Rafael Fonseca, MD, is the Getz Family Professor of Cancer, Professor of Medicine, interim Executive Director of the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, Director for Innovation and Transformational Relationships, and a consultant in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Dr. Fonseca’s practice has focused on the diagnosis and treatment of plasma cell disorders and leading the multiple myeloma team in its effort to understand the disease and its impact on patients. In his laboratory, Dr. Fonseca has led his team of researchers in concentrating on the genetic nature of the clonal cells of plasma cell disorders. He is also interested in myeloma bone disease, prognostic markers and development of new therapies. Throughout his training and career, Dr. Fonseca has received numerous awards and honors, including the Young Investigator Award in Hematology (Celgene – Achievement Awards for Clinical Research in Hematology), the Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Clinical Investigator Award, and the International Waldenström Macroglobulinemia Research Award. Most notably, he is a Mayo Clinic Distinguished Investigator, the highest academic distinction given to investigators at his institution. Dr. Fonseca holds memberships and serves in positions for organizations such as the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Hematology, the American Association for Cancer Research, and the International Myeloma Society. His research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute (R01, P01, SPORE), the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the Multiple Myeloma Research Fund, and the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Fund, for which he also serves as a clinical investigator. Dr. Fonseca serves as reviewer and in editorial capacities for medical publications including Blood, Lancet, Nature Medicine, Cancer Cell, Leukemia, and the New England Journal of Medicine, among others. He is a frequent reviewer of grants and sits on the SPORE grant review panel. He has given many national and international presentations as a visiting professor and has authored more than 300 articles, book chapters, editorials, abstracts, and letters.

Gareth Morgan, MD, PhD, is Director of Multiple Myeloma Research at NYU Langone Perlmutter Cancer Center in New York, NY. He is an internationally recognized clinician-scientist in the molecular genetics of blood cell cancers and myeloma treatment. He has a particular focus on diagnostic prevention and treatment strategies for high-risk and relapsed/refractory myeloma. Dr. Morgan is doing influential work on the characterization of the myeloma genome, defining specific subsets of the disease that have prognostic importance, and developing personalized therapeutic strategies targeted to each subtype. He is also engaged in advanced research in molecular diagnostics, drug development, and clinical trials. His research aims to cure myeloma and to reduce side effects by targeting treatment to the biology underlying each patient’s cancer. Prior to leading the Perlmutter Cancer Center’s myeloma program, Dr. Morgan was Professor of Medicine and Director of the Myeloma Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Professor of Hematology and Director of the Centre for Myeloma Research at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and The Institute of Cancer Research in London, Europe’s largest comprehensive cancer institute. He is also a founding director of the European Myeloma Network and has authored more than 500 peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Morgan received his doctorate on the genetics of leukemia from the University of London in 1991 and his bachelor of medicine in 1981 from the Welsh National School of Medicine. His post graduate medical training was completed in Wales and at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in London.

Leif Bergsagel, MD, is among the top researchers in the world who studies the molecular pathogenesis of multiple myeloma. His laboratory is focused on understanding the molecular events that lead to the development of MGUS and its progression to multiple myeloma. The research of Dr. Bergsagel and his colleagues has identified important subtypes of multiple myeloma that respond differently to treatment, are associated with different survival rates and form the basis for a risk-adapted approach to therapy. Using insights gained from an understanding of the genetic events that lead to the development of multiple myeloma, Dr. Bergsagel’s team have generated a mouse model of the disease. This model is being used to screen novel agents for their anti-myeloma activity. Dr. Bergsagel’s team have cloned more than 35 translocation breakpoints and identified five frequent translocation partners that are present in almost one-half of patients with multiple myeloma. They are now working to identify and clone various translocation breakpoints in order to clarify their roles in the development of multiple myeloma. Another focus is on the MYC oncogene that appears in some patients to cause the progression of MGUS to myeloma. Prior to joining the faculty at the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Bergsagel was on the medical faculty of the University of Toronto and a Medical Staff Fellow at the National Cancer Institute. He was a junior resident at the Stanford University Medical Center, completed his internship at Sunnybrook Medical Centre, and received his MD from the University of Toronto. He is a member of the National Institutes of Health Basic Mechanisms of Cancer Therapeutics Study Section and the American Society for Clinical Investigations. His honors include lectureships at Ohio State University, Hammersmith Hospital in London, England, and the Daniel E. Bergsagel visiting professorship at the Ontario Cancer Institute in Canada. In 2009 he was honored with the Robert A. Kyle Mayo Clinic Distinguished Investigator Award.