Boston Myeloma Roundtable

Irene Ghobrial, MD, is a Professor at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), Harvard Medical School and an associate member of the Broad Institute. She is Director of the Michele & Stephen Kirsch Laboratory and co-director of the Center for Prevention of Progression (CPOP) at DFCI. Additionally, she is the co-leader of the Blood Cancer Research Partnership (BCRP), a consortium for innovative clinical trials of community oncology sites coordinated by DFCI. Dr. Ghobrial’s research focuses on understanding mechanisms of tumor progression from early precursor conditions such as monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and smoldering disease to symptomatic multiple myeloma and Waldenström Macroglobulinemia. She specifically focuses on the role of malignant bone marrow niche in regulating disease progression. She is interested in the development of new molecular/genomic markers that predict progression in precursor conditions which can identify patients who should be eligible for therapeutic interventions to prevent progression or potentially cure the disease at the early stages before clonal evolution occurs. She has authored or co-authored more than 250 publications and book chapters. She has received multiple awards including membership in the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Robert A. Kyle Award for Research in Waldenström Macroglobulinemia, and the Mentor of the Year Award at DFCI in 2014. Dr. Ghobrial completed her hematology/oncology subspecialty training at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, MN and internal medicine training at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. She earned her medical degree from the Cairo School of Medicine in Egypt.

Dr. Marinac is a Member of Faculty at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School and Director of Population Sciences and Health Disparities Research in Dana-Farber’s Blood Cancer Prevention Program. Much of Dr. Marinac’s current work is focused on identifying and testing early detection and prevention strategies for multiple myeloma, which is an understudied and incurable malignancy that poses a significant personal, financial, and public health burden. Dr. Marinac is a co-leader of the PROMISE Study, which is a nationwide initiative that is screening individuals at high risk for multiple myeloma precursor conditions to identify new disease prevention strategies.

Dr. Omar Nadeem completed his internal medicine residency training at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and his hematology/oncology fellowship at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. He joined the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in 2018. He is an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and serves as the Clinical Director of Myeloma Cellular Therapies Program and Medical Director of Center for Early Detection and Interception of Blood Cancers the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. His clinical and research interests include studying the role of immunotherapy and cellular therapies in multiple myeloma, with particular focus on CAR T therapy. He serves as a principal investigator of several clinical trials in smoldering multiple myeloma, newly diagnosed disease and relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.

Dr. Elizabeth (Betsy) O’Donnell received her medical degree from Vanderbilt University. She completed her residency in internal medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where she served an additional year as a Chief Resident. She completed her fellowship in hematology and oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She is the Director of Early Detection and Prevention at Dana-Farber and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She specializes in plasma cell disorders with a particular interest in lifestyle medicine and patient and caregiver quality of life.

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.

Dr. Hartley-Brown is an emerging leader in the field of Multiple Myeloma. She is an Associate Physician at Harvard Medical School and Assistant Professor & Medical Oncologist who specializes in treating patients with multiple myeloma. She practices clinical care at the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Multiple myeloma is an incurable cancer that affects Black Americans approximately twice more than Caucasians. Dr. Hartley-Brown has written several publications and has been a clinical research investigator for numerous clinical studies that has contributed to the advancement of clinical care for patients with multiple myeloma and plasma cell dyscrasias. As a Black female physician, she is dedicated to ensuring that the care for the myeloma community is equitable and affords all patients with myeloma an optimal level of care regardless of background, race or socioeconomic status.

Diagnosed with MM and Chronic Kidney Disease in July of 2016. Went through induction therapy starting in August of 2016, then had his stem cells harvested in early December of that year. He had a successful Stem Cell Transplant at Dana Farber in January of 2017. He went on Revlimid and Velcade maintenance starting May of 2017. In December of 2021 Changed Velcade to Ninlaro. He is currently MRD negative and been off maintenance since April of 2023. Prior to getting MM he was sales manager for a small tooling distributor and enjoyed traveling around the country working with customers. He retired in the fall of 2018 to care for his wife who had been diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. Sadly, she passed away in March of 2019. He has 2 adult sons, one is a student and lives at home, the other is an underwriter and lives with his fiancée Just north of Boston. He enjoys making music, playing golf, pickleball and hiking with his dog Moose. He got involved with the coaching program a few years ago because he wanted this phase of his life to have a purpose and he found it helping others in the Myeloma Community.