Austin Myeloma Roundtable

William Matsui, MD, is Deputy Director of the LIVESTRONG Cancer Institutes, Professor in the Department Oncology and Director of Hematological Malignancies Program at the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin. He specializes in caring for patients with cancers that involve the blood and bone marrow as well as bone marrow transplantation. He came to Austin from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he was a professor of oncology and served as the director of the Multiple Myeloma Program and the co-director of the Division of Hematologic Malignancies. Dr. Matsui has carried out laboratory-based translational research throughout his career and focused on studying cancer stem cells, tumor cells with enhanced growth potential and their role in clinical oncology. His laboratory first identified cancer stem cells in the plasma cell malignancy multiple myeloma in 2003 and subsequently in other cancers including lymphomas, leukemias and pancreas cancer. His laboratory has also demonstrated that several pathways regulating normal stem cells, including those involved in embryonic development, are abnormally activated in cancer stem cells. Dr. Matsui completed his residency training in internal medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle and his clinical training in medical oncology at Johns Hopkins. He earned his medical degree from the University of California at San Francisco.

Krina Patel, MD, MSc, is Associate Professor and Center Medical Director in the Department of Lymphoma/Myeloma of the Division of Cancer Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) in Houston, TX. She treats only patients with plasma cell dyscrasias and is Principal Investigator for multiple ongoing phase I/II and III immune-oncology and maintenance clinical trials for myeloma patients. Her research interests include myeloma, developing cellular therapies like CAR T, and combining immunotherapy and chemotherapy in the induction, transplant, maintenance and salvage settings and she has completed significant clinical research in hematopoeitic stem cell transplantation. Dr. Patel completed her Hematology Oncology fellowship at MDACC and served as Chief Fellow. She received her MSc for a translational project she completed in the laboratory of Dr. Laurence Cooper, evaluating the combination of CAR T cells and TCR engineered cells with vaccine in in vitro and in vivo myeloma models. She served her clinical residency in internal medicine at the University of Texas UT Health in Houston, TX and earned her medical degree at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX.

Dr. Khan earned his medical degree with special distinction at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, while also obtaining a master’s degree in public health from Harvard University. He performed a residency in internal medicine at the Cleveland Clinic and Lerner College of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio. After serving as a hospitalist at Massachusetts General Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School and concurrently obtaining a master's degree in epidemiology from Columbia University, he gained advanced training in hematology and oncology through a fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Public Health at UT Southwestern Medical Center where he serves as the Director of Myeloma Epidemiology Research and Clinical Director of the Monoclonal Gammopathy Precursor Clinic.

is an oncologist in Austin, Texas who specializes in blood and bone marrow transplants to treat blood disorders and blood cancers. He graduated with highest honors from Cook College, Rutgers University in New Jersey with a Bachelor of Science in biological sciences. He earned his medical degree from Rutgers - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and completed both an internship and residency in internal medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He went on to complete a medical oncology fellowship at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Throughout his medical training Dr. Ramakrishnan received numerous honors, including Best Clinic Physician Award from Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Ramakrishnan joined the Texas Transplant Institute - Center for Blood Cancers and Oncology in 2014. He also serves as the Adult Bone and Marrow Transplant Medical Director for St. David's South Austin Medical Center. Prior to this role, he was an assistant professor at University of Washington and worked in the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He has dual board certification in internal medicine and medical oncology. Dr. Ramakrishnan has devoted his extensive career to bone and marrow transplant treatment and research. He has been published in numerous medical journals and texts on topics such as stem cell transplantation and is a highly regarded speaker at medical conferences.

Myeloma survivor, patient advocate, wife, mom of 6. Believer that patients can help accelerate a cure by weighing in and participating in clinical research. Founder of the HealthTree Foundation.