the pathogenesis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), both through the study of primary patients’ samples (also in the context of clinical correlative studies) and of genetically-engineered mouse models. Her current work is focused on the development of mouse models of Richter’s syndrome, achieved through CRISPR-Cas9 based engineering of multiplexed gene mutations informed by human studies.
Sanne Tonino
Amsterdam, Netherlands
University of Amsterdam
Sanne Tonino
Sanne Tonino conducts research in the field of lymphoproliferative malignancies, especially indolent lymphoma (including CLL) and Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She is the principal investigator of international projects in these diseases and participates as national coordinating investigator in several international clinical trials. Related to these projects she has a translational line of research into the interactions of lymphoma cells with the immune system; the research focuses mainly on how the immune system can best be used in the treatment of these diseases.
Adrian Wiestner
Bethesda, USA
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Adrian Wiestner
Dr. Adrian Wiestner leads the Laboratory of Lymphoid Malignancies, Hematology Branch, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, NIH. Dr. Wiestner earned his M.D. from the University of Basel Medical School in Switzerland in 1992, and he received his Ph.D. in genetics in 1998. He joined the NIH with the NHLBI Hematology Fellowship Program in 2000. In September 2004, Dr. Wiestner was appointed as a Tenure Track Investigator with the NHLBI Hematology Branch and was promoted to Senior Investigator in December 2013. Dr. Wiestner combines clinical and laboratory investigation in B-cell malignancies, in particular Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) and Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL). The aim of his program are to identify pathogenic mechanisms and test targeted therapies in clinical trials. An important aspect of his work is to identify resistance mechanisms to current therapies by analyzing the changes in tumor biology during treatment in patients.