The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) recently awarded more than $7.3 million in grants to 15 Dana-Farber researchers in its quest to better understand and find cures for blood cancers. Since 1949, LLS has invested more than $1.7 billion in groundbreaking research worldwide.
“The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has funded some of Dana-Farber’s most innovative and exciting research on pediatric and adult blood cancers—research that has led directly to novel therapies that are now in the clinic,” said Benjamin Ebert, MD, PhD, chair of Medical Oncology at Dana-Farber and the George P. Canellos, MD, and Jean S. Canellos Professor of Medicine. “In addition, LLS has supported the career development of some of our most promising trainees, many of whom are now leading investigators in the field.”
LLS has awarded translational research or career development grants to 12 Dana-Farber faculty members and fellows. A Discovery grant went to Sahand Hormoz, PhD, for his work to predict disease progression in myeloproliferative neoplasm patients, and an Equity in Access grant was awarded to Oreofe Odejide, MD, MPH, for a project to promote high-quality end-of-life care for blood cancer patients from historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups. Ted Williams Chair Kimberly Stegmaier, MD, received an LLS-PedAL award to expand her preclinical studies of new targeted therapies for
high-risk subtypes of childhood acute myeloid leukemia.
Five investigators received Translational Research Awards: Ruben Carrasco, MD, PhD; Constantine Mitsiades, MD, PhD; Margaret Shipp, MD, the Douglas S. Miller Chair in Lymphoma at Dana-Farber; Maximilian Stahl, MD; and Steven Treon, MD, PhD, director of the Bing Center for Waldenström’s Macroglobulinemia.
LLS Career Development Awards went to Inhye Ahn, MD;Stefan Bjelosevic, PhD; Johann-Christoph Jann, MD; Christian Marinaccio, PhD; Adi Nagler, PhD; and Julia Paczkowska, PhD. Matthew Davids, MD, MMSc, received a Clinical Scholar Achievement Award in recognition of his significant contributions to the field since receiving his LLS Clinical Scholar Award in 2018.
With his award, Mitsiades is investigating ways of making immune effector cells, such as natural killer (NK) cells or engineered T cells, more effective against blood cancers such as multiple myeloma and leukemia. Although these therapies are initially successful, resistance often develops. Mitsiades and his team will use patient-derived samples to test drugs that can sensitize cancer cells to immune cell therapies.
Their findings could inform clinical strategies and identify subgroups of patients who might benefit most from combined or sequential treatments in future clinical trials. “This is a transformative time in the field of hematologic malignancies,” said Lee Greenberger, PhD, LLS’s chief scientific officer. “I have every confidence that the work led by Dana-Farber holds great promise for children and adults with blood cancers everywhere.”
For more stories about the impact of philanthropy at Dana-Farber, please visit DanaFarberImpact.org.