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Clinical Expertise

  • Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia

About

I am a hematologist-oncologist who specializes in treating patients with blood cancers, particularly chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and B-cell lymphomas. I also serve as a professor in the Division of Hematology at The Ohio State University.

Our approach to patient care is truly unique at the OSUCCC – James. We work in teams of specialists, subspecialists and super subspecialists to better treat specific cancers while never forgetting the power and value of personalized, patient-centered care. I was named to the Castle Connolly list of “Regional Top Doctors” in 2019, as well as being rated in the top 10 percent of physicians in the nation for patient satisfaction in 2017.

As a member of the Leukemia Research Program at the OSUCCC – James, my research focuses on targeted therapies for CLL and strategies to overcome resistance to targeted therapies. I led the collaborative effort that identified the mechanism of resistance to the BTK inhibitor ibrutinib in CLL and have led preclinical and clinical studies to identify drugs that can overcome ibrutinib resistance.

Most recently, I led a multi-institutional phase III clinical trial that showed older patients with CLL have a significantly lower rate of disease progression if treated with ibrutinib rather than with bendamustine plus rituximab — a regimen previously considered as one of the most effective therapies for this group of patients. It was the first head-to-head comparison between the two treatments. Results were reported simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) and in the plenary session at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2018 Annual Meeting.

In 2015, I was honored with a Young Physician-Scientist Award from the American Society of Clinical Investigation. My work has been featured in several medical publications, including Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lancet Oncology, Blood and Cancer Discovery. I have also shared my research at multiple conferences, including ASH, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting and the International Workshop on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (iwCLL).

At The James, we know that there are no routine cancers. That's why I stay current with new knowledge in my field as a participant in several professional associations. I'm a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Association for Cancer Research and the American Society of Hematology, where I serve on a number of subcommittes. I also serve as a member of the Leukemia Committee and the Cancer in the Elderly Committee for the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology, which is a group of cancer centers that designs and runs clinical trials to help improve the care of CLL patients around the country. By working with other specialists around the country, we can improve our understanding of CLL biology and therapy, and I can apply this knowledge to improve the lives of the patients we see here at the James.

Location

The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center: 460 W 10th Ave, Columbus, OH 43210, USA

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