Prognostic factors and developing prognostic models in CLL, immune and gene therapies for patients with CLL, developing chemoimmunotherapy regimens and treatment strategies for relapsed and refractory patients with CLL.

CLL is a unique disease in which to do translational research because of the circulating tumor cells that can be sampled before, during and after treatment; providing the exceptional opportunity to study and confirm in vivo mechanisms of drug action and for hypothesis testing. MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) is a uniquely established clinical Institution in which to perform translational research. Over three-fourths of patients with CLL are enrolled on clinical trial and provide tissue samples before, during, and after treatment for correlative studies. Most of the drugs currently approved for CLL have been developed and/or investigated at MDACC, including fludarabine, alemtuzumab, ofatumumab, and rituximab.

Dr. Wierda is uniquely qualified to be the Principal Investigator (PI) for this grant owing clinical and translational research and expertise in CLL. In 2001, Dr. Wierda moved to Houston as an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Department of Leukemia at MDACC. He was promoted to Associate Professor of Medicine in 2007. In 2012, he was promoted to Professor of Medicine and continue clinical and translational research in CLL. Dr. Wierda’s outpatient clinical activities are more than 90% dedicated to seeing and treating patients with CLL. At MDACC, Dr. Wierda has been PI, Co-PI, or collaborator on numerous clinical trials and conduct translational research in CLL. He has published many peer-reviewed articles on various clinical and translational aspects of CLL and drug development and have given numerous lectures on treatments for patients with CLL. Dr. Wierda’s particular research interests in CLL are prognostic factors and developing prognostic models in CLL, immune and gene therapies for patients with CLL, developing chemoimmunotherapy regimens and treatment strategies for relapsed and refractory patients with CLL.